It's no secret that when a person goes to work, they have to wear appropriate clothing. Whether it's a specific uniform or something from their own closet that can be applied to a dress code, what matters is that the clothes are suitable for the job they have to do.
Still, there are folks who decide to go rogue and dress in a way that's not acceptable. These instances are common enough for us to compile a full-blown list of them, and these are from only one online thread; imagine how many more others have!
Maybe even you have an example from your personal experience, or have witnessed one? Enhance our list by sharing these stories, and, of course, upvoting the most entertaining stories already here!
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We hired a guy from the Philippines at the metal shop, and he showed up for work in flip-flops. Had to explain to him about OSHA and safety footwear.
Tbf not his fault if nobody explicitly told him and he'd been working that way back home for years
When I was in grad school, one of our undergrads came in to lab with her midriff exposed. I don’t give a s**t about what people wear outside of safety concerns, and this girls stomach was right at the level of the bench. We were working on peptide synthesis and peptide cleavage that day, which include such hazards as trifluoroacetic acid (which eats through your skin), DMF, and piperidine (which can make you sterile). I told her she could go change, wear a fully buttoned up lab coat (that was encouraged anyway), or she could sit in her office and read papers. I’m fine with people my age and above hurting themselves at work if they want to, but I wasn’t gonna let some kid burn herself because she thought her belly ring was cute.
For some reason it attracts alot of hexadecynoic acid benzyl ester molecules.
Load More Replies...Worked in an electroplating facility (a wetroom) full of barrels of concentrated acids and alkalis. We wore full rubber aprons, boots and gloves. The floor had grid covered trenches so we could hose everything down. New admin assistant ignored the protective equipment requirements and walked in wearing spike heels. She tried to cross a trench and put a heel into the grid. Down she went. Line boss wrote her up.
"I'm fine with people my age and above hurting themselves at work".... we just gonna ignore that?
Wearing a longer blouse would not protect her from the trifluoroacetic acid, DMF, and piperidine. If you were not supplying them with a lab apron YOU are the one being inappropriate.
One of the daytime janitors showed up for work with a shirt that said “send n*des”. We work at a high school, so the guy’s shirt was incredibly inappropriate. To make matters worse, representatives from the Department of Homeland Security were visiting our building that day. The principal told the guy to go to the janitorial closet and stay in there until the end of the day. He was fired that afternoon.
A one-off leads to being fired? Is it really that easy to lose your job there? Where I live it would be a written warning and only lead to loss of job if it happens again.
Nah, they'd be fired for that at high schools in Australia too
Load More Replies...Turned his shirt inside out or find a shirt in list and found. Hide in a closet all day seems like a c**p solution here
Load More Replies...Places that treat them decently and professionally would
Load More Replies...Why was HomeLand Security there? Never heard of them visiting schools around here.
i dont think it's harsh when you consider that he is wearing a shirt that says "send nu.des" in a high school with underage and impressionable girls (and boys for that matter). At best, it was complete dumbassery, and at worst a potential SA. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. i would not want my 15-year-old around a grown man who acted like that. You just can't take those kinds of chances with children.
Almost everywhere we go, there’s a dress code that can be applied to the occasion. Theoretically, a dress code is a set of rules on what clothing must be worn, usually created out of social perceptions and norms.
When it comes to specific events that definitely need a dress code, often people who are expected to attend are informed about it. The list from which an appropriate code can be chosen isn’t a short one – it ranges from casual to various forms of formal and ties to festive clothes.
I work in sales, we tend to dress more fashionable professional, suits, etc. We had a new guy come in... fairly well built dude, very into his appearance... wearing the tightest pair of dress pants I have ever seen in my life.
The issue was the guy was... uh... blessed in the undercarriage department. His prodigious member was clearly visible through the pants.
We had to to tell the dude like, good for you my dude but you gotta wear something else.
There was a guy in my office whose pants WERE. SO. TIGHT. we could tell he was circumcised. It was like a car crash, you could not look away!
I worked with a guy like that. He was well endowed and always wore the tightest pants. Most of the women thought he was gross.
... we used to call him "Der Hengst" (="The male horse), because of his Apparatus Enormus. Seriously, it was about 25 cm long at the low-pressure setting. He's the only guy I'm sure about I have never seen having one of these pesty pointless and reasonless erections, because that would have either damages said Apparatus, or ripped open his pants. Not the guy OP is referring to, but a similarly equipped dude I knew, who also always wore pants that helped visibility along without being actually naked. I did see him naked, and his Wiener was somewhat twisted within itself, visibly so, by about 45° or so.
