Well, WOOKINPANUB, you did say “If you showed a modicum of awareness and assured me it was a one time thing, I’d leave it at that (secretly wondering how a grown man comes to work in stained clothes). If you continued to dress that way, I’d find out how I could legally get rid of you, as I would think you weren’t worthy of working at my company.” Does this not question the very worth of the person? Are you not literally saying that the person is so without value that despite the fact that they are extremely good at performing the tasks they were hired to do, the fact that they wear stained clothes somehow obliterates that value and necessitates getting rid of them?
By saying that you would wonder how a “grown man” comes to work in stained clothes, aren’t you saying that a willful refusal to comply with the established conventions of dress represents something more, perhaps a refusal to mature at all?
I don’t prefer to live in a world with “no standards whatsoever” because they don’t match yours. I prefer standards that involve having the skills and doing the job you were hired for… Standards that relate to something beyond superficial bullshit like stained clothes. The guy thinks his boss won’t care. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was wrong, since apparently it is near-universal to get upset when a citizen is out of uniform, but maybe he is right and he is valued for his work, not his clothes. If not, he will hopefully find a workplace that is a better fit for him.
AnaMen, in the interest of easier reading, I won’t quote your quote of my quote, but I am glad to respond.
I don’t believe you don’t understand"worthy" in the context in which I used it, but just in case English is not your first language and you genuinely do not, in this case it refers to being * deserving of *by exhibiting one’s sincere attempt at delivering what he has been contracted to deliver… Again, nothing remotely related to morality, or whether the OP is a good human being. It’s about being in another’s employ and showing that he cares enough to make an effort to be professional.
If one shows willful disregard for the rules that his employer sets, he is immature, in my opinion. Again, not an unworthy soul, just someone that indeed, does need to mature.
The “standards” in question are not my own, but society’s in general, as evidenced by the overwhelming response that the OP trash the clothes.
It is evident that the OP himelf knows there’s something, er, controversial, about his outlook just by the very fact that he started this thread. He KNOWS it’s socially / professionally unacceptable, or else he wouldn’t be asking.Not to mention he refers to himself as an “unapologetic slob”. He’s not asking for advice; he knows darn well what the reaction at work will be and has already decided what to do.He just wants to see how many agree with him. And he got his answer; not many.
If I were your boss, I’d tell you to go home and change. I don’t care how good you are, all it takes is one customer, client, representative, or whatever to see you and my department/company’s image is “that place that’s so slipshod they let some dude wear ink-spotted clothes and no one gives a damn”.
Of course, if I were your boss, I’d prefer you in a clean wrinkle-free t-shirt to a spotted, messy dress shirt.
As an IT manager, it’s an “attention to detail” thing for me more than anything else.
Corporate IT is ABOUT exacting standards and conformance to specification. If I see someone who can’t be bothered to do that with the standard business-casual “uniform” (and seriously, five dress shirts and two pairs of khakis from Sears. $150 max. I don’t care if you are rocking Ralph Lauren here), I assume they will also eventually take that attitude towards something like documentation or change management, or some other task that’s valuable to the business for intangible reasons but that for whatever reason he can justify not giving a shit about because it doesn’t matter to him.
I hope **wolfman **returns to tell us how he proceded, though I think we know. **Wolfie **, only you know your boss and your work environment, so like I said, do whatever serves you. But you asked . . .
Try acetone (you can buy pure acetone from a hardware store for dirt cheap, or use nail polish remover. Nail polish remover might have additional dyes and fragrances that may or may not affect your clothes), if that doesn’t work try ethanol (either 190 proof grain alcohol if it’s legal where you live, or 95% denatured ethanol from a hardware store). I’d be surprised if neither of those worked.
If the stains aren’t too bad and you’re sure no one will mind (remember that them truly not minding and them not thinking it’s a big enough deal to fire you over are two different things), by all means continue to wear some of them, but you’re going to need some new clothes so that you’re not wearing a completely stained outfit every day. It sucks to have to buy so many clothes at once, but maybe if you space it out over a few weeks it will sting less. Just think about it; once you have the new clothes, you won’t have to spend money on work clothes again for a couple years.
