When I started my new job a little over a year ago, I made sure to dress nicely on the first day.
I wore a shirt, tie and jacket like I had at previous jobs. The jacket matched the pants I wore pretty well, so much so that people thought I had worn a suit.
My boss pulled me aside later in the day, told me she appreciated that I cared so much about my appearance, but that I didn’t need to dress that well each day.
I inquired further and found out that I didn’t even need to wear a tie each day. Better yet, I could wear jeans on Fridays as long as I didn’t have to meet with anyone important.
Score.
I had waited so long for this. That’s not a slight at my previous two jobs. The dress expectations made perfect sense. But the jobs I held in the newspaper industry before that usually allowed me to dress pretty casually.
I relished the idea of just putting on a shirt and nice pants without worrying about which tie would match. I really appreciated the opportunity to throw on a pair of jeans at the end of the week before heading to work.
Sure, it didn’t equal the fun of wearing shorts to cover a baseball game in the summer or throwing on sweatpants to work an overnight shift in the newsroom, but I really liked this new dress code. The change made perfect sense because it continued a pattern I have witnessed my whole life.
I started out by going to Catholic school where I had to wear a tie all the way through high school. Then I got to college and could wear whatever I want. That transitioned easily into my carefree newspaper days with the exception of a couple of years when I had to look the part of a professional news reporter.
When I went into public relations, the ties came back out for eight years up until last December. The problem with my new situation is that I kind of miss my ties after a year.
I don’t really miss wearing them with some of my shirts which are a little tight around the neck. But I do have some shirts which really don’t look as good without a tie. I also have some pretty cool ties which I wish I could wear once in a while.
Nothing about my new job prevents me from wearing a tie when I feel like it. I just never seriously consider the idea. I see the rack of ties hanging there every morning and have a fleeting idea about grabbing one, then I remember that I don’t have to or something shiny catches my attention so I get ready for work like usual.
With the new year under way, I might just change that. Maybe I’ll throw a tie on once in a while to mix up the routine. Of course I’ll have to answer questions and endure jokes for a while about why I decided to wear a tie, but that won’t be too bad.
I just need to remember no sweatpants at work. I miss those days, but not enough to push the envelope that far.
Brian, what if your wore a tie and the sweat pants? They would compensate each other to arrive at neutral on the dressiness scale, and you may just start a new trend. You could be looking good and feeling good all at the same time.