Did You Ever Have to Follow a Dress Code You Despised?

April 17, 2009

Dwight calls Dunder-Mifflin's new dress code a death sentence on last night's episode of The Office. He can no longer wear the short-sleeved button-downs that he wore with a tie every day, and he can't stop tugging at the long sleeves he's now forced to wear. Check out the clip below of Dwight having a fit and then tell me, was there ever a dress code that you despised?

19 Comments

sorrowja 4 years 4 weeks

In my last job they had a business dress code which I HATED. It was like working for $100 and then spending $200 the next date on cloths for work it sucked. Now I LOVE my new job I can wear my polo shirts and jeans from High School and College and high School was 6 years ago LOL (they still fit and I have a lot of jeans). It's so much easire getting dress in the mornings. And if I feel like dressing up one day that's fine too.

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 4 weeks

I once worked a summer job at the disney store, and the uniform was; a crisp white button up short sleeved shirt, Tan knee length shorts, a blue disney sweater vest, tan panythose, white socks and white LEATHER keds. We had to buy everything. I only worked there for two months. It was the most demeaning, ridiculous "costume" ever. I threw away everything the second I quit.

tiggerchick2 4 years 4 weeks

I had a couple of really bad uniforms. One was when I worked at a photography place in the mall that was geared toward small kids. We had to wear a white, long sleeved button down, black pants, a huge, ugly red vest with our nametage that was comprised of our name and a picture of us from when we were young,a baseball hat and an atrocious looking striped tie. I hated walking through the mall with that damn outfit on. Plus it was uncomfortable and hard to move around in when photographing kids. One day though, my supervisor came in and told me that my button down had to be long sleeved and that my 3/4 sleeve was not going to cut it. I quit not long after that. The other was at LaBou and we had to wear a white button down with one of those short little ties that constantly choked me, and black pants black hat and black shoes. I HATED the stupid tie and tried as hard as I could not to wear it. But I got caught and had to put the thing back on.

lickety split 4 years 4 weeks

lol, sort of. in college i worked at the medical school cafeteria. the uniform was jeans and this flesh colored t-shirt that had dancing spoons/forks/knives on it with smiling faces. there was a dark brown matching baseball cap. i wore the t-shirt for maybe a week and then just decided i wasn't wearing it anymore because it was so unattractive on me. the only time it was ever brought up was at a staff meeting. they were talking about being in uniform at all times when you were on the clock (like the staff meeting where everyone but me was wearing the t-shirt) and someone asked why SHE (me) didn't have to wear the t-shirt. my supervisor just sort of laughed, shrugged, and said "because she doesn't". at the time i thought "why is that guy picking on me!?", but now i can't imagine what i was thinking. i'd never just not wear the uniform now.

1cigarrette 4 years 4 weeks

Ugh yeah, School up until I turned 18 and business casual at work...

bluepuppybites 4 years 4 weeks

Yes, and when I did follow it, it wasn't good enough. A woman emailed the company and said my shirt was too tight and my rolls hung out (they didn't. I'm not fat and my shirt was not tight) so they made me wear a huge shirt that was way too big for me. The woman for some reason hated me and despised me and wished that I was fired. This was very upsetting to me.

Spectra 4 years 4 weeks

The only dress code I've had that I've really hated was the dress code I had when I worked in a warehouse one summer. The warehouse was hot (no AC) and we weren't allowed to wear shorts or sandals and every day I went home drenched in sweat. Not fun!

psterling 4 years 4 weeks

In college I wanted to get my nose pierced. I checked with my manager at the hotel I worked at and got his ok first, and then did the deed. When I returned I found a message on my machine from the regional manager telling me NOT to do it, as visible jewelry anywhere than on the ears was against policy. I wasn't going to take it out after all that pain and money so she forced me to wear a band-aid on my nose until the wound healed and I could take it out for a few hours at a time. I hated her so much.

ktownpolarbear 4 years 4 weeks

yep. they insisted on strictly business and mandatory heels, even though we never met with clients and had an office of 5-6 people. on top of that, they barely paid us minimum wage, and would request that we buy our work clothes at places like Theory.

