8 ms·

Friend of mine just got a new tech job with one of those boring old Fortune 100 companies. Wore a suit to the interview; the interviewer told him to dress it do

Friend of mine just got a new tech job with one of those boring old Fortune 100 companies. Wore a suit to the interview; the interviewer told him to dress it down for the job. So he wore slacks, a belt and a button up shirt on the first day; people seemed really nervous around him, like he was there to audit them. So he meets the people he's going to work with: his "boss" is in a stained t-shirt, shorts, no shoes, super casual. I mean like 20 years ago he wouldn't have been able to buy a soda in a beach-town convenience store. Looks at my friend like he's from Mars. A few weeks in and my friend still over-dresses. I mean, his shirt has a COLLAR for christsakes. It looks like it has been IRONED for the love-of-god. We'll see how long he lasts. Maybe when he gets more comfortable he'll start wearing ripped jeans and a pink floyd t-shirt. We'll see.

draw_down 9y ago
That's actually awesome, what a ridiculously simple way to mess with people. Something about nerds makes them freeze up when they see a guy in a suit as if it gave one magical powers. People claim not to care about clothes or fashion, but if that were true they wouldn't care if he wore a suit.
- fao_ 9y ago
  It's not about fashion, it's about the fact that we have long folklore about people in suits. Almost everyone who is in a suit is out to get you for something. Bosses, Ignorant Managers, Salesmen, Estate Agents[0], Religious salesmen, etc, etc. Almost all of those are people who prey on the weak, the meek, and the pitiful. hiss. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ap6-e3mVg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ap6-e3mVg
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Also power, which implies risk. Besides the various kinds of salesmen, which you can recognize quickly, people wearing suits are usually those with power that can affect you - bosses, managers, lawyers, government officials. Piss them off, and they can ruin your day. Or life. So one learns to be extra careful around people in suits.
  - draw_down 9y ago
    That's really silly. You can be exploited by people in jeans and tshirts. Hell, it's happening to me right now.
    - sidlls 9y ago
      Yes, one can be, but for decades spanning more than a few generations the norm has been that more formal dress was associated with that class of exploiter.
  - Arizhel 9y ago
    >Bosses, Ignorant Managers, Salesmen, Estate Agents[0], Religious salesmen, etc, etc. >Almost all of those are people who prey on the weak, the meek, and the pitiful. Which one of those is the exception? Decent bosses?
    - fao_ 9y ago
      Yup. Some bosses are alright.
- VLM 9y ago
  Its a ridiculously masculine discussion but it works the same way when my wife wears formalware dresses or cocktail dresses or whatever they're called. Simple primate dominance stuff. My work clothes cost maybe $85 at target including the underwear (was that too much information?) because its just work and people don't care much. The point of a dude in a suit is I dropped $85 but he dropped $2K, maybe more. Even cheap off the rack he spent, I donno how much that costs anymore, $200? Conspicuous consumption, same as the gold watch or womens jewelry or the expensive car. An extremely public display of I can spend money that you don't/can't.
  - draw_down 9y ago
    Maybe, though I work in an office where nobody would ever wear a suit but people have all kinds of expensive clothes, jackets, shoes, jewelry, bags.
ghaff 9y ago
Interesting. I find stereotypical business casual (khakis or maybe jeans these days and a button down shirt/polo shirt) to still be pretty much the norm even at a lot of tech companies, at least on the East Coast. That's pretty much what I wear. It's comfortable and it works even if I have to drop into a customer or analyst meeting. Honestly, I find dressing down from that involves more thinking about what I will/may have to do in the course of the day. Khakis and a collared shirt let me do pretty much anything that may come up without thinking about it.
- ourmandave 9y ago
  ^This. Like Facebook's Zuckerberg wears a t-shirt so he doesn't have to think about getting dressed, I wear khakis and the same blue polo every day like a uniform. My closet looks like Spongebob's.
  - XorNot 9y ago
    Black cargo pants and an orange T-shirt. I have like 15 of the shirt.
- pionar 9y ago
  It's interesting, isn't it? I myself dress business casual even though my workplace is a casual place (jeans, tshirts, shorts, sandals, whatever). It's just more _me_. I don't like how sloppy I look in t-shirts. I don't think t-shirts are sloppy, just on me. So for me it's usually a button-down and some khakis or nice jeans. My colleague (the other development manager, same age as me - mid 30s) basically has a casual "uniform" - some band t-shirt and jeans. Every day. He even admits that he has 5 shirts and five pairs of jeans that are his work clothes. It works for him.
  - iamacynic 9y ago
    the dirty secret of jeans and t-shirts is: the good looking and good fitting jeans and t-shirts are pretty damn expensive. and those band t-shirts, if authentic, probably are too. it has become a fashion category in and of itself, complete with a high end range. jeans are all over the spectrum, but unless they are obviously from a giant bin at a discount store, probably are at least $100, likely above $200 per pair. and there are plenty of $500 pairs of jeans out there... my casual white dyed hemp rainbow sandals are $50, some of the special edition ones i've had over the years (braided leather, etc). are $100+. pretty expensive for basically a flat piece of rubber and a strap of material covered in cloth. when someone shows up to work in truly cheap jeans/t-shirt/sandals, it doesn't look good, they look trashy and nothing fits properly. it's just a signal of spending power / hipness on the more casual side of the scale. i've seen people dressed in "jeans and t-shirts" wearing vintage swiss watches. in wealthier areas where a tech company would be, a casual 'jeans and t-shirt' outfit could cost either $25 total or $1000 total.
Spooky23 9y ago
