Ugly American, Day 6: She had to have been a little chilly

Now just in case you haven't been paying attention over the past few years or just in case you have just joined us, you should know that I am a bonifide, card carrying Redneck. I was born in the wilds of LA (Lower Alabama of course) raised on a farm and spent about 80% of my younger life working and playing outdoors. This, of course, earned me the trade mark farmers tan that inspired the term Redneck in the first place.

Because of this upbringing I am much more comfortable in jeans and a tee shirt (or flannel shirt in the winter) than a suit and tie. As a matter of fact, before we moved to Virginia, I could count the number of times I wore a tie on one hand and have a finger left over to pick my nose. Jeans, T-shirt and a comfy pair of sneakers are all I need to feel comfortable.

Now having said this little biography, I wish to state that even before this move, I was well aware of what “Dressing Business Professional” meant even though I had never had much need to do so. So when I received an invitation for a job interview with a prominent Supermarket chain and was told to dress business professional, I showered, shaved and put on my best suit. Silly me, I expected that when I got the Open House Interview that everyone there would be dressing in like fashions. Boy was I wrong!

So I walk into the waiting area where about twenty people were sitting waiting for their turn with an Interviewer. The first person I saw was a young lady (Term used loosely) who was dressed rather “interestingly.” She was wearing a very tight blouse, a extremely Mini Skirt, high black boots with fuzzy fringes and some sort of dark animal print leotards.

Now folks, I am not criticizing her for her tastes in clothing. No slut shaming or name calling involved. I do admit to a passing thought about exactly what kind of job she was applying for that counted that as business professional, but that is just my warped mind at work. She is free to wear whatever clothing she feels comfortable in where ever she wants.

On the other hand, IF she was applying for any of the management positions being interviewed for ( I am guessing this is the case since all they were interviewing for were high/mid level management positions.) then her dress was highly inappropriate. Most businesses don't want their grunt labor wearing that sort of clothing and certainly don't want their managers dressing that way. It is simply a matter of projecting a proper professional appearance that customers expect. She is free to dress any way she likes when not working, but most companies have pretty strict dress codes.

I ponder all of this because I have seen way to many cases where people dress like crap and then complain unfair treatment when Businesses will not hire them. As management myself, I have oftentimes had to deal with angry employees who came to work dressed like they just came out a strip club from the work entrance. As I grow older and people I work with get younger and younger, I see more of this happening all the time and it boggles my mind.

“Dress for success” and “Dress for the kind of job you want” are old sayings but still seem true to me. If your only goal is to be a fry tender at Wendy's for the rest of your life, then you can probably get away with dressing ever the heck you want. If you want to have a job with any sort of respect or future, you prolly wanna leave the vinyl mini skirt and animal print hose at home.