Plaid Shirt, Skinny Jeans, and Vans Slip-Ons

My office is surrounded by investment firms, law offices, and accounting offices. And every now and then I head out to the plaza between the buildings to eat lunch. It’s easy to pick out the finance guys. They all coagulate in a corner sharing a step or two wearing trim blue or yellow dress shirts (no tie) with khaki pants. A jovial bunch for the most part. The lawyers are easy to spot as well. Usually cutting across the plaza with a BlackBerry shoved to their ear wearing a three button suit with white shirt and tie, usually carrying an over-priced leather briefcase. Accountants speckle the crowd here and there with their polo shirts and slacks usually alone but sometimes in twos (rarely in threes).

Then there are the people from my office. They stick out like teenagers crashing a job fair. What amuses me are the professional “uniforms.” People that work in finance look like they work in finance. Their dress shirts say “We’re serious if your serious,” while their lack of necktie says “but we still know how to get zany.” The lawyers outfit just says “Don’t screw with me. I can afford this suit because I learned how to be superior in law school.” And the accountant’s uniform says “Yeah, I like numbers, and yes my fantasy football league is killing it on ESPN.com!”

The ad uniform tells people that “We are creative and don’t want to be tied down by a monkey suit.” Skinny jeans, plaid shirts, and Vans slip-ons (add black rimmed glasses for the visually impaired) make a statement in understatement. I enjoy my professional uniform. But sometimes I wear a necktie just to throw people off. Every time I do people ask:


“Job interview?”

“Na, just throwing a wrench in the machine.”