Dress Code

Jobs that force workers to wear corporate t-shirts are inhumane.

For those of you who don't understand what I'm getting at, let me reiterate, you're going to work in a ****ing t-shirt that has some mega-companies name branded over one of your nipples. How is this not intrinsically wrong/degrading. I'm not here to argue about entitlement. But I'm just saying that everyone should be allowed the choice to go to work in a dress shirt/slacks with a tie no matter what job they work and the company can give you some name tag with their logo on it. But draping you in a mono-color mega-company t-shirt has to be psychologically degrading.

This is coming from someone who has yet to be forced to wear any of that ****. The entire thing just blows my mind. It really does.

Oh yeah! I work at Wall Street! I'm making $120k and building up my 401k. What are you doing?

 Spoiler

While I understand your frustration with the whole ordeal, I don't think it's quite justified. I used to work at a chain deli and we were required to not only wear company tee-shirts, but hats as well (with pins notifying our "certifications" in certain positions). Keeping up with the uniform and having to look at it in my closet was annoying, yes, but it serves a purpose. For our customers, it made us easily identifiable so that we could be flagged down to help with something that they needed, and I felt that it was nice that all of our staff was wearing pretty much the same outfit (we were allowed conservative jeans, so yay). I know I don't have many dress-it-up options in my closet, so in a way it was nice to throw the pomegranate in my backpack and bike to work and not worry about it. As an employee of that company, you I'd assume that it's your responsibility to be the "face of the company," so obviously having their name or logo on your shirt let's people (i.e. future or current customers or clients) that you represent this company. Degrading as it may be, which personally I don't feel like it is, it serves a purpose, so it really shouldn't blow your mind.

Obviously, you're entitled to your opinion, though! Truth be told, I burned my tee-shirts after I left the company.

Its only purpose is for recognition. That is, recognizing the workers in an instant due to familiarity and exposure from previous times you've been there. For example, if you go to Best Buy one day all the workers are wearing the same uniform and they will still wear those same clothes when you come back whenever. This establishes consistency for the customer who will come to your store regardless of location and time rather than having to find out who is a worker when normal customers themselves could very well be dressed similarly to a worker.

It's all in how you choose to take it.
I've never worked at such a place, but I've done my stint in the military, and found the uniform a great convenience. Maybe it's because I'm a woman and we don't have such an always-right outfit as slacks-dressshirt-tie, but I really liked not having to worry about what to wear to work.

I actually really liked getting company T-shirts/polos because I found them more comfortable than the usual dress shirts. It gave me an easily "right" shirt to wear for casual Fridays. I suppose it's different since I've always been proud to be an employee and I was never required to wear them.

For those working with customers, it's obvious why they require you to wear them. It says "I'm an employee" and makes customers more comfortable talking to you.

I know what you mean... I work for Abercrombie and it's a little ridiculous. Even when you know, you're gonna stay in the back, where no customer gets to see you, all day long, you HAVE to wear the 'uniform'. Also, we have to buy the uniform with our own money EVERY new season. And that's over 100$ most of the time.

I have to wear an identification badge like a dog collar.

Bark bark

If it bothers you that much, find another job.

Seems trivial to me, and somewhat common for places like that.

If it bothers you that much, find another job.

Sigh.

Sigh.

It's okay, I read your post.

Yeah I know what you mean, and sometimes the fabric it's horrendous and it itches! lolololol
But in all seriousness, I think it's more for recognition rather than anything else.
It would be funny going to a Wal-Mart and see every employee wearing casual clothes doing their stuff and say, wow I can do that too as a civie?

might annoy you, but for the customer it's a great help. it doesn't bother me actually since it does serve a purpose, only reason why it would ever bother me would be if it were uncomfortable (like school uniforms transparent enough that the A/C felt like it was blowing directly into me) nothing degrading about the uniform.

Sigh.

I read your post just fine.
I don't understand why you're bitching about it.

Especially if 1) you don't have to deal with it and 2) who cares. A job is a job. If an individual needs one that badly, I think a dress code like that is the least thing they need to be concerned with.

I read your post just fine.
I don't understand why you're bitching about it.

Especially if 1) you don't have to deal with it and 2) who cares. A job is a job. If an individual needs one that badly, I think a dress code like that is the least thing they need to be concerned with.

Because the mindset is bad.
Think about it for a bit and extend it out to other things and then you'll see why the mindset is bad.

Likewise, this post isn't even that whiny, so I don't know where it's coming from.

I read your post just fine.
I don't understand why you're peaching about it.

Especially if 1) you don't have to deal with it and 2) who cares. A job is a job. If an individual needs one that badly, I think a dress code like that is the least thing they need to be concerned with.