I’m with those who don’t get the whole “unapologetic slob” thing. I’m not some vain GQ model, and I occasionally go grocery shopping in my pajamas. But generally speaking I like to look like I’m not a hobo most of the time. Do you think people who wear deodorant and wash regularly are squares who care too much about what other people think they smell like? Probably not. Looking like a professional is the same sort of thing: it shows respect for the people around you as much as it serves you.
As far as the whole “Fuck the Man! I’m not a corporate drone, slave to the whims of the HR department! No necktie noose, khaki-and-button-down prison suit for me!” vibe some people are giving off, well I hate to be the one to break it to you but yeah, actually you are. You’re not an artist or travel writer or a chef, you’re a freaking IT guy at GeneriCorp. If you’re really so totally not a corporate prisoner stuck in the rat race like all the other people who work there who dress all professionally with their “clean clothes” and “ironed pants,” stop cashing the checks they give you every two weeks and go be a commercial fisherman, or a construction worker, or a stunt pilot, or a gold miner or whatever other job you can think of where clean clothes aren’t a part of the dress code.
WOOKINPANUB, the exact specifics of what one has “contracted to deliver” are perhaps the issue here. The fact that you would apparently actually ignore the fact that an employee is performing a job in a superior fashion (here we have only the worker’s word for this, but must accept it as a premise) and fire the employee for wearing stained shirts with the idea that this is symptomatic of a larger problem which has otherwise not manifested indicates bizarre priorities.
Zeriel, your assumption that not caring about stained clothing correlates to not being able to perform IT tasks seems pretty weak, in light of the fact that many on this board acknowledge that IT people dress “like mental patients,” etc. Maybe the nature of IT work attracts people who think in practical terms, like “I am covered, and have conformed to a literal interpretation of the dress code, which fortunately has neglected to forbid wearing ink-stained clothes, therefore I may go to work in these clothes.”
I don’t even see why the ink stains would be such a big deal, because wouldn’t most people assume the stain had occurred that day and few would expect he ought to scurry home and change just because his pen exploded on him? It’s not like he’s wearing smelly clothes he spilled food on and refuses to wash. Einstein didn’t seem to be big on combing his hair, but luckily some people were able to see past that.
hmm, I truly asked for opinions because I wanted them, but the opinions expressed have … surprised me. Can the mods exempt me from the cross posting prohibition if I start a Pit thread against this ,without moving this one, as the posts are enlightening here more so then they would be in the pit?
For those of you suggesting dye, it’s more than likely a bad idea.
Your typical Rit dye is made for cotton or natural fibers. In some cases, it might dye polyesters but my experience is that they do not do an even job. Even if the shirt is 100% cotton, the threads and buttons are not.
I tried to dye a white dress shirt black. The shirt itself was ok except that the thread and buttons stayed white and yeah, the stain got darker.
I’m intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Now, do I have a bunch of identical, nearly-worn-out shirts to throw in the dryer together with a pen or two? Unfortunately not.
Arguments like this lead to why some people eventually complain about their overbearing HR department and why they spend so much time issuing memos… because someone’s gotta play rules-lawyer with everything. Sort of like if you allow a certain amount of “acceptable lateness” in clocking in before there’s an actual tardiness penalty, you’re going to end up with someone who waits by the time clock exactly that long to clock in every single day, just because “it doesn’t say that I can’t do this!”
And seriously, either acetone or a little isopropyl alcohol, and next time try to not toss the stuff in the dryer if you see a stain while it’s still wet. Heat just sets stains and makes them tons harder to remove, though it’s possible ink may not be as affected in this way.
I love it when my clothes get stained. A few years ago, I took up oil painting on used clothing (going for “beautiful objects painted on ugly material”) and lately I’ve painting these pretty cool nudes on really gross stuff–clothing with rips, stains, you name it. SO when I see a stain, I go “Cool! A new canvas!” and toss into the “to prime” pile, and run out and buy myself a new one for less than a fresh canvas would have cost me, if I used fresh canvases.
No it doesn’t. Not in colloquial English. You probably just aren’t too skilled in the language. You think I’m wrong? How come everyone here was entirely familiar with Maastricht’s expression and what it meant except you?
You should ask her for English lessons. I know it’s embarrassing for a native speaker like you to have to ask a non-native like her, but sometimes when you lack a skill you just have to suck it up and ask for help.
