Coder wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:01 am
This is a tough one for me - I’m only inviting questions and gossip when I consider going to work in a skirt. I think if I worked a uniformed job I would choose the men’s option for multiple reasons, either the women’s would be designed to accentuate their form, kind of like the flight attendants, or as you say the only difference would be which side it buttons on.
Well, we each have to do what we feel comfortable with. I had a bit of a situation back in 2016 with a simple photograph posted on Facebook that was seen by some unnamed employee of the same company who proceeded to complain to corporate to have me terminated. The story goes, it escalated all the way to the top, and the decision was made to just leave me alone, but it could have just as easily ended with my job loss. Note, I have never worn a feminine garment on company time. This complaint was made regarding my
off the clock attire. It took a while to get that digested, and there were little bits of drama that surfaced all the way up until the point I left in early 2018.
I have always respected the position my employer(s) are in given the highly conservative region we tend to live in, one that recently has become supercharged on anger and hatefulness in recent months particularly.
These days I work for a company that is generally pretty tolerant. These waters were tested a few months ago, while on vacation actually strolled into my main branch office (I've never been there before) for a casual chat with the branch manager and to meet some of the coworkers I've been talking on the phone with this whole time. I wore a plain brown double layered skirt with a printed tee and sneakers. Nary a word was said about what I was wearing, and it's been about a month and a half, and still nothing has been said.
All that being said, I to tend to avoid the really flamboyant stuff when roaming my local region. Mainly because I may find myself being seen by customers. I still wear skirts, but they are a lot more "guy like" with less lace and flowers generally. I still reserve the girly stuff for my jaunts outside of the district, such as West Virginia, and the Roanoke Valley.
One coworker in particular has seen me skirted and doesn't mind at all. I'm sure the other three know, but they never talk about it. The crew I work with now doesn't really do much with each other after hours. We all basically just return to our normal private lives. Thus it's very easy to maintain a wide space between social work life and social personal life. That's fine with me. If there was a function that I was invited to that was uncompensated (off the clock), then I'd wear a skirt as normal. But if I'm being paid, I'm going to wear a full uniform, even if it's not required.
I hold the belief that when I'm being paid, I'm renting my time to whoever is paying me, I represent that person or entity, not myself. If my employer requires me to wear a dress or a skirt for whatever reason, than I shall oblige that requirement. Otherwise, I'm here to do my job and go home. And if they are willing to respect my time and not give me any grief for what I do during [my] time, then I'm happy to return that respect.
Perhaps someday it won't matter and I'll be as free as the pants wearing women in the area, but from all appearances, we're regressing in this region. The transgender situation in Virginia schools seems to have
locals on a warpath, and that's going to have a horns effect on people like me.
Anyway, I digress. I obviously don't have an issue with the Jet Blue attendants uniform, but in fairness he's courting trouble in my opinion. But then again, flight attendants have historically been female dominated job roles. I still imagine that most of those judgemental folk on the Twitter thread probably wouldn't say anything in the plane, save for maybe a little mumbling to themselves, maybe an obnoxious laugh when they're around their buddies.
Although jobs at a place like Target, if they offered a khaki skirt option I might go for it if the job activities fit.
Well, those department stores are a little different. Even at my local Walmart in Neo-con-Redneckville USA (Lebanon Virginia) I've seen some eccentric characters stocking the shelves and working the store. I've misgendered countless men and women there. Last weekend at the Food City 605 in Kingsport TN, I had a small order rang up by what I assumed was your typical "small town country white boy". He looked to be the image of the "Pleasantville USA" teenager, slightly husky, likely good at football, and maybe even a bit of a jock... he was wearing dark blue nail polish....
...good for him. The times, they are-a changin!
Opinions on Twitter seem to be more in favour of the guy (I don't like the fussy orange
