Thursday, May 7, 2009

Business Too Casual

JohnnyMac had an employee clearly striving to never be employee of the month. Here is the breakdown.

This employee, estimated around 27 years old, working for one of the largest companies in the US. This employee comes to work in jeans. His supervisor, who reports to JohnnyMac, can clearly handle passing along the coaching tip. This is a business environment. Business casual means trousers and button downs or golf shirts. What his supervisor did not say was look around. Do you see people wearing jeans? Your environment is a beacon of information. Use it.

BlueJeans quickly forgot the quick tete a tete. He wore jeans again. And again. Supervisor finally quashed this under who knows what sort of communication. I am perplexed that an employee who actually wants to maintain employment would digress when repeatedly given warnings.

As a quick sidebar, I think grown individuals working in "typical" office environments should have obligatory awareness of what elements are likely to be beheld as "inappropriate for work".

Which would include, at the minimum:

blue jeans (unless allowed), flip flops, midriff baring shirts, your prison style chest tattoo, your cleavage, your underwear tag, your copious chest hair, your Miller Lite tee, or anything bearing the Playboy Bunny icon.

However, BlueJeans certainly found another way to occupy his time. When BlueJeans was finally terminated a few weeks ago, he requested time to sort out his personal effects. This is not a situation where you were employed at length, nor are you moving from one office to another.

What personal effects do you need an hour or more to sort out? BlueJeans had stacks and stacks of documents he claimed were personal and wanted to maintain. Supervisor certainly utilized a level of patience I might not have afforded. BlueJeans had hundred and hundreds of pieces of paper, printed at the office. What could be so consuming that you would have hundreds of pieces of paper related to a personal item that you printed at the office?

He hacked into his ex-girlfriends Facebook account and email and had printed all of the correspondence relative to him. The primary narrative of her correspondence? That he was nuts and she was glad to be rid of him. Supervisor decided to inflict some pain and require that since the documents were technically company property, he would have someone make copies. Of every piece. Excellent. BlueJeans visibly wiped the sweat from his brow.

Oh BlueJeans, you must not want to work. This is an office, not your college apartment. In all your internet time, did you not scan the news a time or two? Are you aware of the current state of our economy? Do you know PhDs are applying to work as baristas at Starbucks? Jobs do not abound. Do you need me, JennyMac, to tell you to not take business to0 casual? Wear your khakis. And obviously you shouldn't use a ream or two of paper (which is also evidence against you) as well as company time, equipment, and product for your own little FaceBookgate as you cyberstalk your ex. Had she only mentioned "about to be unemployed" she would have your profile nailed down pat.

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