I worked with a super duper hot and charismatic guy. Guy was so charismatic he could have started his own religion. He was so hot that you would lose your thoughts because he walked into the room. He was also married and exceptionally nice and kind.
There was a woman in my office who would wear the most scandalous stuff if she knew she was going to be in a meeting with him. It got worse and worse until one day she wore a lace bra under a lace shirt. You could see her areolae. We worked in a government office. She was asked to go put on a jacket, by her crush.
Truly that must have been so uncomfortable for him. HR should have stepped in earlier
Load More Replies...Is it? She didn't seem to actually take any actions towards him.
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Shear top no bra in an office environment. Her excuse. ...she was heading out clubbing with friends after work and didn't want to have to go home and change afterwork.
Went for drinks with the guys after work one Friday before going clubbing. Changed while in the pub and that might they learnt that I was a proper raver, had a six pack and that my cutesy clubbing trousers did not have room for underwear. Took a while to live that one down but they were cool.
LOL women's lib movement in '70s my social worker showed up to work dressed same as above. She worked with kids of all ages, boys and girls. Thankfully she was dressed more modestly when I saw her (I was 10) than my poor teenage sister. Those were the days my friends. 👀
We’re not going to delve into what are the differences between each dress code, that would take way too much time and not every single one of them is relevant to today’s topic – work attire.
So, which of the dress codes can be applied to work attire? Well, it all depends on what kind of workplace it is. Some places where the job is pretty specific, like physical labor, healthcare or anything similar, usually have specified clothes they have to wear.
I’m a teacher. One of my 9-year-old girl students once wore a shirt to school that said “Voted Most Flexible by your boyfriend.” 😳 My principal is truly amazing and said she would call mom for me, I was so thankful I didn’t have to have that conversation. Mom bought the shirt and she apparently didn’t understand what the issue was….
How... why was there a shirt saying that in a size small enough for a 9-year-old child to wear?!
Not all 9 year olds are small and it might have been petite. I'm assuming mom thought it was yoga. (yeah, 'm not fooling myself here)
Load More Replies...And this, America, is the other reason why the rest of the world wears school uniforms. (The main reason is so staff can quickly identify someone who shouldn't be in the school grounds.)
Unless a uniform allows girls to wear slack and boys to wear skirts/kilts, I'm against uniforms.
Load More Replies...when I was 10 I wore a vanity shirt my mom got as a gag gift from a friend We lived ina very small town and it said " We is so small the Town hooker is a virgin " I didnt understand of what the meaning behind it was at that age I just liked the color of the t shirt which as purple . lol
Post aside, I love that dress in the pic. Maybe a different colour though
What in the actual fu**!! Mom didn't see the problem!?! And I'm with LakotaWolf how was something so inappropriate even made with a CHILD in mind!?
It didn't have to be in mind for a child. Most 9 yr old girls can wear a women's small or extra small shirt.
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While doing my intership. I had a colleague, an arts teacher, arrive at work with a night/cocktail dress, it was dark green, completely skin tight, and had a V shaped cleavage that went all the way down to her navel. We could even tell she was going commando since even a thong would mark.
She doesn't work in education anymore.
Dirty stop out? We've all been there... the walk of shame. Or infamy.
Yeah teachers aren't allowed that. We have to be pristine 1950s level G rated at all times
Load More Replies...Meh, nothing was actually showing. Hope this wasn't the reason they no longer work their. If I this was a good college then a good art anatomy class would have had art models with a lot less on .
This girl came in with a white dress shirt but nothing under. You literally could see her b***s through it. As soon as she walked in not even 3 minutes she was asked to change.
For the former, pieces of clothing like comfortable and safe shoes, socks, and gloves are important. For people in this field, it is important that what they wear doesn’t restrain their movement and protects them from potential injuries.
Healthcare workers normally wear scrubs, which serve several purposes. For instance, it makes them easily identifiable, they are comfortable for any kinds of movements and protect medical staff against various bodily fluids they often have to deal with.
Additionally, scrubs are usually processed in such a way that they prevent cross-contamination, so the viruses or anything similar staff deals with aren’t spread further.
One guy wore a shirt that said 'nice to meet you, im the reason your mom’s smiling'. HR had a lot to say about that one 😂😂.
Worked in a factory and my buddy Josh wore a shirt that said "Millions of my potential children died on your daughter's face." One of the older women complained and he had to turn it inside-out. 🤣.
