Dress Code Nightmares

Spring has officially sprung. And like snakes shedding their skins, employees tend to shed their office-appropriate winter wardrobe of sensible shoes, long pants, and concealing sweaters in favor of flip flops, short skirts, and revealing tops. So we want to know: What is your biggest problem when it comes to the office dress code?

Is it harder to keep people in line on the "little things" like flip flops (after all, who's looking at my feet?) or issues that are a little more subjective and personal (how low-cut is too far?). We've included the options in the poll that we could think of, but please feel free to check the "other" box and leave a reply with your answer. And, of course, we'd love to hear the stories that go along with your votes!

Comments

  • 25 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Jeans. Some of our admin employees think jeans can be worn everywhere.
  • And what about generally bad taste? Like wearing a beautiful peach suit with beautiful gold jewelry, and pseudo short cowboy boots with woolen socks that go up 1-2 inches above the boots? Or a black or navy suit with dark hose, a dark blouse, and bright white shoes?
  • We could start a "fashion nightmares" thread over on har-de-har-har. Of course, sometimes I feel like one of those myself.
  • Our biggest problem is a person (unfortunately she's our receptionist) who flat out doesn't know how to dress; professionally or otherwise...ever... SSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.
  • We have a couple of guys here that apparently have never heard of or seen an iron.
  • I was walking down the hall one day where I used to work and noticed that about 30 feet in front of me was a rather large woman (I'm not picking on large women, I'm a pretty big girl myself) who was wearing white "leggins." Remember when they were all the rage in the late 80s or early 90s? Anyway she did not have on a tunic top so her rather large backside was displayed quite clearly. Every detail. And, it bounced with every step she took.

    Anyway, in addition to tank tops, I have an aversion to tight clothes, pretty much on anyone whether they be large, small, or in between. :)
  • [QUOTE=Sharon McKnight, SPHR;715566]I was walking down the hall one day where I used to work and noticed that about 30 feet in front of me was a rather large woman (I'm not picking on large women, I'm a pretty big girl myself) who was wearing white "leggins." Remember when they were all the rage in the late 80s or early 90s? Anyway she did not have on a tunic top so her rather large backside was displayed quite clearly. Every detail. And, it bounced with every step she took.

    Anyway, in addition to tank tops, I have an aversion to tight clothes, pretty much on anyone whether they be large, small, or in between. :)[/QUOTE]

    Sharon, you reminded me of a couple of episodes we had around here with white leggings back in the day when they were so popular...one girl used to wear them with short tops and a variety of different-colored underwear that she apparently didn't realize showed through until someone explained it to her!

    Another girl showed up for a meeting in my office wearing white leggings, a short top, and either thong underwear or NO underwear, because when she turned around to walk out she had a hole in the seat of her leggings and we saw a lot more of her than we'd expected to!
  • You really have to stop and wonder whether they looked in the mirror that morning and said, "Oh, I look good!" I was out with friends Saturday and we saw a rather heavyset woman wearing an extrmely skin tight dress that was almost showing some private areas. She was with a group of friends, they let her go out like that?!? :-/
  • Julie Athey wrote an article about the sexual harassment case that's been making the news this week filed by a woman who was fired by Citibank because -- she claims -- she was too sexy. What do you think? There's a link at the end of the first paragraph with pictures of her that news reports say are from the woman's lawyer.

    [url]http://hrhero.com/hl/articles/2010/06/09/a-more-serious-take-on-debrahlee-lorenzana/[/url]
  • She is a very attractive girl with the kind of figure that will certainly get her a lot of male attention. I found that, for the most part, she was dressed appropriately in the first 30 photos; I would have a problem with the way she was dressed in the later photos.

    I already had a low opinion of Citibank, and this article did nothing to improve it. Asking her not to wear turtle necks is rediculous. Asking her not to wear tight clothing is different, and her turtleneck was a bit snug.

    An employee here who recently moved on had an excellent figure and often wore clothes that showed it off. None of her clothes were too tight, too short, or too low, but they were definitely designed to enhance her appearance. If any male employees had been ogling her they would have been warned to behave professionally. As long as the female's clothing is appropriate, she should not be blamed for the actions of men who aren't mature enough to handle their hormones around an attractive female.

    Just my 2 cents.
  • I agree, Nae, but in all the news reports I haven't seen a single account of men ogling her or otherwise behaving inappropriately about her appearance. If that really was going on, then my opinion of her case would certainly change.
  • Oh I don't think she has a case, not based on the information given. It does sound like Citibank reacted as if she were dressing provocatively, which was wrong. Being wrong and behaving illegally are not necessarily the same thing.

    If Citibank did indeed tell her she was dressing provocatively and distracting the men and when she didn't change, fire her, then that is, in a way, discrimination. What man gets fired for making women drool? Why hold her responsible for the men's inability to stay focused? However, even if true that doesn't follow that it rises to the level of illegal discrimination.

    I might feel differently if she was dressing the way she did in pictures 31 forward. In that case it would have been clear she was dressing in a way intended to distract. Of course, even that is subjective. 10 years from now the way she dressed in the later pictures may seem tame, or perhaps the way she is dressing now may seem outrageous. That's the trouble with opinions. Everyone's different, and they keep changing.
  • What I want to know is this: what exactly do the more sexy outfits/poses in the slideshow (31 - forward) have to do with anything?! In the rest of the pictures, she's just modeling outfits she says she wore to work, so if she's arguing that she always dressed professionally at work, why would she even want those more provocative outfits & poses included?

