July 30, 2005
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Out of Uniform
I've spent all summer with a group of people in uniform. Strict uniform. Shirt sleeves must be starched to a crisp line, and black pants must be hemmed to the heel of your black shoes. I've come to know (or believe I know) things about the people inside the uniforms by the way they express their individuality with hairstyles and posture. I judge them based on who pulls his own weight and who I'd just as soon not see named in the same room I'm assigned to work.
So it's almost a shock to see Chrystal with her hair down wearing a loosely woven gauze skirt. I was surprised to notice that without the pillowing effect of the apron and shirt, Roxy's lean athletic body is also gracefully curved. I didn't realize how much softer Christina would look with her hair down.
It's funny how much I depend on clothes to tell me things about people, shorthand notes that enable me to skip the complicated process of really looking at the person beneath the bowtie. And because I'm self-centered I wonder how differently they might view me out of uniform. I know that on the few occasions I've gone into Mimi's in street clothes, there has always been someone doing a double take and telling me that they don't recognize me with my hair down. I wonder how different an impression my Momi uniform makes than my Mimi uniform does.
Comments (10)
Spent lots of quality time in uniform myself a few years back. Its one of the things I won't do again. TYVM. lol TTFN.
I like this.....gives me something to ponder.
Neat post. Hey, place photos here and we will tell you our impressions
Really? Uniforms never have that effect on me. Unless I'm affected subconsciously, I seem to have a knack of looking at the person behind the outfit, rather than at the clothes. Personally, I wear a uniform at work, and I know the uniform has an effect on people, but my own awareness doesn't seem to exist. But that's what makes horse racing possible, and Baskin & Robbins. Different strokes.
The way we dress tells something about us. Gangs with baggy pants, bikers with leathers, beards & tatoos, fat people in stretch pants, demure old ladies in pale pastels, girls in see through blouses and other things showing. And so it goes. I don't wear shorts because we old ladies don't look good in them. Just a matter of simple self respect.
MY father used to tell me that the clothes make the man, and i always thought---THAT'S a dumb way to judge someone's worth
I remember my school uniform with good and bad memories.
The good? We all kind of looked the same, so it was harder to get caught doing bad stuff
The bad? It didn't reduce the teasing if you didn't have brand name shoes, etc etc.
(not that you mentioned school uniforms. But hey. I digress)
This touches on "first Impressions" where we do tend to take in what is worn and how we relate. I think subconciously we create an idea of what that person is all about by what we see. In a work situation, where uniform of dress is required, it often is a poor assement, as it is rarely what the true person is like, only the outward show of being whatever they are representing during their work hours. Seeing that same person in their natural environment can be a shock for many, if the way they show themselves is very different from the work environment.
Yes, it is soooo easy to take shortcuts in deciding who someone is.
Mike
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