Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Dressing for Work

The events and advertising agency which I work for is a subsidiary of a private university-college, and we are thus based "on campus". Being based in an education institution doing events and advertising is definitely NOT something those in the industry would want to be caught in.

Let me tell you why.

On certain days I come to work dressed in a tee, a pair of jeans and my faithful pair of Vans sneakers. On some days, I can be found in a a polo-tee, a pair of denim skirt, my faitful pair of Vans sneakers and a Nike pouch hanging off my waist.

During the course of the day, I cross paths with many - a lecturer from the School of Information Technology, the secretary of some big shot, a girl who works in Finance, the receptionist, the cafeteria lady, etc.

They eye me up and down and say "Wah Doreen, on leave ah you?", indicating that I'm not suitably dressed for work.

I smile politely and tell them I've got errands to run and recces to do in many places for upcoming events, therefore I'm dressed comfortably.

"Recce? What's that?" asked the bespectacled lecturer in her 40s.

"That's when you conduct site visits at venues prior to an event" said I.

On some days, I have important meetings to attend and want to impress, so I come dressed in buttoned and collared shirts, a pair of skirt and my usual 3-inch heels. But a day at work is never complete without some physical labour included.

A couple of days ago, I was dressed "corporate suitable". By about 11am that morning, I was helping the delivery boy unload 35,000 pieces of flyers from his lorry onto my trolley, to be sent up to my office on the third floor for storage.

Come the afternoon, I finally found a part-timer to help me distribute these flyers to their respective venues. So I had to load all 35,000 flyers onto the trolley and load it downstairs, and into his car. We did a couple of rounds.

There I was, in a shirt and skirt, tottering around in 3-inch high heels while trying to manouvre the trolley whose wheels have gone slightly out of place, while the load atop it was darn heavy!

During my ups and downs in loading and unloading goods, I once again cross paths with many - some other lecturer, an accountant, secretaries, an administrative staff, etc.

"Aiyo.. wear so high heels carry so heavy things ah?" said a secretary.

"What to do?" said I panting while trying to get the damn trolley to move in a straight line.

So can someone please tell me how I should dress for work?

Posted by Doreen at 3:08 pm