    She was on the t.v. show Inside Edition the other night and modeled a few of the outfits she said she wore and there was nothing wrong with them, although with her build I think it would be safe to say that unless she wore a burlap sack probably pretty much anything she might wear would definitely accentuate her figure.

    Between the more provocative pictures included in that slideshow and her Inside Edition appearance and all the press she's getting for this, I think the girl is doing an excellent job of putting herself out there...personally, I think she's hoping for some sort of celebrity-type career to come out of this.
  • cnghr, what you say about Inside Edition strengthens one of my suspicions. That is, it wouldn't surprise me if Debrahlee parlays her 15 minutes of fame into more fame on the reality-TV-show circuit. And why not? Others, like "Boston Rob" and Rupert on Survivor, appear to have made some decent $$$ over the years -- by hanging out on the beach, looking for hidden immunity idols, and just being real. Paul, you've watched Survivor very closely. How would Debrahlee do? tk
  • [QUOTE=cnghr;720016]
    Between the more provocative pictures included in that slideshow and her Inside Edition appearance and all the press she's getting for this, I think the girl is doing an excellent job of putting herself out there...personally, I think she's hoping for some sort of celebrity-type career to come out of this.[/QUOTE]

    It sure does seem that way, doesn't it? Why else would there be so much publicity about a simple arbitration case?

    Julie Athey
  • We have problems with some girls wearing low cut blouses to work. Tired of telling them what's appropriate and what's not.
  • I always click articles and posts about dress code nightmares because I'm expecting to find myself profiled to a tee. I am absolutely not the fashion hound and my general guideline for work attire is "is it clean" and "is it comfortable.

    With that said, I was reading a "10 Summer Office Fashion Don'ts" article this morning on CNN in my usual fear of finding any number of my own faux pas listed on there, but was pleasantly surprised to find that, at least for that article, I flew under the radar. Safe!!

    I do at least have the fashion awareness to dress up if I'm going to be emerging from my content cave and interacting with the public, but I consider the rarity of that a job benefit. :)
  • I pulled this still shot from our system... It shows one of our tellers moments before I walked into her branch. I don't believe I've seen a more substantial breach of dress code at any employer I've ever been with. I was astounded.

    Yes, that is a hot pink screen-printed t-shirt. The collar has been skillfully torn off to make it easier to wear off-the-shoulder. The teller defended this clothing choice by pointed out that she isn't revealing her bra - that black strap is to the swimsuit she's wearing underneath.

    This was on Friday... this morning, the branch manager was still surprised that I made such a big deal out of this.
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  • It never ceases to amaze me what some people think is okay to wear to work. Although we have gotten a bit more progressive with our dress code there are still some things that are absolutely NOT okay to wear on the teller line, and that is a perfect example of one of them!
  • Frank, please inform Ms. Flashdance that the Eighties are over.

    As for the woman in the news, I think its clear by her behavior that she is simply seeking attention and hoping for some notoriety from all of this. Its balloon boy all over again.
  • Well, I'm not ready to declare the '80s over yet. I found the Flashdance look atrocious then, though, so that's a moot point I guess.
  • Actually Paul, fashion-wise the 80s are back. At least for the young and trendy. Personally, I wore my Madonna lace gloves and Flashdance sweatshirt in middle school, so I won't be revisiting that fashion.

    Frank, I'm still chuckling at your teller telling you it was OK b/c it was a swimsuit and not a bra. Like you were going to respond, "A swimsuit? Oh, my bad. It's totally acceptable for you to wear your swimsuit to work. I apologize for thinking it was a bra."

    I've had a few friends work as tellers and other "front" positions at banks and they have had, by far, the strictest dress codes of anyone else I know. They may not have to wear the "fanciest" clothes but there were very clear guidelines -- some even to the point of "Monday = black pants and solid color button down shirt" thru "Friday= Khaki pants and red bank logo polo"
  • I don't get what the big deal is with this teller. Hmmm. Perhaps if the shirt were in something besides PINK I could look at the situation objectively. As far as I know though, anything in pink is acceptable. Well, I guess I draw the line at pink houses in the midwest, but other than that...
  • Frank, your teller looks engaged and happy. Why are you bothering her?
  • Yes, Celeste, most bank dress codes are more strict than a lot of other businesses, particularly for the more visible positions.

    Our overall dress code has relaxed quite a bit over the years, but we allow each of our front-line managers to decide what is acceptable for their tellers to wear. I've discovered there is a pretty wide range of what some managers find acceptable: some of them think that capri pants are a huge no-no, while others don't have a problem with a nice pair of capris during the summer months. Some say no open-toed shoes or sandals at all, some say if you wear open-toed shoes you must either wear pantyhose or have your toenails painted. Some say no jeans at all (they'll allow khakis on "dress-down" days) but most of them do allow jeans at least every other week on a Friday, usually with a bank logo shirt. A couple of branches tell their employees which shirt they are allowed to wear which weeks and their employees have to wear black, not blue, jeans.

    I remember joking with one supervisor about her dress code being so strict, maybe we'd just go to uniforms. She was horrified at that idea, although what she didn't think about was that by dictating exactly which styles & colors of shirts and colors of pants they were allowed to wear on any given day, they were already pretty much wearing uniforms.
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