Spring Break
Shorts: Now is the time
By: Matt Schirano
Issue date: 7/27/07 Section: Ed-Op
Originally published: 7/28/07 at 12:44 AM EST
Last update: 7/28/07 at 12:43 AM EST
Originally published: 7/28/07 at 12:44 AM EST
Last update: 7/28/07 at 12:43 AM EST
I refuse to remain silent.
At first I was angry, but I believed I would look like a fool if I were to come forward with how I feel. Recently however, events have forced me into action, and I will not be staid any longer.
It's been above 95 degrees for three straight days now, and each day I perspire like I'm in the Outback on Man vs. Wild.
When this happens I wonder, "Why can't I wear shorts to work?" The immediate answer is always, "It's not business attire" or, "It's inappropriate in the workplace."
Why? Why is it inappropriate? It's inappropriate to dress accordingly with the weather? It's inappropriate to realize it's over 100 degrees with the heat index, and think to myself that maybe pants just aren't realistic today?
An even better way of putting it is not in terms of inappropriateness, but what is appropriate. Is it appropriate to force everyone to feel unnecessarily hot? Honestly, is it appropriate to wear pants during the summer? It makes me wonder who makes these rules, and why they want us all to suffer.
It just doesn't make any sense when you think about it. This isn't a law; it's an unwritten code that we all just follow. Women don't care, they can wear skirts and sleeveless shirts among a myriad of other summertime apparel. Men on the other hand, are stuck in a conservative world of dress pants, dress shirts (which require an undershirt mind you), and a lack of shorts and sandals.
I work with all women, and I can hear their uncovered feet flip-flopping up and down the halls daily, while my feet are confined to shoes and socks due to the unwillingness of the American business society to bend to the will of Mother Nature.
The part of me that believes in UFOs, government conspiracies and the tooth fairy says that the reason we can't all wear shorts to work during the summer if we feel like it is because way at the top of the business world, the big cohunes sip on water from the Land of the Lost and eat Dodo eggs from their private fertilization plants. They can't wear shorts because they have grossly white legs and knobby knees. If they can't feel the breeze of summer lap against their legs, then no one can.
At first I was angry, but I believed I would look like a fool if I were to come forward with how I feel. Recently however, events have forced me into action, and I will not be staid any longer.
It's been above 95 degrees for three straight days now, and each day I perspire like I'm in the Outback on Man vs. Wild.
When this happens I wonder, "Why can't I wear shorts to work?" The immediate answer is always, "It's not business attire" or, "It's inappropriate in the workplace."
Why? Why is it inappropriate? It's inappropriate to dress accordingly with the weather? It's inappropriate to realize it's over 100 degrees with the heat index, and think to myself that maybe pants just aren't realistic today?
An even better way of putting it is not in terms of inappropriateness, but what is appropriate. Is it appropriate to force everyone to feel unnecessarily hot? Honestly, is it appropriate to wear pants during the summer? It makes me wonder who makes these rules, and why they want us all to suffer.
It just doesn't make any sense when you think about it. This isn't a law; it's an unwritten code that we all just follow. Women don't care, they can wear skirts and sleeveless shirts among a myriad of other summertime apparel. Men on the other hand, are stuck in a conservative world of dress pants, dress shirts (which require an undershirt mind you), and a lack of shorts and sandals.
I work with all women, and I can hear their uncovered feet flip-flopping up and down the halls daily, while my feet are confined to shoes and socks due to the unwillingness of the American business society to bend to the will of Mother Nature.
The part of me that believes in UFOs, government conspiracies and the tooth fairy says that the reason we can't all wear shorts to work during the summer if we feel like it is because way at the top of the business world, the big cohunes sip on water from the Land of the Lost and eat Dodo eggs from their private fertilization plants. They can't wear shorts because they have grossly white legs and knobby knees. If they can't feel the breeze of summer lap against their legs, then no one can.