When I interviewed for my 2nd out of college job (circa 2000), I happened to interview on a day where the folks I was interviewing with had a conference, so they were dressed up. My start date was delayed for some bureaucratic reason. Not knowing what the dress code was, I showed up my first day in a suit, and headed up to the office, which had been moved the week prior. I'm wandering around looking for my boss, when the Commissioner's secretary (this is a .gov gig) spots me, and thinks I'm a salesman as they had an issue with salespeople crashing the place. Nobody can find my boss, and five minutes later, two policeman show up and escort me out of the building. Thankfully my boss was a smoker, and rescued me as the cops were kicking me out! :) The particular division I was in had a pretty eclectic collection of dressers. The bigshots wore suits or sportsjackets, and most people did the business casual thing. Then there were the... others. One dude did leather pants and a massive cowboy hat, there was a male and female tracksuit contingent, and a few people wearing sweatpants of all things.
- canadian_voter 9y ago
  I showed up my first day in a suit ... and thinks I'm a salesman as they had an issue with salespeople crashing the place. If I see someone with a suit, clipboard and lanyard, I run the other way. Especially if they have good hair.
  - Spooky23 9y ago
    That's hilarious, because minus the good hair, that was me. I had a packet of crap from HR, some goofy lanyard with a visitor badge and of course the suit! :)
    - canadian_voter 9y ago
      Oh man, and I bet you were really eager looking to! Kept looking at everyone who came your way with an expectant smile? I would totally have mistaken you for a sales person.
- aanm1988 9y ago
  > Nobody can find my boss, and five minutes later, two policeman show up and escort me out of the building They didn't bother to check on the whole "I'm here to start work, my boss is <T>" ?
aanm1988 9y ago
> his "boss" is his boss, whether he dresses like a slob or not.
walshemj 9y ago
That reminds me when I interviewed at AKQA I went suited and booted I was interviewed by a guy in a t shirt that was so raged and dirty that I wouldn't have worn it to do the gardening in. I got a hint that I might have overdressed when on the way to the Interview a passer-by asked me the way to the ivy ( a very exclusive restaurant)
- Chris2048 9y ago
  I once dressed for an interview, and on the way back popped into a comic book store. Inside, a guy started asking me about my little pony stuff - he thought I was the manager..
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    I was once going to an event in a full suit, but before that, I attended a guest lecture on my university. I was just a regular attendee, but my clothes were enough for people to think I manage this guest lecture. I was handed the keys to the lecture hall, and people would come to me with questions and issues...
- magic_beans 9y ago
  The passerby probably thought you were waitstaff ;)
  - walshemj 9y ago
    not in a $800 Italian suit I think :-)
Nursie 9y ago
Haha... And here I am today, sat in the UK offices of a Fortune 100 company (one of the big finance houses) wearing scuffed boots, black jeans and my old Megadeth t-shirt... I am on the scruffier end of the spectrum, to be sure, but not the worst.
- gadders 9y ago
  I work in Investment Banking. The only difference I have seen over the years is a) Casual Friday and b) tie wearers are in the minority now. Most men still wear suits though.
  - gadders 9y ago
    Actually, some people wear brown shoes as well now, not just the Italians.
  - Nursie 9y ago
    It would be a stretch to say I work in investment banking - we provide hardware and software platforms for some of the finance types to run their stuff on. Very casual team, fairly casual office (of a few thousand people). No idea what anyone else here does outside of the five or six people I work with, though.
genofon 9y ago
reading the last line with my AC/DC tshirt made me think a bit, and yes, I am a "boss" (well just lead, maybe doesn't count), but at least I have shoes.
ciaranm 9y ago
Your friend is likely projecting. People simply don't care that much about what others in the office wear.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
empath75 9y ago
I work for a dotcom era company, and the dress code here is basically jeans and 90s industrial band t-shirts. And everyone is in their 40s.
- jboy 9y ago
  Sounds awesome! (to another wearer of 90s industrial band t-shirts) Which company?
zebrafish 9y ago
This is sort of interesting. Typically trends in high fashion come from the counter culture. The counter culture rejects the mainstream and, either intentionally or unintentionally, their fashion pisses people off. The goal of high fashion is to evoke emotion and fear/anger tend to be easy emotions to get out of people (Imagine your mother reacting to goths in the mall). It seems, from this example, that some future counter culture fashion could be rooted in traditional formal wear considering how uncomfortable it has made your friend's coworkers feel.
naravara 9y ago
I feel like some stagnant big companies do a bit of a cargo-cult thing when it comes to being innovative. "Surely if we wear the stained hoodies, the ripped jeans, and the man-buns we too can churn out brilliant and innovative products! (Let's not worry about our working culture, budgetary priorities, or management styles or anything. The dress code is where the real magic is!)"
djcapelis 9y ago
> So he meets the people he's going to work with: his "boss" is in a stained t-shirt, shorts, no shoes, super casual. I mean like 20 years ago he wouldn't have been able to buy a soda in a beach-town convenience store. No wonder everyone's nervous around your friend. If he forms his opinions on whether or not his manager has authority based on his clothing that's going to be an inheriently uncomfortable experience. Why did you use scare quotes around boss? And would you do it if the guy had worn nicer clothing? Does your friend feel that way? If so, his new co-workers are right to be nervous. The fellow is seriously misaligned in understanding how his new workplace is structured. He can dress how he likes, but if he starts using clothing to measure respect in a modern workplace... that's a problem.

