Life and Pants

[Richter]

A lot of people say outright that they hate their job.  I'm not one of them.  The work is decent, provides a challenge off and on, and pays well.  It is developing decently of its own accord should nothing better to swap over to come up.  I don't hate the people.   For the most part they're good folks.  Human certainly, but if they're playing less savory humanity, it's not at my face or trying to be sneaky at me.  I don't hate the minutia, the duties, or the bureaucracy, since they're my favorite part of the machine to grind away at.  What I hate are the Pants.  Not that I dislike khaki slacks, but it's the fact that I have to put them on 4 days out of 7 just to meet pretense at the door.  They start to symbolize having to put on a different face, one for "professional" interaction.  This face is effortless in practice, and often lapsed from, but whose stifling nature is all about making sure that people do things for other people who could never command respect to get them done otherwise.  You can be nice, just not close, affable, and just not friendly.  I'd rather just be easygoing and blunt, without this mandated sterile mockery of interaction.  I've been told outright I'm a completely different person outside of work.  I walk in the door and the face gets gray out of practice.  I get home and I just about want to tear the "Dockers" off my ass.  I can't resume normal cruising attitude and coloring with those things on.

I wonder how my job could be if we could show up, reliably in t-shirt and jeans every day.  Would we all, young adult, career professional, empty nester, and outright weirdo relax a bit more, like we were working constantly under the auspices of a casual Friday?  Could I run smoothly from waking up shooting the shit with roommates and whoever is hanging around to work and back without having to shift gears?  How would it be if I could show up in a kilt?  Or, god forbid, a bath towel if I felt that a single wrap of soft terrycloth was what suited the mood and tone of the day?  (Well, maybe not, someone else I DON'T want to look at might do it too.)  Utopian bullshit, likely, but it never hurts to remove small irritants.  When they're forced right next to use they get old fast. Sort of like how few grains of sand on bed sheets, or a rock in your shoe is intolerable, but sleeping on a sand or gravel beach is fine.

Life would be so much better without pants.     

[hooplala]

Amen brother.

I don't have to dress up for my job, I can wear tshirts and jeans every day... I sometimes desire dressing up a bit more just out of a sense of change.  Anything gets boring after a while I guess.  Sometimes I find myself bitching about my job, and I photoshop porn... I have to tell myself to STFU a lot.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Best job I ever had in my life was extreme casual dress.  I miss it every day!

[LMNO]

Best job I ever had in my life was extreme casual dress.  I miss it every day!

Is that like lingere and pajamas, or something?

[Richter]

Like I said: Towel.    It'd be damn well awesome to take that refreshed feeling I get when I walk out of the shower in a towel, and get cooled off by the breeze (because every windows in the place is OPEN), and work with that vibe for the rest of the day.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Best job I ever had in my life was extreme casual dress.  I miss it every day!

Is that like lingere and pajamas, or something?

Well, I have been known to go in in the t-shirt and boxers I slept in with my fuzzy slippers on.  I usually changed before the day was out.  It actually depended on how hungover I was.  This was also when I was first seperated and I did the "bar scene" a lot. 

I could have gone in in lingere, I really doubt anyone would have said a word.

[Jenne]

Working from home, man, it's the way to go!  I sit in my pj's for the first 4 hours of my shift almost every day.  It's pretty much awesomeness in a can wiff cheese.

[Cainad (dec.)]

If I could wear costumes to work whenever I wanted, I would be quite happy. ANY excuse to wear a costume puts me in a good mood, really. Halloween does not come often enough.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Get a job at DisneyLand 

[LMNO]

Not to take away from the OP, but there's something to be said for a good pair of pants.

I mean, one of the few lucky things about being male is that, for the most part, it's pretty easy to look sharp whenever you want (provided you stay far away from pleats).  A pair of flat-front slacks, button down shirt, half windsor knot, a bit of polish on the shoes, cufflinks if you're lucky, top it with a hat, and... pow!

I don't see the Pants as a means of conformity; I see it as an opportunity to look good.

[Richter]

Not to take away from the OP, but there's something to be said for a good pair of pants.

I mean, one of the few lucky things about being male is that, for the most part, it's pretty easy to look sharp whenever you want (provided you stay far away from pleats).  A pair of flat-front slacks, button down shirt, half windsor knot, a bit of polish on the shoes, cufflinks if you're lucky, top it with a hat, and... pow!

I don't see the Pants as a means of conformity; I see it as an opportunity to look good.

Disclaimer not needed.  This isn't about not liking to look GOOD now and then.  It's more about the fact that it's required.  On occasion of formal stuff, I totally agree with you, I love the feel of "dressed to kill".  When it's called for, I LIKE to be pretty in the modern male sense.  Correct motorcycle on the hat too.  When a buddy of mine graduated last spring, we both came in dressed as such (hats invovled), put on our professional faces, and waltzed into the University President's breakfast for important folks, helped ourselves, shot the shit, and left without so much as a glance or word of complaint.  We didn't look or act like young punks, and got food and face time with some of the local to - do for our trouble. 

What wears on me more is the requirement to TRY to look good.  Most days, I slack.  The HR's dress code doesn't say shit about certain points, so I cut those corners in favor of trying to be comfortable.  I don't do any face - to - face interaction, and my co workers consistently look even worse than I do.  People look half assed, and FEEL half assed.  That's what bugs me, getting taken away form the natural, "comfortable in my skin", "this is how I like to look", feel, and having it replaced with that.

Get a job at DisneyLand 

That'd be even WORSE, I think.   Unless you were REALLY in to that character.

[Richter]

Amen brother.

I don't have to dress up for my job, I can wear tshirts and jeans every day... I sometimes desire dressing up a bit more just out of a sense of change.  Anything gets boring after a while I guess.  Sometimes I find myself bitching about my job, and I photoshop porn... I have to tell myself to STFU a lot.

Thanks, and obligatory "You lucky bastard!".

I get the urge to rock a sport coat or tux vest at the office now and then.  People usually jsut ask if I was at an interview somewhere else though.

[Suu]

When I started working more from home, I realized that even though comfort is a wonderful thing, it can also hinder my abilities. Now I make sure I get a shower and get dressed into actual clothes suitable to wear outside when I start sewing or design work on the computer. It helps me maintain more of a "I'm working now" ethic, instead of, "Wee! I'm in my PJs and I don't want to move from my comp chair because I don't have to!"

I do miss dressing nice for work everyday, It wasn't always glorious, but it did make me feel like I was worth something a bit more.

Then again, I'm also a girl, and nothing says, "I'm awesome and I'm going to go kick ass" than tailored clothing, 3" heels and lipstick.

[LMNO]

Then again, I'm also a girl, and nothing says, "I'm awesome and I'm going to go kick ass" than tailored clothing, 3" heels and lipstick.

Fuck yeah.

[hooplala]

When I started working more from home, I realized that even though comfort is a wonderful thing, it can also hinder my abilities. Now I make sure I get a shower and get dressed into actual clothes suitable to wear outside when I start sewing or design work on the computer. It helps me maintain more of a "I'm working now" ethic, instead of, "Wee! I'm in my PJs and I don't want to move from my comp chair because I don't have to!"

I do miss dressing nice for work everyday, It wasn't always glorious, but it did make me feel like I was worth something a bit more.

Then again, I'm also a girl, and nothing says, "I'm awesome and I'm going to go kick ass" than tailored clothing, 3" heels and lipstick.

What about fishnets?