# Dress Code **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079 "2015-05-28T22:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/41 "2015-05-31T15:06:26Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > … Then SHE started. You know those suits they sell at Victoria’s Secret and you wonder what kind of office you could wear those to? … Shortly after that there was a cleavage amendment (ie, please don’t wear shirts or dresses where the neckline allows us to see your belly button). After the denim suit incident (It’s a business suit not jeans, I said NO denim except on Fridays) we started taking bets on the next revision. > … > Unfortunately she was still dating/living with my husbands friend so I had a few more years of putting up with her antics in (thankfully) non office related situations before … > > He was a really nice guy, he just had terrible taste in women. Seems to me more like he knew what he wanted and got it in spades 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/42 "2015-05-31T15:27:28Z")
Makes me glad we wear scrubs\*. My only challenge is navigating shoes-off-in-the-house households. I understand it’s your home, but it’s my workplace, and if I drop this syringe and it lands in my foot, we’re both in for a world of trouble. I offer a couple of workarounds: I can wear surgical booties over my shoes, or you can buy me a pair of size 9s in any slip on, toe-covering, heel-covering style you like and I’ll leave them at your door and change out of my regular shoes when I get there. But I will wear shoes. \*Although work is considering getting company name displaying scrubs, to which my only demands are that they better have at least 5 pockets and I better have at least 6 changes, because I’m \*not \*going to the laundromat midweek. I’m sure they’ll get the cheapest no-pocket surgical scrubs they can find and give us one set, or maybe two. We will have words. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/43 "2015-05-31T16:01:06Z")
When I was student teaching, we got a very detailed list of dress code rules, mostly “Do not wear this!” I imagined that there was a story behind every rule. Some of them were straightforward: no shirts with profanity, alcohol, sex, or illegal activity. Some of them were geenration-specific: no facial piercings. Some of them were questionable: no cleavage (which I understand is an issue in hot summer months for some women). My favorite two were a pair: No visible underwear; no visible lack of underwear. Our district is implementing a dress code update for teachers. The original draft was going to forbid denim, which would absolutely suck for kindergarten teachers and their denim dresses. Now it’s just jeans forbidden except on casual Fridays and similar events. While I understand where it’s coming from, I tend to think that teaching is a profession where professional appearance needs to be balanced with mobility: a teacher wearing business casual is less likely to join the kids in a game of soccer at recess or to schedule time for gardening, and that’s not a great thing. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/44 "2015-05-31T16:44:54Z")
Dress code where I work is simple: steel (or composite) toed boots, no profanity, no names/logos of competing companies. Anyone working in the freezer also needs to wear a big, puffy, and very, _very_ warm suit, which I’ve never heard them complain about. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/45 "2015-05-31T17:32:30Z")
Our company dress code is pretty loose… you’d have to be dressing like a hooker or a homeless person to violate it. But a few years back we had an HR director who seemed to feel the need every couple of weeks to send out an email reminding us of the dress code (with a copy attached). My guess was that he must have seen someone violating the dress code and rather than addressing it directly with the employee or their supervisor, he would just send out another “reminder” email to the entire facility. It got to the point where I had a whole folder full of his “dress code reminder” emails saved, with the intent that at some point when he sent a reminder out I was going to reply with copies of all his previous emails as attachments and saying “I already got one of these.” But then he wound up getting let go before I could do it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/46 "2015-05-31T17:32:35Z")
So, anybody out there still wearing (or seeing) gauchos at work? All of us contractors got to wear business casual, even the people working overnight. The government employees who work here walk around in jeans, tennis shoes, and t-shirts that aren’t tucked in. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/47 "2015-05-31T23:04:55Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > So, anybody out there still wearing (or seeing) gauchos at work? > > All of us contractors got to wear business casual, even the people working overnight. The government employees who work here walk around in jeans, tennis shoes, and t-shirts that aren’t tucked in. I’ve seen a couple of women wear ankle length gauchos (aka palazzo pants) in the summer. I mean it’s either really fashion forward, or really declasse’. Hard to tell. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/48 "2015-06-01T01:02:13Z")
Into the 90’s Delta Dental’s HQ (on the site of the old SF sight gag “Terminal Drugs” (drugstore at the terminal building)) had a dress code - your basic long-on-the-female, short-on-the-male BS, but a real, live dress code in a professional office in downtown San Francisco. The shop was seriously screwed up, but looked good! ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/49 "2015-06-01T01:43:00Z")
