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Suit Up Or Ship Out?
ilovestuff wrote to us with a disscussion starter from ZDNet Australia about the changes in dress code at IT jobs. How much is everyone else going through?
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The cats don't seem to mind.
is the dress code at my 'IT job', which is searching for work, and filing for unemployment. on casual fridays, the pajamas are optional.
While the workforce here at the office has been trimmed, there's no apparent change in the dress of my cow-orkers. Management (big 'M') has not said anything to any of us.
Not too long ago, my manager came into the server room and declared, "everyone needs to start wearing slacks and button down shirts. Ties aren't necessary but we need to present a better image to the customer."
Me, "That's fine, I quit."
Him, quickly, "Except you, [John]."
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Yeah, I notice that you guys have slipped. Every Wednesday morning when you ride by hanging off the back of that garbage truck I tell my girlfriend how the neighborhood is going to hell.
Cunning linguists
The increase in productivity is not worth the extra cost and it takes away from the key focus, which has to be work
Last time i checked, there was no extra cost imposed on an employer when employees didn't wear suits.
And if it takes focus away from work, it can hardly be considered an increase in productivity, can it?
Or... If it is an increase in productivity, it can't be taking focus from work?
What did i miss?
All of my Leisure suits are out of fashion, and the birthday suit is against new policy.
Where was this at? Seattle area I hope? I've got some friends out there who are desperate enough do the job wearing whatever they want. The means stark naked or in a full suit of combat armor if just meant they had a job again.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
They can have my jeans, as soon as they pry them off my dead, cold ass.
They make me wear shoes now. It wasn't so much a change in the IT dress code, as it was a result of the complaints from other employees. IT dress code, on the other hand, now includes those propeller-hats, so that the other departments can easily identify us...
.sig last updated Jan. 14, 2000
You need the tie to cut off the blood to your brain so you can be in a proper state to understand management's reasoning on things.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
I do think a little buissness casual is good, cause if there is no dress code I am coming in wearing my old Metallica t-shirt (metal up your ass), some ripped jeans and combat boots.
That's fine - just remember to iron that t-shirt if you're meeting with a customer :)
There is an inverse relationship between the amount spent on clothes, and the amount of bull slung at work. Notice how well lawyers dress...
I wear pretty casual clothes at work. A (mostly ThinkGeek) T-Shirt, jeans and sport shoes are my kind of thing. While at work nobody complains about how i dress, the nightclub i went to last saturday, kicked us out just because of the sport shoes. How about that :-)
We have an "expected visibility" rule. Day to day minimum dress code is "Business Casual" - collared shirt, tie optional, no sport shoes, no denim - that sort of thing(*). "Casual Friday" means intact jeans are permitted, but not uncollared T-shirts. The above is the standard UNLESS you expect a to visit a client or to have a client visit you, then it's strictly collar and tie(*). All in all, it seems to work well. If you get an unexpected customer visit you or get sent on a sudden site visit, they see that everyone is pretty well dressed. And the customer can still see that you make an effort to impress when the meeting is expected, particularly if they have seen you in your day to day wear. Onnly thing is, I don't buy business wear as often, and that which I still have no longer fits like it used to do (since I hit 36, my broad mind and narrow waist have begun trading places ;(
(*) or equivalent dress standard for women
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
There's a place here in Cincinnati called Smitty's. The window display in that place is an advertisement for the 'dress code revolution.' Management wants you to wear a suit? Smitty's has 3 piece suits in every neon colour imaginable, with matching mock-alligator shoes to go with 'em. See how long management wants you showing up in a 'corporate dress code' when your suit blinds people from 100 meters.
Geeks can be complete slobs, lacking even basic hygiene and fashion sense.
Having people dress acceptably for work is a sign of respect. It also weeds out the morons. Save the occasional odd genius (which, if you are reading this, you are not), requiring a clean appearance with matching colors weeds out the multitude of borderline retarded MCSE / Visual Basic developers wandering aimlessly in the world, writing crappy code.
If people aren't able to dress with some semblance of style, they should go work somewhere else, somewhere less demanding (would you like fries with that?).
No, I'm sure its clipped on correctly.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
How exactly do you people keep changing from casual to smart clothing every time you need to go visit a client? Does your office have a changing room, or something?
Phone booths.
-- MarkusQ
The tie is there to hide the buttons.
The buttons are there to close the shirt.
The shirt has to be closed because we don't have adequately stretch fabrics.
Oh wait, we do.
The T-shirt is high-tech. It solves all of the problems that the old mode of dress is built around. But no, somehow, the formal thing to do is to wear an unnecessary tie to hide unnecessary buttons.
And don't even start on collars, which are there to hide the stitching which we don't need because mankind has since discovered frickin' cotton.
--G
There are three types of people in business.
;)
1. Those so low down on the ladder no one cares what they wear.
2. People in the middle who wear nice clothes to make themselves appear professional.
3. Those so high up on the ladder no one cares what they wear.
Which one are you?
OK, now, nice and smooth, put it down... now STEP AWAY from that copy of 'Atlas Shrugged'... ;)