draw_down 9y ago

That's actually awesome, what a ridiculously simple way to mess with people. Something about nerds makes them freeze up when they see a guy in a suit as if it gave one magical powers. People claim not to care about clothes or fashion, but if that were true they wouldn't care if he wore a suit.

fao_ 9y ago
It's not about fashion, it's about the fact that we have long folklore about people in suits. Almost everyone who is in a suit is out to get you for something. Bosses, Ignorant Managers, Salesmen, Estate Agents[0], Religious salesmen, etc, etc. Almost all of those are people who prey on the weak, the meek, and the pitiful. hiss. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ap6-e3mVg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ap6-e3mVg
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Also power, which implies risk. Besides the various kinds of salesmen, which you can recognize quickly, people wearing suits are usually those with power that can affect you - bosses, managers, lawyers, government officials. Piss them off, and they can ruin your day. Or life. So one learns to be extra careful around people in suits.
- draw_down 9y ago
  That's really silly. You can be exploited by people in jeans and tshirts. Hell, it's happening to me right now.
  - sidlls 9y ago
    Yes, one can be, but for decades spanning more than a few generations the norm has been that more formal dress was associated with that class of exploiter.
- Arizhel 9y ago
  >Bosses, Ignorant Managers, Salesmen, Estate Agents[0], Religious salesmen, etc, etc. >Almost all of those are people who prey on the weak, the meek, and the pitiful. Which one of those is the exception? Decent bosses?
  - fao_ 9y ago
    Yup. Some bosses are alright.
VLM 9y ago
Its a ridiculously masculine discussion but it works the same way when my wife wears formalware dresses or cocktail dresses or whatever they're called. Simple primate dominance stuff. My work clothes cost maybe $85 at target including the underwear (was that too much information?) because its just work and people don't care much. The point of a dude in a suit is I dropped $85 but he dropped $2K, maybe more. Even cheap off the rack he spent, I donno how much that costs anymore, $200? Conspicuous consumption, same as the gold watch or womens jewelry or the expensive car. An extremely public display of I can spend money that you don't/can't.
- draw_down 9y ago
  Maybe, though I work in an office where nobody would ever wear a suit but people have all kinds of expensive clothes, jackets, shoes, jewelry, bags.

