Folks at the office were very excited when we found out that we would get to observe “Casual Friday,” a dress-down day which, I suppose, was management’s way of providing a “perk” to improve moral and reward us for working all week. Somewhere someone probably learned in a management seminar that this was a good way to reward employees without spending money or straining the budget for real perks like raises and bonuses.
Apparently, there was some confusion about exactly what was meant by “casual.” This was quickly rectified by a classic memo, which I plan to frame some day after the person who wrote it retires or dies and can’t fire me. The memo said that the office would observe a casual day each Friday. Jeans should not be worn. Neither should sweats, shorts, tee-shirts, jogging, or bicycling attire – and, of course, tennis shoes would never be correct for the office. So, what’s left?
This reminds me of some other confusing terminology. “Dressy casual” seems to be the term in vogue at the present time. I overheard a woman who was shopping in a department store say that she was going on a cruise and needed some outfits that were “dressy casual.” Somehow this seems extremely ambiguous to me. What in the world is dressy casual?
The sales lady explained that it is skirts, blouses, dresses, shirts, pants, and sports jackets. That just sounds like regular daytime dress attire to me. Why call it such a confusing name? Sportswear is another thing I have never understood. Go in any department store and go to the Sportswear Department. Tell me if they have one thing there that you could play sports in.
I once saw an ingenious commercial on TV. The Secretary is at her desk in pink hair curlers and the boss in a bath towel. The voice-over says something to the effect of , “If we’re going to observe casual Friday, then let’s be casual.”
Do you suppose management really thought this is what could happen?
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Agree! Great write up. We were allowed to wear jeans, not faded or torn, and sports shoes on Casual Friday. No tank tops, or shorts. Now I see everything in offices. Yikes! One time a guy called me for a date and told me to wear “dressy casual.” My response, “What does that mean?” I ended up wearing a pants suit.
I now work in a theme park. As I watch the guests come into the store I frequently say to myself, “What made you think that was appropriate to wear in public?” Bra straps, sides, backs and top of the cups seem to be a “style.” Cell phone tucked into the bra also seems to be popular. Pants way too tight. I saw a girl in white cotton shorts with her skin tone showing through. I can only hope she had on a thong. A woman came in with her blouse open to “there” and no bra. By that time I was accustomed to seeing too much breast, but hers were hairy!
Men can be just as bad. I’ll skip the description. You can use your imagination. sd
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Oy! sounds as if you see it all. You could start a website like “People of Walmart” and call it “People of Theme Parks.”
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So essentially they want you to dress like a Target employee. That would have been a whole lot easier for them to say. In fact, they could have even partnered with Target and gave your co-workers access to their internal uniform site where you could buy your khakis and polos. Lovely.
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People just did what they wanted to do and nothing was ever said.
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What the hell is “Dressy Casual??” Lol
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I have no idea. 🙂
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So funny and true! ‘Dressy Casual’ is almost like saying – ‘Peace keeping forces’ – nothing peaceful or comfortable about it!
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Good analogy
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The office dress code! Always a tricky thing. At my last job flip flops were taboo. Employees whined. They had to wear them. Once a year there was a company picnic for lunch and employees went home afterward. Seriously it lasted about 2 hours max. Management relented and allowed flip flops just for the picnic. Someone slipped on the wet pavement around the soda barrels. She was on disability for a month. No flip flops!
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It seems as if common sense would dictate what is appropriate and what is not, but apparently a lot of people do not have common sense.
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Common sense is really not that common.
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