subject: Flip flops - wouldn't that be a pleasant improvement to the office dress code? [print this page] Flip flops - wouldn't that be a pleasant improvement to the office dress code?
Who doesn't want to be able to wear flip flops to the job?
Ever thought about how arbitrary it is that you can't wear sandals to your job?
Finally got some time in at the beach today.
And so I observe, how every one's opinion on dress code totally goes out the window just getting some sand beneath your feet.
To illustrate, there had been a little girl, 24 months old probably, just playing in the sand.
However one aspect of all this, is that the two year old girl doesn't have a top on.
Only swimsuit bottoms.
And here's the thing. I wager not a single person was contemplating that this was that odd. No one was probably asking themselves what's wrong with this mother and father. Imagine how different this would be however, if this family was strolling around in your shopping mall. Or walking down whatever main road that cuts through your downtown.
And this is true of anyone's attire.
Another story which reminds me of how different we get whenever we are away from the beach was this time I was helping my wife look for some clothes.
So think of the store is a big rectangle. And towards one end of the rectangle are the chaging rooms. And these are just closets within the wall of that rectangle. And the dressing room doors are simply just curtains. These rooms aren't concealed away in some security protected area. They are right there encompassing the back of the shop.So basically it's quite hard to be anywhere in this store and not have some view of these curtained rooms.
Ahh, but here's the store's security guy. And he demands that I walk to the front of the store ASAP.
So the point is, we get rather sensitive about even the possibility of seeing someone else in their underwear. And a swimsuit? Well that's like 99.9% the same as running around in your underwear. Add some sun, water.and sand, and it's the most normal thing there is to be running around in. But walk two miles west away from the beach, and bam, you're nutes for walking around in that. No shirt, no shoes, no service.
I'm not declaring I believe we all need to be walking around in swimsuits in downtown wherever.
But I can't help notice, even regarding myself, that we all change our perspective so rapidly about just what the right thing to wear is. Whenever sand turns to concrete, and water into glass, all of a sudden everybody needs to start wearing more clothes, and often at the sacrifice of comfort.
Anyways, merely something to consider. It might just be best for us to consider clothing is a pretty superficial part of our surroundings. Putting on a suit, doesn't make a man any wiser. And wearing flip flops at the office, doesn't make a woman do the job any less diligently.
