I am really having a hard time with the new uniforms at work.

[newcrasher]

I am an educated professional. I am 40 years old and have a degree in finance. I worked as a Private Banker for a ginormous bank. The pressure and culture of the banking industry led me to leave last year and pursue an education as a Respiratory Therapist.

I took a job as a registrar in the ER with a local hospital, which is part of a medium sized regional hospital organization. I took the job to get a foot in the door in the medical field, to recouperate from the stress of the past years of banking, and because they will help pay for my education.

It’s an entry level job, no doubt. But when I took it, the uniform was black slacks with a white Oxford shirt with the hospital logo on the breast pocket. I was sensitive to what I would have to wear because I live in this community and will see people in know almost daily. Also, the hospital is very hierarchical, with what you wear, be it the color of your scrubs or the presence of a lab coat, determining where you fit in. The uniform I had was pretty benign.

Now, I have been in the job 90 days and they have changed the uniform. Now it is the same black slacks, but with a blue Oxford shit and black vest with the hospital logo on the pocket.

My problems with the uniform:

It is made very cheaply. 100% polyester and the buttons are already loose.

It is impossible to match the black of your pant to the black of the vest. I used to wear suits every day and if you saw someone wearing suit pieces that didn’t match, it usually meant they were struggling financially and couldn’t afford to buy a suit.

It is the same uniform as the food service workers in the cafeteria. I know this may sound pretensious, but that is not where I had planned to position myself when I took this job. Nurses (jokingly) ask me if I am a waiter EVERY DAY. After something went wrong (which was not my fault) a nurse, kiddingly, said “that’s what happens when you have the cafeteria workers working the ER”.

I find the uniform demeaning. It looks like a cheap cross between someone who works in a cafeteria and bell hop. As I said, I see people I know daily at work and frankly it’s embarrassing.

At 90 days you can transfer out to another position. I have applied for a transfer already. There are positive reasons for the transfer, I’m not just fleeing the horrid uniforms.

I told my supervisor that I was not happy at all with the uniform and I wasn’t aware that I would be dressed as a waiter when I took the job. He said the decision was made at the corporate office in an attempt to make us look more classy. All we look is cheap.

[Jaymosch]

I don’t think anyone will confuse it for mismatched suit separates.

On the plus side, if you look like a bellhop maybe you will start getting tips.

[YogSothoth]

You should use your uniform as an excuse to have hilarious mishaps at work, like accidentally microwaving a kidney for lunch or spilling soda in a patient’s open chest cavity

[newcrasher]

@YogSosoth

You should use your uniform as an excuse to have hilarious mishaps at work, like accidentally microwaving a kidney for lunch or spilling soda in a patient’s open chest cavity

Madcap capers?

[tomcar]

The corporate uniform industry is deplorable.
I could pick out a more dignified, attractive uni in my sleep. You have to remember that corporate drones have poor taste across the board. They design places like Applebee’s, live in their McMansions, and go on all inclusive vacations.

[Ike_Witt]

@newcrasher

I took the job to get a foot in the door in the medical field, to recouperate from the stress of the past years of banking, and because they will help pay for my education.

You took a job in the medical field to get rid of stress?

[Silence_Lenore]

If you get a transfer then problem solved. But…

(The following suggestion is based on my assumption that as a former private banker, you have the funds. If I assume incorrectly, then never mind.)

…if you don’t, would it be within the rules to wear a vest that you had made? It should be pretty easy to find a seamstress or tailor that could make a vest out of nice fabric that matches the pants but looks like the cheap ones. You can even get the logo embroidered on it - there are embroidery machines that can copy the logo. It might not prevent people thinking you wandered in from the caff, but at least you won’t get that ugh feeling the cheap polyester one gives you each time you button it up.

[Skammer]

@newcrasher

The pressure and culture of the banking industry led me to leave last year and pursue an education as a Respiratory Therapist.

I took a job as a registrar in the ER with a local hospital,

I sympathize with your uniform problem, but this made me giggle. “I can’t take the pressure anymore! I need a less stressful career! Maybe an ER job is right for me.”

[newcrasher]

@Ike_Witt

You took a job in the medical field to get rid of stress?

