Sunday, April 12, 2009

Jeans Suit Me Just Fine



I am not an unprofessional. When I'm at work, I am a stickler for regulation. It is actually one of the unspoken requirements of my position. No one can work that way 100% of the time but I do much more so than any one of my peers. Except in one aspect.

Professional attire.

I don't own a suit. It would be just fine with me if I never have to buy one. I don't think they look nice. I'm not a presidential candidate nor will I ever intend to be associated with anyone in politics.

I work with computers. Simply because I assist high ranking executives shouldn't force me to feel guilt for not wearing a clone suit like they do. I don't ride home in a black luxury car. I don't earn 6 - 8 figures. It is rare but on some occasions I do have to get into some really dirty places to do my job.

The problem is I don't know when these situations arise and I don't know when the executive helicopter will land.

Perhaps my lack of willingness to wear a leashed monkey suit has been detrimental to my career. I don't like to think that it may have kept me from obtaining a much higher income but I must acknowledge the possibility regardless of how unfair that may be.

If I reach a certain level of income I wouldn't mind wearing comfortable slacks but never a suit.

One of the major reasons why I don't like them is not because they are terribly uncomfortable and motion restrictive but because I don't think I look right in one. I feel like I look like one of those guys talking to the judge requesting a furlough wearing a rented suit.

It just doesn't look right. Let me wear my jeans, a t-shirt and some comfortable tennis shoes and I will do a noticeably better job. Not out of gratitude but as a direct result to my increased mobility and comfort.

Why doesn't Main St. understand this? How many of us actually deal with outside "customers" in business anymore?

3 comments:

Douglas said...

The last time I wore a suit at work was... never. I always wore jeans. Too many cable racks to crawl up on, or raised flooring to crawl under, or battery acid to deal with, or grease or diesel fuel (for the generators), or things to tear or snag shirts and pants while working behind equipment. the last suit I owned/wore was an Angel Flight 3 piece... And I some magician stuck a baby duck in my pants that night.

Gerardo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Totally with you on this. I wore a suit to that temp job I was doing a while ago remember - very annoying.

In TV you can wear what you want, have as many tatoos and piercings as you like and any hair colour, that's waht I love about this industry.
So I'm back to wearing jeans and trainers. It's a shame that people on the street in suits look down at you though. Or maybe it's only me.