Something 4 The End Of The Weekend

David Bowie: Scary Monsters: "Fashion" [mp3]

You'll excuse the lack of posting lately, but I've been in a bit of a funk. It concerns work, and then again, concerns so much more...

You see, last week I had a sit-down with my boss. Apparently the VP of our company told him that it's time for me to present myself in a more professional manner at work. More specifically, I am no longer allowed to wear my usual attire, which consists almost solely of blue jeans and flannel shirts over t-shirts, and some sort of skateboarding shoes. This is the way I have dressed since grade school ("Grunge" was never a fashion statement, it was about wearing sensible clothing in cold weather), and it fits completely within our company's non-existent dress code.

Yes, we have no official dress code, and yet, certain people within our company ARE expected to dress in business attire. These are typically the executives and department heads, or anyone who regularly meets with people outside our company. I am not an executive, or even a department head, nor do I meet very often with outside people, and on those few occasions when I do, I am savvy enough to wear a nice dress shirt in lieau of my usual flannel. Our VP has now made it clear that this is not good enough, that I must look "presentable" every day.

I can live (barely) with this dress code. It is true that I am currently being groomed to take over my boss' job when he retires, which is approximately 5 years from now, and he IS a department head, but the fact remains, I am at least 5 years away from being a department head, and so technically, I shouldn't have to adhere to a somewhat arbitrary dress code until then, but like I said, I can live (barely) with it. Considering the economy, I guess I should take some solace in the fact that the VP of our company believes it is time for me to start dressing like management.

What is hard to live with is the other request/demand that the VP handed down to me. I was asked to shave off my beard and goattee. The beard is a winter thing, and as I do every year, I always shave it off on the first day of spring, so it's not such a big deal to shave it off a couple weeks early this year, even though this request/demand rubs me the wrong way on principle. Who cares whether I wear a beard? Are bearded individuals somehow less capable or less professional than the clean-shaven? I don't believe so. The powers that be in our company apparently believe otherwise.

Now, the goattee is another story. I have sported a goatee since my sophomore year in high school, and I have no intentions of ever shaving it off, and I told my boss that at our sit-down. Whether or not this becomes an issue remains to be seen.

But probably the most troubling request/demand of all was that I should no longer shave my head bald, something else I normally do every year on the first day of spring. Again, I was unaware that being bald makes one less capable or professional. As far as I know, my work doesn't suffer through the summer months when I'm bald, but maybe I'm simply unaware. The thing is - I look damn good bald. I look better bald than I do with hair. Friends tell me this, coworkers tell me this, women tell me this...Our VP feels otherwise, apparently.

Professional considerations aside, it's always troubling to be considered unacceptable by others simply because of fashion and hairstyle. To me, it's an indictment of who I am as a human being just as much as a professional work request. So, for the past week, I've been caught in a fairly substantial existential crisis. Am I really nothing more than a slacker? At the age of 43, should I be taking my career seriously? Who says? I mean, if I am relatively happy with who I am, and my lot in life, what should it matter to anyone else? Am I a failure if I do not meet the approval of my bosses or coworkers (0r anyone, for that matter)? Is it true that the quality of my work is less important than how I dress at work?

There is a large part of me that believes it may be time for me to find a different job, but in this economy, well...

Hotcha! Hank