Going toe-to-toe on office etiquette
Even though he was never given a dress code, rising Syracuse University junior Michael Swartz knew enough not to turn up on the first day of his summer internship on the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette design desk wearing sandals and iPod earbuds. Yet by the second week the sandals were on and the earbuds were in - and no one seemed to mind
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I tend to feel the same way. When I saw my first play on Broadway I dressed up even though my relatives said it wasn't necessary. When we arrived I understood-blue jeans everywhere.
However, I've always wondered if it IS more respectful or just for show... I was brought up to show respect by dressing nice but does it really matter? Think about English theatre in the 17th-18th centuries. People would dress to be seen and the only reason to go to the show was to be seen. As we study history we see that dressing up was usually for vanity's sake, for OUR benefit not the performers. So is it more respectful to dress up or to come as you feel comfortable so you can focus on the show? There is something to be said about the person who takes the time to look nice to go out and the person who tosses on whatever is clean but I think it all depends on the individual's intent. Dressing can be like a ritual. Showering, lotion, powder, clothes, perfumes etc.. but some people feel awful in clothes society deems "formal wear" so they aren't comfortable in them. There's a difference between a person who can only feel like themselves in jeans and the lazy person who just doesn't care.
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Ahem. *cough*
"Does it really matter?" is kind of a tricky question-you can start with formal wear and end up at things like art, religion, and rule of law if you're not careful. Sure, no babies will die if you wear jeans to the opera instead of slacks, but I do think that dress goes a long way toward giving an event a sense of occasion. And I wouldn't wear flip-flops to meet the President, no matter what I thought of him.
Not that my motives are purely altruistic. As a junior faculty member in particular, I find it helps me be taken seriously by my colleagues and the students (particularly since I'm still young enough to be mistaken for one of them) if I put a little effort into what I'm wearing. OTOH, academia is pretty slow to change its ways, and I'd expect this to be no different.
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