Tone it down

As in the work culture across the world, my office laid the same stage for us in IT dept to wear “Business Casual”. Business casual is the new black of office couture for the past many many years. Everyone looks alike with the same Black or grey slacks and plain or striped shirts on Mondays, plaids and khakis on Thursdays, with occasional formal attire for a “high priority” meeting.

But when is it ok to tone it down, further….

The East of West is tempered with sky-high hot temperatures for the past few weeks. On one such simmering day, a colleague who reminds me of Bruce Wills, but much taller, with a goatee and husky voice, with a strong build, who must be at least 69 if not more, came to work in Khaki shorts. Hmm…..it doesn’t matter to us, since the HR is in the other bldg, nobody is going to hunt him down to read the rules. By the way, just to set the record right, he almost always is dressed in the best form of “Business Casual”.

Anyway, I overheard a conversation where he was saying maybe I should wear a board across my neck, which reads “yeah ! I’m wearing shorts”, so that nobody asks me, if they missed a memo to wear shorts on Tuesday. To that I thought “at this age if he can’t do what he wants to work then it’s a shame ”.

But the next hour, I was contemplating on that thought. Why does age relate to that level of being and expressing who we are. Are the stakes low, is there less to prove…could he carried away with his nonchalant attitude in his career forming years.

Why as “Dilbert’s” at work, do we care less or not as much, once the worth is proven.

And when is it Ok to tone it down…and why?