h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was watching a movie today, and the main character wore a sport coat and tie when he went to the doctor. I couldn't figure out why someone would dress so well to go to the doctor.

When I go out into the world, I wear jeans or maybe kakhi pants at most. I wouldn't wear a tie except for a special occasion or (very rarely) work.

Maybe it's because I've pretty much always worked in the public sector and wore a uniform (Or complied with a dress code). If you asked me to describe what I do, I could always say it in one or two words. I'm a cop, I'm an infantryman, I'm a bomb technican, I'm a detective, etc.

Now I've started wondering all sorts of things. What do you have to do to wear a suit to work all of the time? What do all those people in high rise buildings do? Does a person wake up in the morning and decide they want to be in mid-level management or one of those other jobs downtown?

Maybe if someone can clue me in, I could do something like that rather than being a civil servant.

They get served before every one else - don't ask me why, it just happens.
(In terms of jobs - I have to wear a suit even though I am a back office (careful with that spelling) programmer )

That's easy - they Hold Meetings.

a*cB

My young man doesn't have to wear suits to work although he has to look smart, but he has to wear suits when he goes to court. Still, the judges have to wear stupid wigs, so I guess he gets off lightly.

In my experience of 'suits' they do very little, very expensively. They have lots of meetings to talk about what other people should have done and are going to do, before going off to restaurants to insult the waiter, or down five pints before communting home to the suburbs for a life of dull monotony.

I spent one year as a management trainee in a large blue chip company, wore the suit and everything. Actually *did* sod all...

purplejenny

That doesn't sound very hard. I do that already in my polyestor uniform at work.

Surely there must be something going on in all those towering buildings downtown. Someone must make or do something. There are a lot of people around here in elegant gated communities. They must do something valuable.

So now, how does one get one of those jobs?

T B T P M - try being VERY bad at what you currently do. The company then has to make a decision - suit you , or sack you.
I'm sure that is the 'career path' of most middle management.

I [from my suit] recommend 'Dilbert' as reference material for what people in suits do.
if I'm allowed to share my newfound knowledge:
Peter Principle : people get promoted to their level of incompetence then stay there.
Dilbert Principle : similar to the above, but without the recklessly optimistic concept that they were ever competent at something to start with. TFD

People in suits tend to
1) get paid more
2) do a lot less work
3) are more stressfull

People in suits Hold Meetings, where they Make Decisions. Those Decisions are based on Research that none of them understand. After an expensive Power Lunch (tax deductible) they then leap to a conclusion that is potentially destructive. The people below then have the task of making them happy without doing too much damage to infrastructure or customer base. At this level, most decisions by management are either ignored, covered up, or altered beyond all recognition. When management actually gets involved with implementation, the result is bankruptcy and ruin.

Between meetings they spew a lot of platitudes, jockey for favors among the top management, gossip about clothes and people, and basically act like high-school cheerleaders. I considered management as a potential career path on April 17th, 1996, for roughly thirty-nine seconds, before realizing that I have too much self-esteem to whore myself in that way.

Judges certainly get a bum deal they have to wear wigs, garters, some sort of dress and god only knows what else that we don't see. Come to think of it I don't even want to think about it.

I saw a bloke I knew, in the street the other day. He used to work in a record shop wearing tee-shirt, jeans and lots of hair. Now he wears a suit and lots of hair. I suspect that means that he has got a "decent" job.

PP

I never want to get a job where they have a dress-code. I find it to be robbing me of too much of my personal freedom. But it also is usually completely unnecessary to wear a suit. It is just that stupid prejudice that if you have two identical twins and one of them is in a suit, he is better that the other at his job.

If you're going for a job interview, you're showing respect by dressing up. You're displaying cahracter. Our clothing does reflects something about us. I think it's fair to make some preliminary judgements about people based ont heir clothing. After all, you appear as you choose to appear.

Personally, I like dressing up on occasion. I think it feels nice to look really sharp from time to time.

The work that managers do is different from the work done by
the people under them. I found out how different last summer,
when I spent a month as an acting assistant director for
two public libraries. The first day, a computer at the circulation
desk broke down, and I was on the phone with the technical
support people much of the morning. I shuttled back and forth
between buildings constantly, juggled people's schedules
endlessly, and kept my fingers crossed that more stuff wouldn't
break down and have to be replaced. Oh, and the union was
VERY unhappy about our asking some librarians at the branch
library to move some books back onto the shelves (the previous
administration had not made arrangements for reshelving).

I was quite relieved to return to the reference desk, where I
can handle most of the problems that arise--and pass the
really knotty ones along to the new manager.

Nobody made me wear a tie during that period. There is no
dress code here, so I wear suits or sportcoats when I feel
like it, which is fairly often. I like good fabrics because they feel
more comfortable. I know a good tailor, which is even better.
Isn't comfort the issue anyway?

Yes but if all we were worried about was comfort I would just wear sweats to work.

Own clothes Fridays and naked Tuesdays all round

Naked Tuesdays might be to frightening. I think it all depends on where you work.

Dressing up for a job interview to me shows that you´re lying about who you are. And the other person knows that very well. But both parties accept that as part of some stupid ritual. Why can´t we just be honest instead of having to do all those stupid politeness things.

Because lies are an integral part of society without which it would break down.