[Sigia-l] Dress Code

[Everett, Andy]

As a former Arthur Android (former Big 5 Accounting Firm known for
shredding) in the mid '90s in IT, we were known for the suits, dress
shirts and ties, (usually black suits and white shirts). Shortly before
I transferred to the West Coast (from the Chicago Office), we went
"business casual". For the men that essentially meant you could leave
the jacket and tie at home. By the time, I got to the west coast, it was
polos or oxfords and slacks. When we went casual, the stuffiness seemed
to be reduced and the work atmosphere much more relaxed. We even started
to have jeans on some Fridays. Yes, I think moving from dress to
business casual. All though, some of the older curmudgeon partners never
came out of the suit.

 I'm currently on a data warehouse design team for the state. IMHO, we
are a bit too casual, t-shirt and jeans (sometimes shorts). I still have
I seem to work better with customers when I'm not dressed in a t-shirt
and jeans. However, if all I have to do is sit in front of my computer
and write documentation or work in a CASE tool all day, I come to work
in whatever I feel the most comfortable ( but I leave my lounge pants
and bunny slippers for when I work from home). When I do work from home
and have a conference call, I dress in slacks and a shirt. I find I'm
more articulate when I'm not in my lounge pants.

I agree that when working face to face with clients either external or
internal, it is best to match or exceed their dress style.


Andy Everett
Data Catalog Administrator
Namespace Coordinator
Office of Information Technology
Washington State Department of Transportation


-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On
Behalf Of Davezilla
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 7:10 AM
To: Listera
Cc: SIGIA-L
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Dress Code

On 3/24/07, Listera <listera at earthlink.net> wrote:

> The other week I was talking to the owner of a company, who's never 
> formally dressed, supporting a tie. I asked what was up. He said he 
> was interviewing two creative agencies that afternoon and wanted "to 
> throw them off and torture them for an hour."

LOL!

> A decade ago, if you were in a management position, you just didn't go

> to a client meeting without a tie. Is this 'progress'?

Within reason*, I think so. I say that because more types of people are
now client facing. It use to be only the Creative Directors, Account
leads and perhaps a C-level  that would meet the clients.
Lately, it's common to bring tech leads, IAs, Strategic Planners, Street
Teams, Analytics, Ethnographers, etc. The fashion ends up looking like a
Fellini movie.

*By within reason, I mean remaining respectably dressed. I've seen art
directors come in to meet clients looking like they slept in their car
all night. Conversely, I've seen a client show up trying to "look cool"
for the agency (she normally dresses quite nicely). It was scary.
Concert t-shirt with no bra, mini skirt with thong peeking out and neon
orange Crocs. Puh-leeeze.

--
Color me gone,
Dave Linabury (Davezilla)
<http://davezilla.com>

"We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are."- Anais Nin

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