fashionlovr 4 years 4 weeks

When I was in high school I worked at the local McDonald's so we obviously had uniforms. They hired me with visible piercings (one in my lip and tons in my ears) and they never made a peep about them. When I dyed pink streaks in my blond hair they never cared. Then one day I had to cover a shift at a different location and the manager tried to tell me I could never work at McDonald's looking like that. I brought the complaint back to my location's manager, and they told me I was one of the best workers they had so they weren't too concerned about my look. After college I took a job as a PA in a rather casual office. When I have meetings with more "formal" people I make sure I dress up, but I have never been criticized. (Although the piercings have come out).

pharm_chick 4 years 4 weeks

my only dress code is to dress professionally. it goes either way, i like it and hate it at once.

Swedeybebe 4 years 4 weeks

i dispise the "no wearing sandles in between your toes" (aka flip flops or variations of them) dress code. i love my sandles, dammit!

aimeeb 4 years 4 weeks

Just a school uniform back in my Catholic school days...

skigurl 4 years 4 weeks

i worked at a golf course (inside the office) and my boss ordered these giant men's collared short sleeved shirts...even the smalls were swimming on me (i was in highschool!) and i HAD to wear them as my "uniform"...granted it was easy to get dressed to go to work but they were totally ridiculous and it was pretty sexist ordering something made for men when half of the employees were women

wackdoodle 4 years 4 weeks

My styling and ever fashionable SF Muni uniform. Dark Brown Polyester pants, khaki shirt with styling epaulettes on the shoulder and your number on the sleeve, dark brown acrylic sweater, super styling dark brown 1970's style Captain's jacket ala The Love Boat, a dark brown tie for men and a fro-fro floppy bow for women and black, brown or orange shoes with a heel not to exceed 2". It used to be that your shoes had to be 99% black and there were limits on what the other 1% color could be. I thought wearing a complete uniform would be easy and cool because I would not have to think about what to wear etc but it was a chore. Even though the first three uniforms were free, the upkeep wasn't (washing and mending are deductible on your taxes but not reimbursed by the city) and it wasn't comfortable at all. If you lose or gain any weight you've gotta buy your own uniform and there was only one authorized dealer. The markup is huge $75 for one short sleeve shirt. Your uniform cannot be ill fitting at all. When I lost the first 100 pounds I was swimming in my uniform and I got a warning "buy a new uniform post haste or you will be written up and suspended from working". Whoa. Alterations and personalization is not permitted with one exception drivers can put badges indicating the division they work for or badges indicating they've received awards however the driver has to pay for these badges. Because there is a required uniform for drivers in SF if you are spotted attempting to work without wearing the proper full required uniform you can be written up for disciplinary action and sent home off the clock to change and you are marked as delinquent for work as a result of not wearing the correct uniform to begin work.

WhatTheFrockBlog 4 years 4 weeks

Yes. *Sigh* Admittedly, I was spoiled. I worked at an office for 6 years where I would wear whatever I wanted every day. It was fabulous! Then I got a new job where I had to dress business casual and it was awful. But they had massive layoffs after 6 months so I got another job and have been in jeans and sandals for the past 3 years, except once or twice a month when I meet with clients. Business casual killed me. I was uncomfortable and felt like I was wearing a costume. I can't believe that that's how the vast majority of people have to dress in an office.

bluebellknoll 4 years 4 weeks

Back in the 80's and freshly graduated from HS, I applied for a job at a department store. I had a isometrical haircut (it was stylin' at the time! heehee) and they told me they would hire me but I'd have to cut my hair. I said, "NO WAY!" and walked out.

itsme3683 4 years 4 weeks

I worked in a place once that was casual dress and I got yelled at once for wearing a pair of nice, striped walking shorts from BR. It was seriously 105 degrees outside and I got yelled at for wearing nice looking, mid-thigh length shorts in my casual office by my boss who was wearing wrinkly denim overalls. So I guess it wasn't really a problem with the dress code so much as the enforcement...