I sympathize with your uniform problem, but this made me giggle. “I can’t take the pressure anymore! I need a less stressful career! Maybe an ER job is right for me.”

Believe it or not, compared to the stress of banking, this is a breeze.

I guess I should differentiate between stress and pressure. The ER gets busy and it can get stressful. But at the end of the madness we all look around and collectively go “whew!” and we feel pretty accomplished.

In banking there was pressure and every time you hit a goal they raised the bar. Your job was always in jeopardy and the was tremendous pressure to sell, even if people don’t need what you are selling. It was constant and part of the culture. If you got good at your job, they ratchet up the pressure again.

[Doug_K]

@newcrasher

Now it is the same black slacks, but with a blue Oxford shit and black vest with the hospital logo on the pocket.

I think I’d be upset about having to wear shit no matter what color it was.

[bump]

@newcrasher

a blue Oxford shit

I’ve eaten quite a few meals in Oxford (and got rid of them later there too), but that’s never happened to me!

[Dung_Beetle]

@newcrasher

At 90 days you can transfer out to another position. I have applied for a transfer already. There are positive reasons for the transfer, I’m not just fleeing the horrid uniforms.

I wouldn’t blame you if you were.

After several years of working in retail and restaurants, I finally landed a job where I could wear my own clothes. I was so happy to put into practice all I had heard about dressing professionally, and always wore the nicest office-appropriate clothes I could find. However, there were other people in the department who would come to work wearing T-shirts with holes in them, or bleach-stained jeans. The administration decided to solve this problem by having us all wear khakis and polo shirts. I think that was the first time my husband ever saw me cry. I was ready to move on to a different job, luckily, after I strongly expressed my views to my supervisor, the uniforms became optional.

[Rachellelogram]

Maybe you could take a class to become an xray tech, or something. Then you could wear cheap scrubs, instead! Hey, at least they’re all-cotton.

[applebetty]

No, most scrubs are made of 65% poly, 45% cotton, just like bedsheets, and just as comfortable.

From ER you could go to admit or other areas where there is a choice in dress.

[SeaDragonTattoo]

Is there any chance you could email someone in corporate, or HR, and bring up the fact that they changed the uniforms to look just like the cafeteria workers and that nurses and other staff are mocking the uniform? I think that’s a significant point to make, and should be heard. Perhaps even take comparison pictures and send them with the email to show that now they’ve made administrative staff look like food service workers. Thanks for coming to the ER, here’s your insurance card back, would you like fries with that? Maybe they should add a drive-thru.

[newcrasher]

@applebetty

No, most scrubs are made of 65% poly, 45% cotton, just like bedsheets, and just as comfortable.

From ER you could go to admit or other areas where there is a choice in dress.

I work in ER Admit!

[Emtar_KronJonDerSohn]

My work changed uniforms last year. They look fine on their own, but the shirts are 100% synthetic and the pants are a conflicting natural fiber. It’s a perfect storm for static electricity.

[Zsofia]

And here I’ve been pissed that all of us masters’ degreed professionals suddenly have to wear an ugly huge fucking nametag, which makes us feel like we’re running the fryolater AND invites inappropriate and gross intimacy with patrons. Urgh, it’s so rude to call somebody by their name if you got it off a nametag.

But at least I don’t have to wear anything polyester.

[Acsenray]

@newcrasher

It is impossible to match the black of your pant to the black of the vest. I used to wear suits every day and if you saw someone wearing suit pieces that didn’t match, it usually meant they were struggling financially and couldn’t afford to buy a suit.

Surely this kind of superficial nonsense is one of the reasons you left the finance industry?

[GrandWino]

@SeaDragonTattoo

Is there any chance you could email someone in corporate, or HR, and bring up the fact that they changed the uniforms to look just like the cafeteria workers and that nurses and other staff are mocking the uniform? I think that’s a significant point to make, and should be heard. Perhaps even take comparison pictures and send them with the email to show that now they’ve made administrative staff look like food service workers. Thanks for coming to the ER, here’s your insurance card back, would you like fries with that? Maybe they should add a drive-thru.

Is there no pride in being a food-service worker?