A letter

A Letter of Complaint to Whoever Invented Business Casual Dress:

No doubt you are revered throughout the working world for transforming the workplace from stuffy to friendly. I, for one, do not thank you. This practice has moved every level of clothing down a notch. Suits and dresses are reserved for fancy parties and funerals -- maybe. What used to be worn for casual social occasions is now worn to work. Sweatpants, which used to be reserved for relaxing at home, running errands, or attending early morning college classes, are now worn when entertaining friends. As if business casual weren't casual enough, some places allow jeans on Fridays. Soon people will be attending annual stockholder's meetings in beachwear! And goodness knows what people are wearing in the privacy of their own homes.

This change has precipitated many a disagreement in our household. Monday through Friday mornings, my husband happily dons his Dockers and polo shirts. These clothes, however, are now tainted, in his mind, as "work clothes," with the result that he refuses to wear them anywhere else. What is left for social occasions and other public outings? To better illustrate what is left in his mind, I have taken the liberty of including the following chart that shows my husband's clothing preferences since the widespread implementation of your policies:

Occasion Appropriate item of clothing
Shop at Home Depot Pajamas

Visit family or friends Pajamas

Tour the White House and
discuss foreign policy
with the president Pajamas, maybe slippers

I have a suggestion about how to reverse this trend. Business Casual probably started with Casual Friday, which then got out of hand. Why not institute Dressy Friday, in which workers wear, one day a week, what they used to wear to work? Eventually, people will be enticed to break the rules and try sneaking into the office in a dress or suit on, say, a Wednesday, and before you know it there will be a wholesale rebellion and everyone will be burning their Dockers and open-collared shirts. Maybe even their jeans and t-shirts.

I'll be first in line with my husband's pajamas.

Sincerely,
The Pajama Wearer's Wife