But not having children is something I would seriously encourage Josh about.
Best Buy. Halloween. 2003. We were encouraged to wear costumes. The girl that worked in the wireless department wore a naughty nurse outfit that you could 100% see through and red lingerie underneath. I think she lasted maybe 5 minutes before management sent her home. Impressive considering that management mostly consisted of a bunch of h***y a******s.
Then, people who work in offices, schools or anywhere similar are often expected to wear dress in business casual, professional attire and similar dress codes that make people look professional. Of course, it all depends on the workplace; nowadays some places are more lenient when it comes to clothes, yet that doesn’t mean that people can dress however they like.
For example, clothing that is way too revealing, like blouses with exposed cleavage, overly tight clothing, or anything that is too inappropriate in any other way is usually dubbed NSFW (or not safe for work). And yet, sometimes, some still think that wearing anything like that to work is a good idea.
I worked at Lowe's a few years ago near the start of the Covid, and for the most part it was pretty chill and easy going. Everybody had to wear a mask and they were even provided by the store, but one of the cashier's switched hers out for one of these B**M facemasks made of leather with zippers. I had to do a triple take when walking out because I couldn't fathom somebody actually doing that. Had quite a laugh about it in the parking lot and the manager quickly made her switch back.
A high school Spanish teacher, from Spain, wore a black cat suit with a gold chain around her hips. She claimed she didn’t understand why it was inappropriate. Her across the hall neighbor gave her a school hoodie that was mid thigh, so it looked like a strange fashion choice. Don’t know if it really was a cultural misunderstanding or not, but she wore both the catsuit and the improvised “dress” well.
I can’t tell you how many nurses wear hospital scrubs and don’t wear underwear. But it’s a bunch.
Nurses work their butt's off all day every day and barely have time for bathroom breaks. With all the bending, twisting and running they probably get sick of having to un-wedgie themselves.
Understandable cus how overworked they are. Some have to do insane 24 hour shifts... and it seems like a god dam universal rule btw. EVERYWHERE on earth nurses are overworked... Reminds me of that scene from Chernobyl with the miner. If it is a critical life and death job then be as confortable as you want to be.
My doctor got hired by a clinic which had not given any details in the interviews about work requirements. When told that she had to wear a certain lab coat, she replied "Fine. But that will be all I'm wearing." Policy changed that afternoon. But unsurprisingly she didn't stay there long.
Today’s list is full of such examples. From a woman not wearing a bra to an office to a man showing up to a metal shop in flip flops – the ways someone can make poor fashion choices in the workplace are endless.
So, take this list as a handbook of what not to wear to your job or just a collection of entertaining stories about people who clearly weren’t overthinking their fashion – it’s good for both purposes!
They weren't workers or asked to change but, the "s**y witch" and "s**y nurse" costumes of two moms at a company Halloween party for employees' children were pretty extreme.
We didn't have another one.
We hired a lady at our office, we have uniform shirts but get them made a couple of weeks after they start. First day she showed up in a shirt that was the deepest V cut I've never seen. She was very large chested and was not wearing a bra. We have a small office but it's only me and my boss that are men in the office. Every one of the girls in the office complained to our boss about her shirt and she was sent home and told to wear something more appropriate until her uniform shirts came in.
Actual probable reason, the men did not want to be accused of staring.
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There was a widely-publicized 'hack' at a large amusement park in Florida that I worked for where women would come in wearing tops that would only just barely cover them. They'd get free T-shirts out of the deal.
After about a month of that, they were just asked to leave.
When I was in high school there were 2 kids who were regularly given in school suspension for wearing shirts with naked women on them.
At my job now, a girl came in one day wearing leggings that were sheer, but you had to look *really* closely to tell. I don't know if anyone would have noticed if her a*****e hadn't started glowing. She got sent home for the day.
Explanation for the confused: Búttplug with glowing LED. Sometimes they can be connected to a phone app via Bluetooth and can be, uh, remotely controlled to vibrate, light up, etc. I wish I did not know this.
Not immediately understanding the implication of a glowing "a******" makes me feel so old. Thought it was an odd euphemism or something. I kind of got off the technology hamster wheel some time ago, but it's amazing what humanity has accomplished. Is there one with a speaker so you can actually make them talk out of their ***?
Load More Replies...I've never noticed an a*****e glowing, but then again the a******s I know aren't very bright.
