Casual Friday - An excuse to dress even worse

[bremersm]

*Snob Alert*


I work for an IT company and the dress is pretty casual on a work day, but gets downright sloppy on Casual Friday. The typical Monday through Thursday attire for most is ill fitting Polos, baggy chinos and "dress" sneakers. This is the majority but some of my coworkers step it up a little with well fitting dress shirts and dress pants. I think I am the only one that ever wears a blazer.


Casual Friday; which can include shorts takes things from bad to worse. Graphic tees and cargo shorts are the norm.


Is anyone else's work place this bad?

[kenneth]

Yeah, mine is graphic tees and cargo shorts all week. Guy in IT wore a batman cape the other day.

[bremersm]

@Kenneth, was it dress up day? They need to keep that guy in his (bat)cave.

[tdig]

I work in consulting so the office is actually pretty decent. Our internal IT guys are typically in tucked in polos and khakis.

[thinker_random]

My company (business casual attire) has way too many people who wear...


Pleated pants

tennis shoes (not "dressy" just straight up tennis shoes) all week

baggy cargo khakis

tshirts or jerseys on Friday

untucked ill fitting polo or button up shirts

Ripped jeans on Fridays


Our helpdesk (where I work) are usually dressed nicer than most on Fridays just because our managers would throw a fit if we wore tshirts on Fridays. Others managers don't care.

[BYoung]

My office has casual dress every day. We don't even pretend like it's business casual. Shorts and flip flops are common. There's maybe five of us in an office of close to 100 people who look presentable. For perspective, today I'm in dark Levi's, boots (anticipating the rain), and a solid T-shirt (hey, it's a long weekend, cut me some slack) and I'm by far the best dressed male here.


@Kenneth, I'm going to give Batman the benefit of the doubt and just say...DragonCon.

[Bulldoggery]

ALWAYS give Batman the benefit of the doubt. Too many villains have had to learn that the hard way.

[Zack Malibu]

I work for a pretty major/known company, and the dress code for every department is a little different. My department is VERY casual (one guy wears ratty t-shirts, sneakers, and a baseball cap on a near daily basis). I prefer to dress up (the only day I'll really dress down is if I'm working on a Saturday, and in that case it's usually dark jeans and a solid color t-shirt or V-neck with a pair of Chucks or JP's). As far as Casual Fridays go, 9/10 Fridays I'm meeting people for dinner/drinks/etc. after work, so I probably dress as good if not better on Fridays than I do all week. For instance, today a lot of people are walking around in company logo t-shirts and jeans (contest they're running today). I'm rocking dress pants, a button down, and a tie. Rise above Casual Friday!

[bruschetta]

Kenneth, I always wondered where the cape was hidden. Maybe the answer is that it's not: Batman wears his cape visibly at all times. I guess that he could conceivably stuff the cape down the back of his pants.

[BB]

My workplace has very casual summers, but I'm glad that people generally look very respectable. I have, however, noticed that even people who wear collared shirts and well fitted clothes sometimes tend to wear odd color combinations. For example, *several* people dress all in slightly different shades of tan. Fairly regularly. I'm not sure what is going on there.

[thmage]

Mine's casual, graphic tees and shorts or jeans are common. The higher-ups or ladies dress better, but it's still very business casual. But I don't really mind, everyone looks presentable. I don't see anything wrong with wearing sneakers or t-shirts, as long as it's not dirty or falling apart.


Maybe my standards a lower cause I'm in Silicon Valley, but in my opinion, if someone's getting the work done, there's no reason they need to wear a suit.

[BB]

I don't think anyone is saying that people dressed casually, or even slovenly, must also be poor workers. I think people are saying that many people in modern workplaces don't care to present themselves in an attractive manner. It's a question of aesthetics, not effectiveness. And I think it would be hard to argue that aesthetics don't matter, since a casual glance at our culture shows that people make unconscious judgments all the time based on appearances.

[raoul duke]

Why do you give a shit? Wear what you like and let other people wear what they like without being a condescending asshole.

[frost]

Perhaps there's something you don't do well that other people like to gossip about on the internet? Do you have bad taste in music, books, diet? Are you perfect?


Climb off the horse skippy. Live and let live.

[BB]

If you two above are responding to me, then I don't think you all understand what I'm saying. I don't really care if other people choose to wear ugly clothes. But I'm saying that people who don't care about their appearance may pay for it -- job interviews, client relations, customer service, and many other social interactions all go better for people who look put together. It's unconscious, for the most part. But it's very, very real -- tons of psychological and sociological research backs up this observation.


Either way, yes, I think it's fine to say that other people have bad taste in music, television, food, and so on. It's ok to like a good burger. I'll say you have bad taste if you say McDonald's is better than Five Guys and Ray's Hellburger. And I think that's not a bad thing to say.


But thanks for misreading my statement and calling me an asshole! Sounds pretty judgmental if you ask me.