ghaff 9y ago

Interesting. I find stereotypical business casual (khakis or maybe jeans these days and a button down shirt/polo shirt) to still be pretty much the norm even at a lot of tech companies, at least on the East Coast. That's pretty much what I wear. It's comfortable and it works even if I have to drop into a customer or analyst meeting. Honestly, I find dressing down from that involves more thinking about what I will/may have to do in the course of the day. Khakis and a collared shirt let me do pretty much anything that may come up without thinking about it.

ourmandave 9y ago
^This. Like Facebook's Zuckerberg wears a t-shirt so he doesn't have to think about getting dressed, I wear khakis and the same blue polo every day like a uniform. My closet looks like Spongebob's.
- XorNot 9y ago
  Black cargo pants and an orange T-shirt. I have like 15 of the shirt.
pionar 9y ago
It's interesting, isn't it? I myself dress business casual even though my workplace is a casual place (jeans, tshirts, shorts, sandals, whatever). It's just more _me_. I don't like how sloppy I look in t-shirts. I don't think t-shirts are sloppy, just on me. So for me it's usually a button-down and some khakis or nice jeans. My colleague (the other development manager, same age as me - mid 30s) basically has a casual "uniform" - some band t-shirt and jeans. Every day. He even admits that he has 5 shirts and five pairs of jeans that are his work clothes. It works for him.
- iamacynic 9y ago
  the dirty secret of jeans and t-shirts is: the good looking and good fitting jeans and t-shirts are pretty damn expensive. and those band t-shirts, if authentic, probably are too. it has become a fashion category in and of itself, complete with a high end range. jeans are all over the spectrum, but unless they are obviously from a giant bin at a discount store, probably are at least $100, likely above $200 per pair. and there are plenty of $500 pairs of jeans out there... my casual white dyed hemp rainbow sandals are $50, some of the special edition ones i've had over the years (braided leather, etc). are $100+. pretty expensive for basically a flat piece of rubber and a strap of material covered in cloth. when someone shows up to work in truly cheap jeans/t-shirt/sandals, it doesn't look good, they look trashy and nothing fits properly. it's just a signal of spending power / hipness on the more casual side of the scale. i've seen people dressed in "jeans and t-shirts" wearing vintage swiss watches. in wealthier areas where a tech company would be, a casual 'jeans and t-shirt' outfit could cost either $25 total or $1000 total.

Spooky23 9y ago

When I interviewed for my 2nd out of college job (circa 2000), I happened to interview on a day where the folks I was interviewing with had a conference, so they were dressed up. My start date was delayed for some bureaucratic reason. Not knowing what the dress code was, I showed up my first day in a suit, and headed up to the office, which had been moved the week prior. I'm wandering around looking for my boss, when the Commissioner's secretary (this is a .gov gig) spots me, and thinks I'm a salesman as they had an issue with salespeople crashing the place. Nobody can find my boss, and five minutes later, two policeman show up and escort me out of the building. Thankfully my boss was a smoker, and rescued me as the cops were kicking me out! :) The particular division I was in had a pretty eclectic collection of dressers. The bigshots wore suits or sportsjackets, and most people did the business casual thing. Then there were the... others. One dude did leather pants and a massive cowboy hat, there was a male and female tracksuit contingent, and a few people wearing sweatpants of all things.

