Big Daddy
Dear Big Daddy
Hey Big Daddy,
We may have survived another hot summer, but you wouldn’t know it by the way
my boss dresses. Now that fall is here, she still continues to wear low-cut
shirts and dresses. I never thought of myself as a prude, but it’s a little
awkward and it’s starting to make me a little uncomfortable. Is there any
way to gently broach this subject with her, or am I just being uptight? When
it comes to clothes, how low can you go?
NeoConservative Gal
Hey NeoCon,
Somewhere between women’s suffrage and Paris Hilton becoming the “it” girl,
women have gone from exercising their right to vote to exorcising the better
angels of good taste and discretion from the public scene.
When women in the workplace start showing their thongs peeking from beneath
their low-riders, the bounds of decency have been breached. I’m not
suggesting you take your fashion cues from Money Penny in her pencil skirts
and high neck blouses or even from Harriet Miers in her big, boxy blue suit
that hides a petit build balanced on size 6 feet.
What I am suggesting is that not everything goes in the workplace. And
women in power have an obligation to set the standard and police their own.
It starts with a reasonable dress code that is understood by new hires. And
it is enforced by female bosses who follow these unwritten rules:
showed up to work in low-rise jeans and a tank top? Don’t you owe your
co-workers the same courtesy that the fine gentleman from Monrovia extends
you?
Senator Jackie Speier, who Big Daddy applauds as a worthy example of good
taste and professionalism in the workplace, starts wearing her pajamas to
work under her designer suit, so can you. Until then, hold that silk teddie
for weekend barhops when you can actually put it to good use.
Now, a word or two from our sponsors about cleavage.
This, of course, is the most delicate topic to broach. For some, the issue
is a non-starter. For others it’s curse beyond their control. But for an
increasing number of professional women in positions of power, cleavage is
worn like an accessory, and a bad one at that. Cleavage is to the workplace
woman what bling is to the MTV Video Awards
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