I’ve recently been informed that I should be wearing business attire to work. I work in Silicon Valley. My male counterparts have not gotten this little talk. :mad: I am still wearing jeans and polos. Candidly, I’m over-dressed. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/50 "2015-06-01T21:01:35Z")
A long time ago when it was still standard for men to wear ties to work; we were in a staff meeting to discuss the relaxation of our corporate dress code. It was easy to imagine what a new casual dress code would be like for men… basically what is now called “business casual.” Our manager then asked us about what would be acceptable for women to wear in a casual environment. I popped off with “I’ve always been fond of Saran Wrap.” The only woman in our department was an old friend of mine and thought it was hilarious and understood it for the joke that it was meant to be. My boss; not so much. I had to have ‘the talk’ about being sensitive about those around me. I haven’t worked for this guy in years, but through Friends of Friends I hear he still tells that story. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/51 "2015-06-02T04:41:54Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Makes me glad we wear scrubs\*. Scrubs. There was a time when I was going to my doctor’s office several times each week to get my blood pressure checked, which was done by a nurse. They all wore scrubs, of course, with all those little pictures on them. So there’s this one nurse with a shirt full of little drawings of _hypodermic needles and syringes_ :smack: Well gee, no wonder my blood pressure was always high there. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/52 "2015-06-02T04:43:23Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > When I first read this, I saw “cutoff pants” and it really confused me. Especially knowing how the gummint can be about dress codes. 😃 I saw a female census worker wearing a tee-shirt that said on the back “Broken down by age and sex.” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/53 "2015-06-02T12:29:20Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Scrubs. There was a time when I was going to my doctor’s office several times each week to get my blood pressure checked, which was done by a nurse. They all wore scrubs, of course, with all those little pictures on them. > > So there’s this one nurse with a shirt full of little drawings of _hypodermic needles and syringes_ :smack: > > Well gee, no wonder my blood pressure was always high there. Ha! Most of mine have butterflies or abstract shapes. I do have one Tinkerbell top that might raise the blood pressure just a bit. I don’t wear it often, because she’s quite literally presenting her ass in many of the pictures. She’s awfully saucy, that Tinkerbell. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/54 "2015-06-02T12:57:43Z")
The only thing I’ve ever lost review points for at a job was wearing a “tee-like shirt.” I pointed out that it wasn’t a tee shirt, but a blouse with short sleeves and no rickrack, bows, or buttons, and thus allowable. I was told it didn’t matter because it was “tee-like.” I was poor and the pay wasn’t much, and a few of those blouses had cost a lot, for me, so I continued to wear them. It’s not like there were promotions or merit pay raises that would be affected by my annual review. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/55 "2015-06-02T15:17:34Z")
I haven’t worked for a place with a dress code since the nineties. It is great for that. IT in Sweden doubly so. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/56 "2015-06-02T15:43:37Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I saw a female census worker wearing a tee-shirt that said on the back “Broken down by age and sex.” want!!! ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/57 "2015-06-02T15:47:41Z")
We have the business casual thing here and also the jeans day United Way stuff once a month or so. I’m pretty sure that if it wasn’t for the United Way pay-to-play, we’d be allowed to wear jeans whenever we wanted. They just want to keep the UW donations up. Otherwise the dress code is pretty forgiving. Upper management and their staff are pretty much the only ones who do the suit/tie thing. There is a lady in the mail department who wears inappropriately tight spandex/stretchy fabric stuff all the time, but it technically falls within the rules. I admire her moxie and how comfortable she is with her self and her body, but spandex is not office appropriate, no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/58 "2015-06-02T16:08:57Z")
My office just announced, last week with no hint of irony, Hawaiian Shirt Week. We are allowed to our favorite Hawaiian shirts for the week. The emailed announcement came complete with samples of appropriate Hawaiian shirts. No word on the new covers for the TPS reports, however, and Saturday is still starting at the regular time. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/59 "2015-06-02T16:18:37Z")
> [@FuriousGeorge](#): > > … > No word on the new covers for the TPS reports, however, and Saturday is still starting at the regular time. When they do come, you’re going to start using them, right? If you could, that would be greaat. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079/60 "2015-06-02T19:46:54Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I wear a suit and tie to work by preference And we’re, what, surprised by this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-code/721079.md?page=4)