Casual Friday could simultaneously be the best and worst thing about working in an office. On one hand, it's nice to feel the restrains of business attire loosened as you're allowed to wear jeans and an appropriate t-shirt. On the other, sometimes you might see way too much of your co-workers. Bits and pieces only your nightmares could dredge up.
Reddit user, u/Mermaidofthesolstice, wanted to know about who walked the red carpet of awful when they asked:
What is the most inappropriate clothing you have seen a fellow employee show up to work wearing?
Pretty Sure This Is How We Got The Joker...
GiphyHad a boss who was the VP of both sales and production at a company that made hazardous chemicals. His dad was the CEO and founder so he'd only show up to work a couple times a month to scream at whomever had screwed up for making him look bad, and he was always wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops... in a chemical facility... and he'd just barge into production rooms where everyone else was wearing full body PPE.
Just Wait Until The Clients Say Something...
I work for an accounting firm, and we don't have a dress code. I had an intern, who had been with our firm for months, come in wearing a dress that she bought to wear at a music festival. I don't think it even went to the middle of her thigh, and on top of that, the bottom 4 inches of it were lace. She wore it to work multiple times, and no one said anything! It wasn't until she wore something inappropriate to a client's office, that she finally got reprimanded.
When It Takes More Than One Day To Figure It Out
GiphyI'm an archaeologist that does a lot of work in the Mojave Desert. I had some new students helping with a survey. I told them beforehand they needed to wear field appropriate clothing and explained what that meant. It's a hot, rocky miserable landscape with stabby plants all over the place. Loose, fitting rugged clothes is what you need to not get injured or die.
The first day one of them rolls up with black yoga pants. I would have sent them home, but they rode with another student so they had no way of getting back without screwing over the student. They got called out, told that clothing was not acceptable, and next time wear the aforementioned attire. They ended up with heat stress and had to stay in the truck most of the day.
The next day they show up with a damn skirt... and it was a really windy day.
By day three, she figured it out.
Hopefully Not A School Bus
Had this girl start training with us for a bus driver job; she was very liberal (it was at a public university in the northeast, so par for the course). This was around 2004 or so when Bush was in office; she was wearing a shirt that had a drawing of George Bush on it and the words "Bad Bush" below it; right next to that was a drawing of a girl with her legs spread and no underwear on and the words "Good Bush". She was pulled aside by our manager and told to go home and change. I know it's a university campus, but we worked with the public for god's sake. She ended up failing her commercial driving test and not working for us.
Not Camping Attire
I was a camp counselor. This lady from the office came out to camp in high heels and a pencil skirt. Completely inappropriate for gravel roads and trails.
Bad Taste Becomes Awful Taste
GiphyI used to work at a little tech startup that was fairly laid-back in terms of dress code (even by tech industry standards) - so there was a general, collective laissez-faire attitude about what people wore in the office. But even by those relaxed standards, and despite it being Halloween, which lowered the expectations even further, quite a few eyebrows were raised when one of the junior developers showed up dressed as a suicide bomber.
No Shirt, No Job
One time, while I was working at A&W, this one guy forgot his uniform shirt, so he decided to go shirtless and wear his apron. I had to explain to him that it was a violation of food safety.
This was the same guy who decided it would be a smart idea to ask our supervisor if she was wearing a thong while he held a ladder for her. She gave him a talking to for that.
Saving Lives And Looking Fabulous
The shortest of short shorts I think I've ever seen, a crop top shirt, and super high heels.
We worked in a science lab on the grounds of a hospital. There were complaints. I had to stifle laughter at the resulting "we don't really have a dress code but please ensure your butt is fully covered or we'll have to make a dress code" part of the next lab meeting.
Revenge Dress
GiphyI work in a large academic library, and attire ranges from jeans and decent shirts to business casual and business suits, so I really thought that "inappropriate" was never going to happen.
Then one long time coworker -- she was probably in 50s at the time, and petitie but not necessarily fit - got really pissed off at our Dean. Understandably, the guy was a asshole. He made a nasty remark about her one day - along the lines of he was going to hide her in a back office because she was an embarrassment to have out front
The next day (when we had a univ dean meeting in the building) she showed up wearing an almost-sheer white catsuit with a deep back cutout (so it was clear there was no bra) that she got from a local sex shop.
It was wonderful.
First: Welding. Then: Beach
A welder showed up in shorts and short sleeves because it was hot in the shop. He figured if he put on a lot of sunscreen he'd be fine. I almost wish we'd been able to let him try to work for a while. Those nylon swim trunks would not have stopped a single spark.
Why NOT Make Elementary Schools More Fabulous?
Not where I work, but I went to a music program at my little brother's elementary school and the Vice Principal showed up in a skin-tight SUPER short cheetah print dress and 5 inch stilettos. She spoke for a little bit before the program began and I couldn't even focus on what she was saying. Not extremely wild or anything but I felt like it wasn't exactly appropriate for an elementary school.
Not THAT Kind Of Customer Service!
GiphyHad a guy show up (customer service job) with a tshirt that had a photo of a naked woman, full frontal, all the way down to her knees. Wtf.
Today's Inside Out Day
This is really weird, but there used to be a woman in my building that would wear white t-shirts with bikini tops or halter tops on the outside of her shirt. I never could figure that one out. It was like she thought she found some sort of loophole to being able to wear that stuff. Everyone else just thought she looked stupid.
Read The Room. Or Country, In This Case.
My old chemistry teacher told us about this one guy in the Navy. They were docked in Japan, and he was supposed to be able to spend the day in the city or something. He chose to wear a shirt that said "Made in America / Tested in Japan" with a mushroom cloud in between.
He did not get off the boat.
He Fought The Law And The...
GiphyThis one guy I worked with showed up in boxers, apparently he had a run in with the law and ran away but he still came to collect his check. Why he was in his boxers I still don't know.
An Unfair Standard
Worked in a mental health and chemical dependency clinic. One of the nurses there, who dealt face-to-face with clients, came to work almost daily wearing a skirt that was quite obviously inappropriate, for which she never got in trouble. As a peon secretary, however, I was called into my boss's office and reprimanded, because MY skirt was "inappropriate" at one inch above the knee.
Working for myself now I don't put up with anybody's bullsh-t :) Corporate life can suck it!
When Your Outsides Match The Insides
One of my female coworkers had a shirt with a face on it. The face had eyebrow piercing that went through the shirt to her nipple piercings. Needless to say it was the trashiest thing I've ever seen.
We Appreciate The Effort, But...
GiphyI'm a Paramedic. I once saw a firefighter show up on scene of a car accident in the middle of the night in old, torn up basketball shorts, sandals, and his turnout coat, unzipped, with no shirt underneath. I immediately told him to sit in the rescue until we were done, and told the chief. The chief made him unpack and repack all of the entire length of hose on the engine, by himself.
Don't Order The Breakfast Sausage
I got fired from a restaurant after getting in an argument with a prep cook who called me out for wearing black jeans instead of black slacks, when he was wearing camo pants with a huge hole in the crotch and no apron.
H/T: Reddit
Breanna Michele/TikTok
Brandy Denise Mitche/TikTok
Elisa Pacheco/TikTok
Sophie/TikTok
Megz/TikTok
Rae/TikTok
Juicyjazz415/TikTok
Teresita/TikTok
Icelaaa/TikTok
@elonmusk/X