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From: defaria@hpclapd.HP.COM (Andy DeFaria)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Dress code
Message-ID: <6610002@hpclapd.HP.COM>
Date: 25 Jul 90 16:21:30 GMT
References: <847@meaddata.mead.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Calif. Language Lab
Lines: 48

>/ hpclapd:comp.software-eng / kinsel@hpfelg.HP.COM (Linda Kinsel) /  2:19 pm  Jul 13, 1990 /

This is something that I feel pretty  strongly about and  yet I don't think
that this is the proper place to discuss it.  Perhaps, since Beth and Linda
are both HP employees, we can take this to hp.misc where it will surely get
torn apart!!

I do wish to respond to some of these stuff though.

>> Is it an explicit rule or due to social pressure? 
>
>At Braun, it was an explicit rule.  No jeans, no cordoroy (too casual),
>no eyelet blouses (too explicit!).

Yeah but who made up this "rule" and why was  it made?  My guess  is social
pressure  (or it could be  a concerted effort  on the  part  of the fashion
industry to ensure sales of dresses and suits.  Only 1/4 :-).

Think about this.  I work at HP and I am allowed to work in  casual clothes
(jeans, T shirts and shorts when I want to).  When I  tell friends who work
in  what is considered "professional" jobs  and whose  dress is mandated by
their employers,  about this they   say  "Gee, I wish   I could go to  work
dressed casually!".  Their bosses say the same thing!  Who the h**l made up
this  silly rule  that nobody  likes!  Would  you really consider,  say, an
accounting firm, unprofessional   if  they   walked around  in  jeans and a
T-shirt but GOT YOUR TAXES DONE ON-TIME AND SAVED YOU BIG BUCKS?  Of course
not.    (Or, for  that matter,  am    I, a   software engineer,  considered
unprofessional because I don't wear a suit?)

>Generally, if you broke the dress code, your boss sent you home to change 
>your clothes.  If you were a repeat offender, you could expect to be laid 
>off the next time business was slow. 

Although it might be difficult to prove, I would sue the  pants off of them
(full pun intended).

>I hope that Braun was an extreme case.  We worked with customers on a daily
>basis, and it was common for presidents of oil companies to wander through
>the work area.  It was extremely important for the company to maintain a
>very professional image.  So there was a reason for the strict dress code.
>But most of us still longed to wear more comfortable clothes.
>----------

Here we go again!  Who says that a man in a suit is a professional  while a
man not in a  suit isn't.  Professionalism is an  *attitude* not a form  of
dress.   Doing  a good job   is the way a  company  can really  maintain  a
"professional  image".   Dressing up  the employees  just makes  them  look
pretty.