When I managed a retail store we had an employee who seemed to own an entire wardrobe of Infowars/Alex Jones T-shirts. We had a uniform vest and every day he was told to zip up the vest or turn the shirt inside out. Every. D**n. Day.
Had a coworker who "took care of himself" before coming to work but forgot to change his shirt.
I'm not equipped with the type of body part that exudes a thick fluid when it is ... exceptionally happy, but one would imagine that those people who do possess one would try to keep its exudate off of clothing, if not for propriety's sake, but because wet clothing touching your skin feels awful XD
Worse is when it dries to form a crust. And starts to smell. I mean, it may smell already, but after an hour or three it would be much more noticeable.
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Worked with an 18 year old kid, the shirt had a pocket on the chest. Across the front it said, “Do you like my p***y?” And had a cat in the pocket. He couldn’t understand why it was a problem. He wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box.
I have a pair of socks that say "Show Me Your Kitties" with pictures of cat faces underneath XD And yes, I DO want to see your kitties!
In elementary school (back in the 1990s), we started learning english. We got textbook called "hello, children". There was family of characters, and they had pets- dog and cat. Cat's name was P***y. P u s s y. Apparently it was appropriate cat's name back then.
We had one woman who wore a floor length dress that was slit all the way up to her waist a few times. Would likely have been a hit at a fancy cocktail party, but HR spoke to her after she wore it in the office a few times.
Our medical director wore floor length color matched dresses that could only be described as Mother of the Bride gowns. It was an odd choice.
Had a (lead) worker (in residential construction) wear a drinking shirt. Not just distasteful, it was high contrast, big bold letters to the tune of something like "only job I care about is lifting a bottle to my mouth" or something stupid. I forget but it was bad.
It had been found out he was drinking on the job a couple days prior and this was his response. Along with empty mickeys in plain sight in the back of the company truck he had been given... Clearly there's some mental health issues there holding him down but holy hell if this guy wasn't the posterchild stereotypical bigoted-bully construction worker then I've never met one. I wanted to feel bad for a witnessing such a sad coping mechanism and had started to look into rehab and therapy options for him before shirt incident but no, there are limits.
He wasn't asked to remove his shirt though, just asked to remove himself.
That's interesting. Most of the companies I've worked with have a policy of trying to get the person help (usually through an employee assistance program) but it's hard to tell from the post if they'd already done it or if OP was HR and decided it wasn't worth it. It depends on the company and the country though, at least IME.
They mentioned that he was caught drunk a few days ago, so he wasn't fired at once. However, it seems that with this shirt he shown that he does not want help. I suspect construction company decided that he is too big a liability - not like it is an office...
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Girl wore a handmade hawk tuah shirt for halloween, I had her go to the office to change. She didn't understand why it was bad...I teach 7th grade.
You could look up Hawk Tuah Girl for context or just skip it and not have your life degraded any further. Nothing of value will be lost.
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At my old job, I used to give new hires the welcome tour. We were a pretty casual office, jeans and T-shirts for the most part, but one day a noob came in with one of those ahegao shirts. We obviously sent him home.
The best part of that incident was that I had to explain ahegao to my boss and the HR department.
You could have explained it to us at the same time! An anime and manga p o r n style, apparently.
I took had to Google. Apparently it's just a bunch of anime girls with come all over their faces. Classy.
Load More Replies...Japan - it isn't all about sushi and fine porcelain.
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Fruit roll up onesie - Halloween at work is always a bad idea.
If costumes were acceptable at work, a fruit roll-up onesie is a safe bet. I have A Christmas Story pink bunny onesie and would bust it out for Halloween. Better than cultural appropriation, inappropriate sayings, or anything that starts with slu++y in the description.
A lady I worked with (UK) was called aside one morning and told to go home and change as inappropriate clothing. It was the 1980s and she turned up in office wearing trousers!
I wore a tee-shirt to my sub entry level job. Warehouse of a toy store in the '80's. "I don't f'ing care" but full text. My boss thought it was hilarious but wisely kept me off the sales floor. Oddly, a few years after I finished school, i ran into a rando lady in a drive-in movie bathroom, wearing more mature clothing, who looked at me and said "I worked with you. You're the IDFC lady". So I guess I left a mark by being an obnoxious teenager.
