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Any stories of employees firing their best employees or passing over a really great candidate because they refused to follow dress code?
There's a bit more to it than that. There's the East/West coast factor to consider. East coast companies are much more likely to require/expect a suit and tie than a Silicon Valley company. At some East coast companies, even the janitors wear a suit and tie. I'm not making this up -- I've worked at several such companies where it was true.
> Do you know or have you been fired for choosing not to wear one?
It might be better to look at one's advancement prospects instead of fired/not fired. If you don't dress like you belong in an executive suite, chances are you won't be asked to occupy one.
> Any stories of employees firing their best employees or passing over a really great candidate because they refused to follow dress code?
This way of looking at it unfortunately suffers from self-reference. Someone who won't meet the dress code won't be looked on as a "really great candidate", so the exercise is undermined at the outset.
Suffice it to say that following the dress code is so basic and essential that no meaningful study that correlated dress and advancement could be done.
People say they're uncomfortable, but if your suit is uncomfortable you've just chosen the wrong suit. Same with your shirts. And if your tie is uncomfortable, learn to tie a knot better.
People who say we should do away with the suit are arguing to do away with centuries of evolution in professional men's attire. It's like arguing that we should trash art or literature, or that we should stop using cutlery and just use our hands.
Why do you people hate suits so much? What's wrong with wearing fine clothes and looking sharp? People say they're uncomfortable, but if your suit is uncomfortable you've just chosen the wrong suit. Same with your shirts. And if your tie is uncomfortable, learn to tie a knot better. People who say we should do away with the suit are arguing to do away with centuries of evolution in professional men's attire. It's lik…
Why do you people hate suits so much? What's wrong with wearing fine clothes and looking sharp? People say they're uncomfortable, but if your suit is uncomfortable you've just chosen the wrong suit. Same with your shirts. And if your tie is uncomfortable, learn to tie a knot better. People who say we should do away with the suit are arguing to do away with centuries of evolution in professional men's attire. It's lik…
I don't think they make you look sharp. They're a uniform, stick a suit on and you're just another person dressed in grey or black. It doesn't exactly do anything interesting with the eye.
Now, granted, there are various cuts of suit, and different pockets, ways of making them roll the shoulders to make you look broader or... but I don't really find that a well made suit is dramatically more interesting than a poorly made suit.
Perhaps to other people it is, and then I could understand better why people would choose to wear them if given a choice. But to myself a well made suit's not really more interesting than a grey T-shirt and has additional social connotations of being subservient to whoever's enforcing the dress code at the time.
> People who say we should do away with the suit are arguing to do away with centuries of evolution in professional men's attire.
What's the selection pressure supposed to be? Cutlery serves an obvious function. It's not clear what desirable function suits serve.
Why do you people hate suits so much? What's wrong with wearing fine clothes and looking sharp? People say they're uncomfortable, but if your suit is uncomfortable you've just chosen the wrong suit. Same with your shirts. And if your tie is uncomfortable, learn to tie a knot better. People who say we should do away with the suit are arguing to do away with centuries of evolution in professional men's attire. It's lik…
> Why do you people hate suits so much? What's wrong with wearing fine clothes and looking sharp? I don't think they make you look sharp. They're a uniform, stick a suit on and you're just another person dressed in grey or black. It doesn't exactly do anything interesting with the eye. Now, granted, there are various cuts of suit, and different pockets, ways of making them roll the shoulders to make you look broader…
Why do you people hate suits so much? What's wrong with wearing fine clothes and looking sharp? People say they're uncomfortable, but if your suit is uncomfortable you've just chosen the wrong suit. Same with your shirts. And if your tie is uncomfortable, learn to tie a knot better. People who say we should do away with the suit are arguing to do away with centuries of evolution in professional men's attire. It's lik…
> Why do you people hate suits so much? What's wrong with wearing fine clothes and looking sharp? I don't think they make you look sharp. They're a uniform, stick a suit on and you're just another person dressed in grey or black. It doesn't exactly do anything interesting with the eye. Now, granted, there are various cuts of suit, and different pockets, ways of making them roll the shoulders to make you look broader…
It marks you as a team player, sort of like a sports uniform. I say it that way intentionally to show how a suit can be interpreted in both positive and negative ways.
Wearing a suit means you belong to the group that wears suits. Belonging can be overrated, but it seems many want to belong to the suit-wearing, six-figure-income clique.
Why do you people hate suits so much? What's wrong with wearing fine clothes and looking sharp? People say they're uncomfortable, but if your suit is uncomfortable you've just chosen the wrong suit. Same with your shirts. And if your tie is uncomfortable, learn to tie a knot better. People who say we should do away with the suit are arguing to do away with centuries of evolution in professional men's attire. It's lik…
> For the old timers here, what was is it like in the suit and tie culture of the past? There's a bit more to it than that. There's the East/West coast factor to consider. East coast companies are much more likely to require/expect a suit and tie than a Silicon Valley company. At some East coast companies, even the janitors wear a suit and tie. I'm not making this up -- I've worked at several such companies where it…
Even if that person is well known for being the best of the best? Even if their everyone knows that other companies out there would love to grab them because they are that good?
> For the old timers here, what was is it like in the suit and tie culture of the past? There's a bit more to it than that. There's the East/West coast factor to consider. East coast companies are much more likely to require/expect a suit and tie than a Silicon Valley company. At some East coast companies, even the janitors wear a suit and tie. I'm not making this up -- I've worked at several such companies where it…
>This way of looking at it unfortunately suffers from self-reference. Someone who won't meet the dress code won't be looked on as a "really great candidate", so the exercise is undermined at the outset. Even if that person is well known for being the best of the best? Even if their everyone knows that other companies out there would love to grab them because they are that good?
There are too many subjective factors that enter into such an evaluation, including how that person is dressed.
> Even if their everyone knows that other companies out there would love to grab them because they are that good?
In human affairs, "good" can never be made completely objective, and human studies are rarely scientific in the classic sense. In this case, "good" might arise from the most superficial evaluation -- for example, just a picture of the candidate in his suit. :)