# Wear a Tie at Work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534 "2004-04-06T13:14:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoldOnThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@HoldOnThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldOnThere)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/1 "2004-04-06T13:14:38Z")
I work at an insurance company where we still dress ‘business formal’, meaning we wear ties and occasionally suits, except for the summer. I thought most companies are now ‘business casual’. Does anybody else have to wear a tie to work, or is the insurance / finance industry living in a bubble? ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/2 "2004-04-06T13:17:51Z")
English venture capitalist here: Suit and tie are pretty much de riguer here. There were moves in the city to have dress down fridays etc, but the recent squeeze on the sector has seen all that go out the window. Even back office staff are expected to dress formally. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/3 "2004-04-06T13:32:35Z")
This job and the previous one were the first two I never had to wear a tie. I had gotten used to it, but golf shirts and khakis are so much more comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/4 "2004-04-06T13:45:56Z")
Ties are expected here too and I’m a programmer and for the most part don’t do any customer facing. No suits expected except for sales people and consultants. At some of the other offices they go for casual, so if I’m out at one of those then no tie. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/5 "2004-04-06T13:51:33Z")
Another programmer here. County Government. Jeans, sandles, shorts. Pretty much anything goes as long as it’s clean. ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/6 "2004-04-06T14:03:15Z")
Clothing is pretty much optional here. 🙂 I am a sahm, sport bra and shorts most of the summer ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/7 "2004-04-06T14:09:31Z")
Guidelines direct from the president of the company I work for: Shirts with collars. No sneakers or hats. Dress like you’re in The Matrix and you’ll be fine. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/8 "2004-04-06T14:09:44Z")
The only time I see ties around here is when someone has to do a presentation to a high mucky-muck, although most of the executroid-types do wear suits daily. To take the female equivalent, I have never worn a dress or skirt in the whole time I’ve worked here. Mostly jeans, occasionally nicer slacks, but never something that requires hose. Then again, I’ve had to crawl around on semi-disassembled aircraft - it’s a grubby job calling for grubby attire. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/9 "2004-04-06T14:14:45Z")
English programmer here shirt & tie mandatory except on Fridays ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/10 "2004-04-06T14:50:29Z")
Around my office, it is\* very strange - some folks wear business formal (ties, suits, etc.), some wear jeans. We all kind of wear whatever we want - for example today, my one boss is wearing a suit complete with tie, the accountant type person who sits next to me is in a dress and heels, the other admin type person is wearing a pantsuit, one of my other bosses is wearing khakis and a golf shirt, most of the other guys are wearing jeans and t-shirts, and I’m wearing jeans, a regular old shirt and sneakers. It’s an engineering R&D kind of environment - we’re “quirky” I suppose. \*I know “it is” sounds awful - I can’t remember if I’m supposed to put an apostrophe in “it’s” or make it “its” so rather than look stupid I spelled it out. Then added a disclaimer. So now I REALLY look like an idiot. Good God - Monday, the Sequel… ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/11 "2004-04-06T14:54:05Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > Guidelines direct from the president of the company I work for: Shirts with collars. No sneakers or hats. Dress like you’re in The Matrix and you’ll be fine. 😃 But what if you don’t look good in PVC and leather? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/12 "2004-04-06T15:08:25Z")
At my last job, yes. Strangely enough, at my present job which pays twice my last and is as a senior executive, no ties except at board meetings. I ain’t complaining. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/13 "2004-04-06T15:22:37Z")
Yep, full suit with tie, everyday, all day long. But that is what court’s require and since there are few days when I’m not in some court hearing, or may be called to one on fairly short notice, I have to wear one every day. (unless the court goes dark) With my job and church, I only wear casual clothes on weekends - I bought jeans for the first time in 6 years last week. Sucks to be me. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/14 "2004-04-06T15:27:12Z")
Could casual offices be more common in the U.S. than elsewhere? I noticed that **Small Clanger** does essentially a back office job, and is expected to wear a tie, and he’s English. Of course there’s wide geographical variations within the U.S., with Los Angeles probably being the most casual big city. There are also wide variations by industry; for example, banks and law offices still seem to be very dressy. My own employer, which is in the entertainment sector, has a khakis-during-the-week-jeans-on-Friday policy, meaning that jeans are officially frowned upon most of the week. Yet, there are some who wear jeans every day, and I’ve never once heard of anyone being let go or otherwise disciplined for doing so. And I’ve been here 5 1/2 years and have seen several rounds of layoffs. So that’s the long answer. The short answer? Almost nobody wears a tie here. There was one guy high up in my department (IT), one reporting level away from the company president, who wore a tie every day…and he was let go in a middle-management purge! ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/15 "2004-04-06T15:42:53Z")
Last 2 jobs (corporate internal auditor positions) required professional dress (including ties for the men) every day except for designated casual days. When we went to the plants, business casual was fine - no ties for the men, but khakis & a nice shirt were required. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/16 "2004-04-06T15:52:59Z")
The official dress code for my company (one of the top five civil engineering firms - _not_ Halliburton) is dress shirts and ties. But my office doesn’t follow it. Austin is a very casual town and none of our clients (mostly government) wear ties so we follow suit to not make them uncomfortable. I wear skirts and heels because I _like_ skirts and heels but I could wear khakis (shudder) if I chose… ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/17 "2004-04-06T16:10:03Z")
I can wear jeans, t-shirts, cap, sneakers on a daily basis. When they announced “Business casual day” in honor of our new overlords, we were expected to wear collared shirts, slacks (dockers were fine), and shoes (no sneakers). I couldn’t wear a tie to work if I wanted to. I work in an office full of women. If I wore a tie, they’d never get any work done. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HoldOnThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@HoldOnThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldOnThere)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/18 "2004-04-06T16:25:08Z")
As a followup, about 10 years ago I worked for a Japanese firm in the US. It was business casual every day except if you were meeting with people outside the company, then you have to dress up. I had a vendor come in for a two day visit so I put on a suit for the first day while the rest of the company was casual. The vendor, trying to conform to our standards, showed up casual the first day. On the second day, I switched back to casual and the vendor came in wearing a suit. Who ya gonna please? ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/19 "2004-04-06T16:41:19Z")
I work in a call center, with only verbal public contact, but years ago we had to wear “appropriate business attire.” I could never figure it out, because the only people we ever saw were co-workers. It’s been relaxed, now, so pretty much anything goes. No ripped or torn clothing, no graphics any larger than a pocket size on a t-shirt, etc. It’s t-shirts, jeans and sneakers for me. My husband, on the other hand, is a bit more regulated. When he lived in the UK (he’s a Brummie by birth) he wore suits to work ALL the time. Dress shoes, trousers with matching jacket, long-sleeved dress shirts if he ever wanted to take his jacket off, and the obligatory tie. Then he moved to the US and obtained a job doing the SAME work. He now wears Dockers-type trousers and polo or golf-type shirts. You know, basically a t-shirt with a collar. He still wears nice shoes but if he ever has to go in at night or on a weekend it’s casual all the way. Much more reasonable. He’s a computer geek and the only “customers” he interfaces with are those he works with daily. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534/20 "2004-04-06T16:57:57Z")
I haven’t worked at a job that requires a hangman’s noose, err, tie, since i got out of college in '92, and i never plan to, i hate ties (and suits) with a burning passion my current job, a Mac repair tech at Small Dog Electronics in Waitsfield Vt, is completely casual, in fact, ties are _OUTLAWED_, if Don (the owner) catches you wearing one, he’ll cut it off 😃 death to ties [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wear-a-tie-at-work/238534.md?page=2)