canadian_voter 9y ago
I showed up my first day in a suit ... and thinks I'm a salesman as they had an issue with salespeople crashing the place. If I see someone with a suit, clipboard and lanyard, I run the other way. Especially if they have good hair.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  That's hilarious, because minus the good hair, that was me. I had a packet of crap from HR, some goofy lanyard with a visitor badge and of course the suit! :)
  - canadian_voter 9y ago
    Oh man, and I bet you were really eager looking to! Kept looking at everyone who came your way with an expectant smile? I would totally have mistaken you for a sales person.
aanm1988 9y ago
> Nobody can find my boss, and five minutes later, two policeman show up and escort me out of the building They didn't bother to check on the whole "I'm here to start work, my boss is <T>" ?

aanm1988 9y ago

> his "boss" is his boss, whether he dresses like a slob or not.

walshemj 9y ago

That reminds me when I interviewed at AKQA I went suited and booted I was interviewed by a guy in a t shirt that was so raged and dirty that I wouldn't have worn it to do the gardening in. I got a hint that I might have overdressed when on the way to the Interview a passer-by asked me the way to the ivy ( a very exclusive restaurant)

Chris2048 9y ago
I once dressed for an interview, and on the way back popped into a comic book store. Inside, a guy started asking me about my little pony stuff - he thought I was the manager..
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  I was once going to an event in a full suit, but before that, I attended a guest lecture on my university. I was just a regular attendee, but my clothes were enough for people to think I manage this guest lecture. I was handed the keys to the lecture hall, and people would come to me with questions and issues...
magic_beans 9y ago
The passerby probably thought you were waitstaff ;)
- walshemj 9y ago
  not in a $800 Italian suit I think :-)

Nursie 9y ago

Haha... And here I am today, sat in the UK offices of a Fortune 100 company (one of the big finance houses) wearing scuffed boots, black jeans and my old Megadeth t-shirt... I am on the scruffier end of the spectrum, to be sure, but not the worst.

gadders 9y ago
I work in Investment Banking. The only difference I have seen over the years is a) Casual Friday and b) tie wearers are in the minority now. Most men still wear suits though.
- gadders 9y ago
  Actually, some people wear brown shoes as well now, not just the Italians.
- Nursie 9y ago
  It would be a stretch to say I work in investment banking - we provide hardware and software platforms for some of the finance types to run their stuff on. Very casual team, fairly casual office (of a few thousand people). No idea what anyone else here does outside of the five or six people I work with, though.

genofon 9y ago

reading the last line with my AC/DC tshirt made me think a bit, and yes, I am a "boss" (well just lead, maybe doesn't count), but at least I have shoes.

ciaranm 9y ago

Your friend is likely projecting. People simply don't care that much about what others in the office wear.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

empath75 9y ago

I work for a dotcom era company, and the dress code here is basically jeans and 90s industrial band t-shirts. And everyone is in their 40s.

jboy 9y ago
Sounds awesome! (to another wearer of 90s industrial band t-shirts) Which company?

zebrafish 9y ago

This is sort of interesting. Typically trends in high fashion come from the counter culture. The counter culture rejects the mainstream and, either intentionally or unintentionally, their fashion pisses people off. The goal of high fashion is to evoke emotion and fear/anger tend to be easy emotions to get out of people (Imagine your mother reacting to goths in the mall). It seems, from this example, that some future counter culture fashion could be rooted in traditional formal wear considering how uncomfortable it has made your friend's coworkers feel.

naravara 9y ago

I feel like some stagnant big companies do a bit of a cargo-cult thing when it comes to being innovative. "Surely if we wear the stained hoodies, the ripped jeans, and the man-buns we too can churn out brilliant and innovative products! (Let's not worry about our working culture, budgetary priorities, or management styles or anything. The dress code is where the real magic is!)"

djcapelis 9y ago

> So he meets the people he's going to work with: his "boss" is in a stained t-shirt, shorts, no shoes, super casual. I mean like 20 years ago he wouldn't have been able to buy a soda in a beach-town convenience store. No wonder everyone's nervous around your friend. If he forms his opinions on whether or not his manager has authority based on his clothing that's going to be an inheriently uncomfortable experience. Why did you use scare quotes around boss? And would you do it if the guy had worn nicer clothing? Does your friend feel that way? If so, his new co-workers are right to be nervous. The fellow is seriously misaligned in understanding how his new workplace is structured. He can dress how he likes, but if he starts using clothing to measure respect in a modern workplace... that's a problem.