# Dress codes at work **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 23, 2007, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139 "2007-03-23T06:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![yahwc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/aeb1de/32.png) [@yahwc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yahwc)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139/61 "2007-04-01T13:19:56Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Nah, the purpose of dress codes is people with power and money lording it over those who have less power and money. “This is how you will dress, serfs.” Don’t mistake the rationale and pretense for the substance. [/QUOTE] Where I work, the man in charge also follows the dress code. Why would he do that if it was to lord over other people? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139/62 "2007-04-01T15:59:33Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] :rolleyes: Or, it’s about the people who own a company wishing to project a certain image to their clients. You’re really imagining some evil CEO cackling and rubbing his hands together at the thought of oppressing his employees with ties and pantyhose, aren’t you? I assure you, said CEO is far too busy raiding their pension fund to concern himself with their attire. [/quote] No, actually, I’m thinking about some mindless upper middle class drone who thinks her values are so much better than anyone else’s that she unthinkingly applies them to others. In any even, you, too, seem to be mistaking the rationale for the motive. As for the CEO and the pension fund, I suspect the CEOs who raid pension funds also find sanctimonious twaddle of the sort generally associated with dress codes very good cover for their pension-raiding and such. > [@](#): > > I’d love to wear jeans to work, but it’s simply not appropriate for my workplace. So I can continue to work for my current employer in clothes that aren’t my first preference, or I can leave and take a job where I can wear jeans. If my primary criteria for selecting a job was wardrobe, that’s what I’d do. But it’s not (and I think that’s true for most people) so I suck it up and wear the appropriate clothing. I also refrain from belching the alphabet in front of clients. I don’t consider either of these things to be an unreasonable sacrifice on my part. Whatever. We all gotta put up with shit from On High to live to varying extents, me as much as you. I just don’t know why so many people aren’t willing to call dress codes what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139/63 "2007-04-01T16:03:51Z")
[QUOTE=yahwc] Where I work, the man in charge also follows the dress code. Why would he do that if it was to lord over other people? [/QUOTE] Because he, personally, likes to dress that way at work? ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139/64 "2007-04-01T16:14:49Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Whatever. We all gotta put up with shit from On High to live to varying extents, me as much as you. I just don’t know why so many people aren’t willing to call dress codes what they are. [/QUOTE] Ellucidate us please - what are dresss codes really? Another chance for ‘The Man’ to keep us down? ---
**Author:** ![yahwc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/aeb1de/32.png) [@yahwc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yahwc)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139/65 "2007-04-01T16:33:44Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Because he, personally, likes to dress that way at work? [/QUOTE] It’s possible, but he does wear jeans on fridays a lot of the time. If he prefers to wear jeans, why not wear them every day? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139/66 "2007-04-06T18:30:59Z")
Then there’s the folks that scoff at wearing things like steel toed shoes and lab coats…until something bad happens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dress-codes-at-work/397139.md?page=3)