WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?

UGH . . .

DOUBLE ugh . . .

Maybe even TRIPLE ugh . . .

My place of employment has decided that we will from henceforth have manditory uniforms. Most of the employees are students, and some students tend to dress very casually . . . one might even be tempted to say 'sloppily' . . . or on occassion, 'provocatively'. So I kind of get where they are coming from . . .

In the past one lab aid had to (about half the time) go turn his T shirt inside out because what was on it was so offensive (and STUDENTS complained . . . not STAFF . . . not TEACHERS . . . STUDENTS . . . the pictures/sayings must have been pretty offensive to have STUDENTS complaining . . .)

I also know that with warm weather approaching, the temptation for workers to wear revealing tank tops, tube tops, crop tops and very short shorts is strong . . .(Um . . . no, not for ME but for other lab aides/tutors). So this is an attempt to avoid things that have caused problems in the past, and to encourage workers to behave more professionally and treat this as a JOB, not a place to hang out and flirt . . . (Um . . . also, not ME, but others . . . yeah).

I get that, I really do. If they instituted and enforced even a STRICT dress code, I would be fine with that, like 'shorts must be at least mid thigh', or 'to the knee', and 'midriffs must be covered', or 'no visible cleavage'. I would even be okay with them picking a color we needed to wear while on the job so that we were easily identifiable. I always dress and behave professionally; that is not a problem for me at all.

My problem is that (1) They cut everybody's pay (I lost $2.50 an hour) down to what a starting lab aid/tutor makes . . . because there was no money in the budget. HMMMM . . . and yet that very same budget that had no money to pay us our EARNED merit raises based on performance and length of employment has enough money NOW to order shirts for everybody. Which leads to (2) which is simply, that I HATE polo shirts. HATE them . . . not just 'prefer not to wear them' . . . I have -- to my recollection -- NEVER owned a polo shirt because I find them ugly and unflattering. I think most MEN look okay in them, and some VERY SKINNY women . . . but even when I was thin, I never liked them on ME. (Um . . . sorry if anyone reading this absolutely LOVES polo shirts . . . this is just MY opinion).

Anyhow, they cut my pay because there was 'no money', (not JUST mine . . . everybody's except those who JUST got hired) but 'found' money in that very same budget to buy ugly, unflattering shirts which we are required to wear now.

UGH . . .

All we lack is the rule that we must now say "would you like fries with that?" after each appointment . . .