My friend Mallory and I were complaining about our plethora
of minimum wage jobs where we've just been embarrassed by association. I know
you were 15 and a half once too and totally worked at a frozen yogurt shop, or
if you had an older stoner brother/sister you got a hookup at your towns pizza
shop etc etc. No matter how old you are you shouldn't be shamed by the clothes
you put on your back when spending your energy and time investing into ______
company.
Yea it is your choice to take said job. Yea dress code
should apply. Yea everyone has to suffer through a few shitty jobs.
Do all of those justify the humiliation, lack of expression,
the cost of buying a uniform, the uncomfortable polyester, or shame you feel
when you're walking through downtown Seattle trying to be cute and have to wear
fucking levi khakis and a stiff black polo?
NO
If you have a closet full of perfectly suitable clothes why
invest in an entirely new pair for a supposedly small facet of your life? We
have been trusted to dress out selves from a young age (this trust is abused by
many). For the most part someone who landed a job has an idea of what
appropriate VS inappropriate looks like. More over, even those who don't
actively care about the expression of themselves through clothes are still
participating in it on the daily.
Meryl Streep explained it best in Devil Wears Prada, but
even the poor shmuck who thinks picking any old shirt out of a box means he
doesn't care is wrong. Not only was that shirt based off of hundreds of other
designs from companies and people who DO take an active mental investment in
fashion but it also tells people he doesn't give a fuck. That is his right to
do so!
Yea I'd never be caught dead in white pleather strappy
sandals but I respect the shit out of the girl who rocks them because she
wanted to. It's like that one thing in your usually fashionable friends closet
that you excuse its hideousness because there is obviously some material love.
EMPLOYERS ARE ROBBING OUR RIGHTS!!! To pleather sandals, and nail polish, or
even to a color of jeans that we prefer.
Obviously someone needs to regulate at a certain degree but
have people lost faith in people? The hard fast rules from the top are rules to
keep things in order. No one makes a rule about a non-issue that can be handled
nonchalantly. Corporate dress codes imply to me that corporations do not have
faith in their managerial employees. Corporate dress codes imply to me that
these managerial employees cannot judge and enforce beyond, "go buy 3 of
the same uncomfortable button down from X corporation".
Not only have they lost faith in their own employees but
also a large advantage to their business is that they need one and other to
survive. Corporations are teaming up and leaving other businesses out for their
gain. The store supplying these khakis or shirts doesn't have to do as well as
competing stores because year round they have steady business from some low
level corporation. Not to mention that most places requiring uniforms are
food/hospitality so a pair of pants that is coated with the light mist of
grease on the daily must be replaced often.
Most kids aren't ashamed of WHERE they work. In fact I think
it's almost trendy to have a shitty college job and be proud of it. High school
was different because girls’ daddies from Pasadena were getting them
internships at Nordstrom but luckily the whole world isn't like Pasadena.
The shaming instead comes in the hot pink baseball cap you
have to wear, or the apron covered in pizza sauce. If employers cared about
what their employees looked like wouldn't they rather have them wear clothes
that were tailored to their bodies? Or clothes that their employees felt proud
and elegant in? Instead us blue collar kids hide in the back for as long as we
can because we hope that guy from Calc 2 won't walk in anytime soon.
Maybe it's time to stop shaming our employees?
