Employees maliciously comply with manager's order to dress for the job they want.

Going into the office means adhering to office culture: cubicles, small talk, and dress codes. Dressing professionally is far from the work-at-home culture of dressing mostly in pajamas until you must be on Zoom.

On a popular Reddit thread in the Am I the A**hole Subreddit, a woman maliciously complies with her boss's order for everyone to dress for the jobs they want.

She writes:

I work for a family business with 30+ employees. This company has friends and family members as top-tiered Management and often made up rules whenever they felt like it. When new employees join the company, they sign a basic employment contract stating the compensation, benefits, and work hours. The company does not have a written code of conduct.

One particular manager is a friend of the President. Let’s call her Sally. Sally manages a team of eight employees, including myself. We aren’t allowed to make small talk WHILE working, and we must let her know when we start taking our breaks and when we return from breaks. Sally interjects whenever a team member asks another team member questions because Sally is a micromanager.

Sally also makes us come to work early once a week for thirty minutes (unpaid) so that she can recap the previous week and often uses this time to tell us what we’re doing wrong. She made it clear that this weekly meeting is mandatory.

During one meeting, she brought up expectations for continued employment at the workplace - no swearing, no talking bad about customers amongst ourselves, no personal phones on desks, no music during work hours, no talking to other departments unless it’s work-related, etc.

Then she brought up the dress code. It’s important to note that we’ve never heard of a dress code at work, and our jobs do not require face-to-face interactions with customers. Most of our dealings are via phone or e-mails. We may see a customer drop by once or twice a year. Most team members wear hoodies/ long-sleeved t-shirts with jeans or leggings. I usually wear a simple top with pants with my hair neatly blow-dried. That’s not appropriate enough.

Sally said we should dress better and more professional to keep up with the company’s image. Her sell was 'Dress not for the job you have, but the job you want.' She made us all sign a document citing the topic of discussion at the meeting.

You want us to dress for the job we want? Okay. A few of my colleagues and I decided to comply the following day maliciously. I put my hair in a messy bun and wore my Costco leggings and my husband’s old t-shirt. That was my everyday look when I was unemployed.

When I walked through the door, Sally saw me and asked why I was underdressed. I said, 'you asked us to dress for the job I want. I want to go back to being a stay-at-home mom. I loved staying at home.'

She said, 'That’s not what I meant. I meant bigger aspirations and goals.' As she looked at me with exasperation. Shortly after, my other colleagues showed up one after the other -two wearing full workout gear and one wearing her Anime costume. One guy wore a t-shirt with expletives.

The President noticed and asked us if Halloween came early, and we told him what Sally said. I don’t know what happened, but safe to say there has been no mention of any dress code since.

The internet has thoughts on this workplace culture.

virtualchoirboy says:

Good job on the dress code response. I'm also sure you know that mandatory meetings must be paid time. Period. It's settled labor law, and any state labor department will happily enforce it. If you ever decide you've had enough, file a complaint about being forced to be at work but unpaid. You'll get a nice check for back pay, possibly with interest.

3masti says:

I was once called into my local office (I work from home) for a role-playing meeting. I asked what exactly a role-playing meeting was and if I could come dressed as a pirate. Boss said sure, didn't elaborate. I showed up dressed as a pirate.

Aer0uAntG3alach says:

As others have said, you must be paid for time in mandatory meetings. Contact your state labor department and find out your rights. Then go to HR.

Dress for the job I want not the job I have? Well if I did that I'd be dressed up as a cat.