Appropriate Work Attire

I feel the need to put this out there because of what I saw at work on Thursday of this week. As you all know, I work in theatre and that means getting dirty every now and then. For anyone working the deck crew or lighting or sound, this is even more true. The men and women in those departments generally wear jeans, steel-toed shoes and t-shirts or sweatshirts to do their backstage work. However, yesterday one of our female crew members showed up to work in a pair of plaid flannel pajama pants. She shall remain nameless as she suffered enough embarrassment at work as we all teased her relentlessly.

I think the teasing really helped drive the point home that she should never wear that type of outfit to work ever again, but I want to be very clear that it has only a little to do with a fashion or style point of view and so much more to do with what is appropriate for the workplace. I am not a fan of dress codes. If AMT had a dress code, I'd probably be in violation just about every day. But wearing plaid flannel pajama pants to work is the type of behavior that will cause an HR department to write a dress code and start enforcing it immediately.

So my advice to everyone out there is to please dress appropriately no matter what you do. Showing up in pajamas says less about your sense of style and more about how much you respect yourself and your employer. A workplace is exactly that- a place of work. PJ's are never appropriate. If you are going to get dusty or dirty while at work, then wear old jeans or work pants. I don't care if you are a janitor or a CEO, please dress appropriately.

I'm stepping off my soapbox now.