just curious how other people would handle this, seeing as how I am an unapologetic slob.
So a pen snuck into my dryer, and as a result about half of my business clothes have a few well set in blue ink spots, maybe 2-20 per article, 1/4 inch diameter max.I will try various alchemy to remove it, but experience tells me, they will remain noticeably spotted forever.
As a slob my reaction is to not really give a shit. I only wear the damn things because the corporate rules make me, I would be much happier in T-shirt and shorts like any normal person,So after failing to remove the spots I will just continue to wear them. Most of many shirts tend to dark blue, so the effect is lessened, but the lighter shirts and pants(all my work pants are tan) are clearly stained.
There is a less than 1% chance anybody at work will ever say a thing, Since I work in IT, and damn good at my job, and have established the slob thing already.
How many people are in the don’t give a shit camp with me, and how many would abandon hundreds of dollars of work clothes? All of them must go? Only the worst? Anything more than a shade or two off shirt color?
They would join their fellow ink-stained compatriots in the box of shame where they languish in darkness until I pull them out months later to continue to mourn their loss and than redeposit them in the box for a few more months.
If it was me, I’d toss them in the rag bag, and if I was your employer and you wore them, there’d be a 100% chance of me saying something, your mad skills nothwithstanding.
However, it isn’t and I’m not so if neither of you care, do whatever you feel comfortable with.
I’d buy a box of navy Dylon and dye everything navy. Chinos would be fine in navy.
Everything I own has crazy patterns, precisely so you can’t see any stains, ever. Because secretly I don’t care if my clothes are stained, but women are judged differently than men.
Actually there is a great deal of enjoyment in it. I can take the 200+ bucks I would waste on new clothes and instead by something enjoyable for me, or an enjoyable present for someone else, or give to charity etc. I can’t think think of anything less enjoyable to do with it then spending it on unneeded clothes.
Sorry, but you can’t wear them no more. You will look like a slob, an idiot and a dork, and all of them in a bad way, not in a good carefree above-it-all hipster way.
There are a few options open to you. You’ve got light blue and dark blue as clothes options, right? So take all the stained stuff to someone who will dye it a color in between ink blue and work-dark-blue. Or some other dark hue, black or brown. For a slob, this is a total win-win, because all your newly dyed clothes will now match each other.
Often laundry services will offer this option. There are home dyes, but don’t use them: you seriously have got to know what you are doing, and there is a risk you will stain a lot of other things (besides fabrics)in the process.
Your other option for the shirts, is to buy a nice sweater or vest and to wear it *over *the stained clothes. The collars are still nice, right?
The Box of Shame?
I thought that was reserved for those items of clothing which seemed like a good idea when purchased, but which, upon reflection, were only worn once. They are too good to throw out, but I am not likely to wear them in public again.
Wonderful. I like wearing nice clothes, doesn’t mean everyone has to. I also think it is reasonable for a business owner/manager to require employees on work hours to be presentable, if that’s how they want to run their business. Clothes that have holes, stains, or odors don’t meet the mark.
But they’re not “unneeded”. You stained your clothes with ink. If you cannot get the stains out, you need new clothes. If you don’t feel like you do, then that’s your call, but most people will see your stained clothes and think you’re too poor, lazy, or cheap to buy new clothes, and they will judge you accordingly. Not giving a crap about your professional appearance tends to give people the impression you don’t give a crap about anything, and that can have professional consequences.
Perhaps you could split the difference and buy some used work clothes at Goodwill or what have you and throw away the stained stuff. Most of my husband’s job-in-IT work clothes are very nice stuff that came from thrift stores, things that looked practically unworn and are decent brands, from Old Navy to Banana Republic, but cost between $5-10 per item. You could spend $75 and have a whole new wardrobe.