Dressed to Impress

I have often heard the saying, "Dress for the job you want." I must have internalized that at some point, because I seem to dress for homelessness and unemployment.

I am always telling Mark some embarrassing story where I was in torn sweatpants and dirty hair when I ran into so someone I knew. Last week he said, "You know that wouldn't happen if you didn't always leave the house dressed like that." At the time I called him a B-hole. But yesterday, I started to think there might be something to what he said. Twice this weekend, I had been caught looking "unprepared".

The first was on Saturday when my cousins were in town visiting. We all had dinner together and then it was proposed that we go "out".   As everyone was running around changing, I looked down at myself. I had on what could be considered a unisex sleeveless shirt (very unflattering) with a pair of clearance Bermuda shorts on. My hair was in a messy ponytail and I had on my daily flip-flops. Is this the kind of thing you want to be seen wearing at 1 AM in a hoppin' bar? I wasn't at home so the option to change did not exist. I couldn't borrow clothes since I am the token heavy girl in the group. Dang. So, I held my head up high and embraced my frumpiness. All around me in the bar, girls in short dresses and high heels were parading around and I looked like "It's Pat" from SNL. Lesson should have been learned.

The very next day, I was feeling very comfortable in my soccer shorts and nondescript gray t-shirt (and of course my flip-flops), so I decided to wear it to work. Normally, on Sundays I am one of two people in the office so I wasn't very concerned with my attire. I did think twice about my hair, but shrugged it off anyway. Who needs make-up on a Sunday anyway? (over half the world, actually.) Unfortunately, as I arrived at the front door in the midst of torrential rain, I came face-to-face with a well-dressed woman from accounting who happened to come in to work that day. She showed excellent control and tact by not reacting to my appearance. I looked around and noticed there was no power in the building. She and I sat in the front lobby listening to the radio to see if we were going to be killed by a tornado (I tried not to make eye contact). Then, my Sunday coworker showed up. We too, sat around in the dark. The night progressed into a stressful work situation with no power but phones still ringing with people wanting to put in orders. Our systems lady came in, followed by our I.T. guy. Dang. All of them might have thought I sleep in my car. But maybe they will pay me more...

Mark, you might be right. Maybe I should consider my appearance before going out in public.