In the 70s I was head teacher at a privately owned EFL school in Istanbul. About a quarter of our teachers were undocumented native speakers who were hired off-books because they hadn't work permits. One of them was a very bored wife of a US Army guy stationed about 200 kms outside the city. One day she showed up wearing an outfit that seemed to have been sprayed on and was accessorized by a thin gold chain around the hips supporting an inverted golden triangular plaque just at crötch level. I commended her on her fashion choices but said it didn't work for us and sent her home. I had to take the class until we found a substitute. About half the class was disappointed.🙄
Civil servant in a public facing rôle always wore short, tight low cut dresses displaying rather too much. Muslim male clients found it very embarrassing. Watched her one day walk away across the car park. Silky type material and fishnet tights do not mix. The dress rose up so high her b*m was on display. The office was in an area well known for 'working girls'. She fitted right in.
My story is soooooo tame. Soon after I started my old job, I didn’t think anything of it and wore shorts to work. They were nice khaki shorts (maybe a bit short) and I had on a short sleeved button-up white blouse. We were downtown so they had me run to a store to get pants or a skirt…
This is why school uniforms, but that'd be against the Land of the Free apparently.
I'm against them because it disproportionately affects the poor. It affects poorer families even more when school districts choose one store only that carries the uniform.
Load More Replies...I manage the reception desk at a large dealership. keep in mind most of the guys here are young with raging hormones. our owners are very conservative and make frequent visits as does corporate HR. this new hire come is wearing an off the shoulder little back dress with a slit half way up the thigh . and her breast barely covered. i Made her put on a cardigan I borrowed from my boss . she was upset and swore it was business casual . it clearly wasnt The prior day i did her oreintation the dress code is as plain as day and she signed it and still thinks that I am in the wrong for making her cover up/
That's someone looking for a husband, not a good new hire..
Load More Replies...I'm getting a bit p*****d off with threads that are just an extended game of guess the censored word. For k****j's sake. Grow up B*****d P****a.
Had a coworker that wore a filthy wrinkled black shirt she must have pulled out from under her cat. Was sent home to shower and change.
A lady I worked with (UK) was called aside one morning and told to go home and change as inappropriate clothing. It was the 1980s and she turned up in office wearing trousers!
I wore a tee-shirt to my sub entry level job. Warehouse of a toy store in the '80's. "I don't f'ing care" but full text. My boss thought it was hilarious but wisely kept me off the sales floor. Oddly, a few years after I finished school, i ran into a rando lady in a drive-in movie bathroom, wearing more mature clothing, who looked at me and said "I worked with you. You're the IDFC lady". So I guess I left a mark by being an obnoxious teenager.
In the 70s I was head teacher at a privately owned EFL school in Istanbul. About a quarter of our teachers were undocumented native speakers who were hired off-books because they hadn't work permits. One of them was a very bored wife of a US Army guy stationed about 200 kms outside the city. One day she showed up wearing an outfit that seemed to have been sprayed on and was accessorized by a thin gold chain around the hips supporting an inverted golden triangular plaque just at crötch level. I commended her on her fashion choices but said it didn't work for us and sent her home. I had to take the class until we found a substitute. About half the class was disappointed.🙄
Civil servant in a public facing rôle always wore short, tight low cut dresses displaying rather too much. Muslim male clients found it very embarrassing. Watched her one day walk away across the car park. Silky type material and fishnet tights do not mix. The dress rose up so high her b*m was on display. The office was in an area well known for 'working girls'. She fitted right in.
My story is soooooo tame. Soon after I started my old job, I didn’t think anything of it and wore shorts to work. They were nice khaki shorts (maybe a bit short) and I had on a short sleeved button-up white blouse. We were downtown so they had me run to a store to get pants or a skirt…
This is why school uniforms, but that'd be against the Land of the Free apparently.
I'm against them because it disproportionately affects the poor. It affects poorer families even more when school districts choose one store only that carries the uniform.
Load More Replies...I manage the reception desk at a large dealership. keep in mind most of the guys here are young with raging hormones. our owners are very conservative and make frequent visits as does corporate HR. this new hire come is wearing an off the shoulder little back dress with a slit half way up the thigh . and her breast barely covered. i Made her put on a cardigan I borrowed from my boss . she was upset and swore it was business casual . it clearly wasnt The prior day i did her oreintation the dress code is as plain as day and she signed it and still thinks that I am in the wrong for making her cover up/
That's someone looking for a husband, not a good new hire..
Load More Replies...I'm getting a bit p*****d off with threads that are just an extended game of guess the censored word. For k****j's sake. Grow up B*****d P****a.
Had a coworker that wore a filthy wrinkled black shirt she must have pulled out from under her cat. Was sent home to shower and change.