I made a social thread so I could read other people's thoughts on the topic. I don't have to deal with it, but I don't need to in order to think it is wrong. And to be straight forward, I care. I care a little bit to see tweens and retirees donning t-shirts. I think, what if I had to work a retail job while some of my friends who graduated from Stern/Wharton are making $150k+ on Wall Street. What if every day I had to come home to my parent's house, which is not some place I even consider to be my home and look in the mirror seeing myself in a corporate t-shirt and asking myself if this is what I went to college for only to end up in this position. And it might just be me. It might just be me who thinks about these things and find some amount of decency that I have a job that has me dress up with a tie so that I can appear to be business professional and think how awful it would be if I had to look at myself in the mirror every day with the disappointment I already carry in my life and see that I'm there getting ready to work the next shift and I'm wearing a ****ing t-shirt that says, "Welcome to x, A+ Customer Service Guaranteed." It is something so unbelievably little that prevents me from tipping over and breaking down in depression. And you know what, I don't know how other people would feel. But it is good to see that most people don't feel the same way or wouldn't feel the same way hypothetically speaking. It is true that a job IS a job, astute observation. But if a job is to provide a service then services can still be rendered in a suit and tie & not just a t-shirt. If you think that there are more concerning issues with people who work these jobs then I would agree. But I still think that t-shirt uniforms are something that can be addressed in work philosophy without getting in the way of work or work efficiency.

It's not that there's intrinsic evil in the clothes itself or in corporate dogma. You might have parents that say that you gotta work **** jobs to develop skills and get ahead in life. They're trying to tell you it's ok. But when you look at how far corporate is willing to take you, they're going to gravitate you to around $15,16 an hour unless you get an MBA or some advanced degree so they can ship you oversees to Europe, India where you can be closer to the factories so now you can start making $20-something an hour. Or you could have people around you that ask why you couldn't do any better for yourself and imply that your situation is a device of not applying sufficient effort to get out of the rat hole that you are in. And you don't know why you're in the situation that you're in. You only know that you're in it and for some reason you're having trouble getting out. And when you're in your late 20s or early 30s and still working the same ****ing job at the local mart for **** pay and wearing the same ****ing t-shirt that is similar in cut to the kids that come in from high school just breaking out, what do you do, what can you do.

A lot of people hate their jobs. A job is something that people should respect so that they come to work on time, provide positive customer service, and help in a timely manner. You can't guaranty any of that by making people come in a suit and tie. But I know that for me, when I wear that dress shirt and don that tie, I feel like my life could go somewhere and I'm working towards something bigger beyond the horizon. I'm a careerist here to gain knowledge and skills that can be utilized for my next interview. That's what the dress-shirt and slacks tell me. A t-shirt makes me feel like I ****ed up and I'm trapped. And again that could be me. But that's how I interpret it. And I'm interested in how others interpret it as well. And if I'm not mistaken this might be why social boards exist.

If you hate your job and hate where you are in life, everything about it will seem demeaning.
I could certainly see a person required to wear a shirt and tie thinking, "**** X corp, they force me to dress up like I'm a big shot making $150k, but only pay me a tenth of that to stock shelves. I feel them mocking me and my aspirations every morning when I put this noose around my neck for them."

I care a little bit to see tweens and retirees donning t-shirts. I think, what if I had to work a retail job while some of my friends who graduated from Stern/Wharton are making $150k+ on Wall Street. What if every day I had to come home to my parent's house, which is not some place I even consider to be my home and look in the mirror seeing myself in a corporate t-shirt and asking myself if this is what I went to college for only to end up in this position. And it might just be me. It might just be me who thinks about these things and find some amount of decency that I have a job that has me dress up with a tie so that I can appear to be business professional and think how awful it would be if I had to look at myself in the mirror every day with the disappointment I already carry in my life and see that I'm there getting ready to work the next shift and I'm wearing a ****ing t-shirt that says, "Welcome to x, A+ Customer Service Guaranteed."

It isn't the uniform that's demeaning to you, it's the job itself. The shirt itself doesn't look bad, and it isn't like people look at people in their uniforms and chuckle. I mean, maybe if the uniform was a chicken suit, but just a t-shirt and some jeans? Who cares? Like other people have said it just makes it easier to identify an employee. Now, in jobs where there isn't really any possibility for confusion, much like standard office jobs, I can see how a uniform would be pointless, but for retail it makes perfect sense.

You think you would honestly go home and NOT think ''Oh god, THIS is where I'm at?!'' just with a change in dress code? No. No because you STILL work at retail while your friends are raking it in at Wall Street. Unless what you're saying is that you honestly believe the shirt is just merely the nail in the coffin. That that ONE detail is what makes you ''realize you're in a lowly position''?

Again, it's your attitude towards the job itself that's the problem, not the uniform.

I don't see what the big issue is, in a retail aspect. Your job as an employee probably has some basis around pleasing the customer, but how is a customer going to be able to approach you if they can't distinguish between you and another customer. Outside of retail, in a higher more powerful job, that might be a bit much. However, when you're working a minimum wage job and you as an employee are highly replaceable wearing a uniform shouldn't be an issue.

[MENTION=8755]Sardines[/MENTION];

You're a smart guy, you understand the reality of your situation. You have a college degree and I'd feel like sh`it too if I was in your position. But because you have a job, it just means you have an income, an income you can use. The real problem you're having is you know you deserve better than this, and you probably do.

But having a job shouldn't stop your search, nor should it deter you. Experience is experience, don't dwell on it, look for the silver lining, and keep applying for something that is your level.

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