Our office has a fairly strict dress code. This means I find myself wearing a tie at least 5 days out of the week: Monday through Thursday and Sunday for at least 3 hours (our services are comparably very long - but we always arrive late).
Fortunately I get business casual Fridays (Dockers) and slovenly Saturdays (absolute rebellion - I wear red t-shirts with monkeys and smarmy phrases on them).
It's life and I've accepted it.
Though, when we are allowed to skulk away from our labyrinthine fabric covered walls into the great beyond, I am always amazed at how many people do not wear ties - not even bow ties or suspenders. I must assume that either everybody works for an IT department - or on vacation.
Why, a tie says many things, like:
1. I'm unemployed and looking for a job
2. I really want a promotion
3. I am a non-conformist (thin, black ties with film school glasses)
4. I am very powerful (i.e. I can fire you)
5. I make more money than you do
6. I'm on my prom date (the tux rental was too expensive)
7. I'm a missionary (they come in pairs)
8. I'm lost (please escort me back to my office)
9. Our company has an "image"
10. I really think this looks good
11. You can trust me with your money
12. My boss is nearby
13. You should see my matching vest
Sadly, fewer and fewer people are wearing ties. According to the defunct-as-of-today American Tie Association, only 6% of men wear a tie to work anymore (down from 10% from 2002).
All I can say is, those lucky 94% - someday I will know your joy.
10 comments:
If regular ties are on their way out, bow ties must be in serious danger of extinction.
You best take the attitude "Not on my watch!" and begin wearing your bow ties more frequently.
What does this trend mean for our friend Joe?
Good point. Joe will certainly need to weigh in on the matter. How does this bode for the tie salesman?
As for the bow ties, they ARE making a comeback. And not just via politicians and professors. The proletariat will rise again, each wearing the ribbon of the common worker as a statement against bourgeois decadence.
Or something like that.
Your friend Joe stands "all amazed", reading so many big words it hurtss the brain (my brain).
Let me put it this way, I sell and support "passion before fashion". Only deutsch-bags where the hot pink, the designer stripe, the "jock strap" around the neck. At Eagles Wings, we're that ugly piece of furniture in your living room you can't live without. That annoying neighbor that everyone can't seem to stop talking about. We survive in the tie business because we're not a fashion tie!
FYI - We accounted for 25% of Wal-Mart, Inc total tie business last year, which means, well, 25% of the Wal-Marts shoppers in the nation last year, weren't deutshbags...amen
...by the way Jared...let me share with you the helpful hint a give our students on how to spell my last name: T-U-I double A - N-A
You're a champion!
The spelling has been corrected, mon frere.
I see things in a new light with my "jock strap" around my neck - though I've never had any real affinity toward the Germans or their bags.
You have the lesson tomorrow, correct?
My apologies to the "Germs"; I meant to say "doosh bags" rather than deutsch bags.
I was going to write something snotty about how wearing a simple tie might compare to wearing heals and a skirt (not too long to get caught in a chair's wheels, but not too short to, well, the too-short factor seems to matter more to some women than others so perhaps is not completely worthy of a full mention) but come to think of it, you tie guys often have to wear jackets in the summer so perhaps we're all equally uncomfortable. Nice.
Heels and a skirt? C'mon. You must try harder than that. I'm racking my simple brain for the last time I saw the ladies wear heels and/or a skirt. Nope. Nada.(Well, there are always the strange few.) Pant suits, yes. There is clearly a double standard here. Perhaps here in Utah the ladies are more liberated from those vestiges of sexism than in the DC area.
Yes, the Utah dress code is a bit different than that of DC, quite a
sad thing for my wallet, though the code probably has less to do with vestiges of sexism and more to do with numbers 14 and 15, the as-yet-unlisted reasons of what a tie (or heels and skirt) says:
14. My company lives in fear of unscheduled visits from Board Members
15. My company takes itself far too seriously (closely related to #9, but notched up a level because company execs really believe that members of congress might stop by at any moment)
It should be noted that some women carry their heels to and from work in a large purse while wearing sneakers on the Metro. However, the sneakers must be black, else a fellow commuter who suddenly experiences a medical emergency may mistake all white-sneakered persons as trained medical personnel.
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