Casual Fridays
We all love those casual Fridays, don’t we? Or should I say those “dress like it’s your day off” Fridays because that’s basically what they are. It’s a trend that started off small and with the best of intentions and then quickly morphed into one of those “give them an inch and they’ll take a mile” things. We all have to admit it. Casual Fridays are fun, but they’ve gotten more than a little sloppy.
My first experience with casual Fridays was in the late 80s when I was working as a sales rep. On Fridays I generally showed up in pants and maybe a pullover sweater or shirt. The other sales rep usually had on something similar. The boss wore jeans, a button up shirt open at the collar, and a basic blazer. Although our apparel was far more casual than our normal Monday through Thursday professional attire, we all looked reasonably respectable.
It now appears to me that the whole concept of casual Fridays has been taken quite a bit further. A few years ago I was waiting in the exam room of a doctor’s office on a Friday morning when a guy wearing jeans and a very run-of-the-mill looking shirt walked in. I was trying to figure out why he was there when he introduced himself, and I realized that he was the doctor. I wondered for a minute if perhaps he was going outside to do a little landscaping between patients. Based on his appearance, it wouldn’t have surprised me. Another Friday morning I was sitting in an attorney‘s office waiting for him to appear when a schleppy looking guy strolled in sporting very loose fitting khaki pants that bunched up around his ankles and a blue button up long sleeve shirt that wasn’t even tucked in. At first I thought he was someone else’s client who had stumbled into the wrong room by mistake. It never occurred to me that he was the attorney until he sat down behind the desk and started talking. It was then that I began to think that casual Fridays might be getting a little out of hand.
In spite of these incidents and many others like them, I have to say that I still do support casual Fridays. I think that everyone deserves a chance to relax, be comfortable, and celebrate the end of the workweek. But when you’re getting dressed for work on Friday mornings, skip the drawer with the sweatpants and the torn jeans. They’ll still be there waiting for you when you wake up Saturday.