Like clockwork, the internet will get itself into a tizzy on what we can or can\u2019t do when going into work. The modern office is a relatively new invention, one with fraught rules and ebbing culture that places workers in an artificial situation not unlike a Great Dane in a sweater or crab in a terrarium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And a simple pair of shorts seems to be the new straw that has broken the camel\u2019s worn back. A recently posted TikTok<\/a> posted by @mtyreshiadaily set off a debate regarding office attire. In said video, Tyreshia explained she was asked to reschedule a job interview after the recruiter asked her to change clothes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wearing the same cardigan, blouse, and shorts that she wore to her interview, Tyreshia said she had been asked to \u201cget changed\u201d and come back. Showing a 360 of the shorts in question, she says, \u201cI was like, no.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a live video, Tyreshia explained she\u2019s 28 and was applying to a tech company. After said postponement, she canceled the rescheduled interview and found another job. In a follow-up video, she unpacks her mentality. \u201cWhen you\u2019re an asset to a company\u2026you have options. These companies are not trying to lose an opportunity to work with you,\u201d she said<\/a>.<\/p>\n But still, much has been made about the shorts. \u201cThey were polite to reschedule you. most would\u2019ve just outright rejected same day,\u201d wrote one of the top-liked comments on said TikTok. Another came to Tyreshia\u2019s defense: \u201cyou should see the stuff I seen people wear to interviews, there\u2019s nothing wrong with this in warm weather.\u201d<\/p>\n One viral comment<\/a> on Twitter<\/a> noted as much: \u201cmaybe working from home for 3 years and my industry has warped my frame of reference but like its [the] dead of summer and the shorts are not short.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, the pandemic and the ensuing shifting norms of work have put some customs into question. After time away from the watercolor, employees came back to the office with a new business-casual dress<\/a> that leaned all the more on casual. Add climate change and its gnarly heat to the mix, and nixing shorts for etiquette\u2019s sake seems, well, silly.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s 98 degrees outside, it should be OK to prioritize someone\u2019s comfort,\u201d Chris Barca, director of communications at the office of Queens borough president, told The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But tradition<\/a> seems to be hard to shake for some, as a Wall Street Journal<\/em>\/Ipsos poll<\/a> from 2023 found a whopping 41% said it\u2019s never appropriate for men to wear shorts in the office. Even in deadly heat<\/a>, which reached record highs<\/a> this year, the office is clinging to its rules of the playground. Simply telling people how to dress seems to be a very American pastime, notes fashion historian Heather Vaughan Lee.<\/p>\n \u201cThat Puritan background has continued to influence governments\u2014and other ruling bodies\u2014who seek to control the outward appearance of Americans, either as written law or cultural norms,\u201d she told NPR<\/em><\/a> in 2015 when describing the long journey in shorts becoming not as taboo for women.\u00a0<\/p>\n Men\u2019s aversion to shorts can be traced all the way back to British royal tradition and the idea that boys only wore shorts until 8, per New York Times<\/em> critic Vanessa Friedman<\/a>. And everyone else, women or non-binary individuals, are stuck with an extra set of unwritten rules that hinge on whatever the male gaze deems subjectively appropriate for work, which depends on uncontrollable factors like the body itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t agree with the shorts but I think that girl wouldn\u2019t get screamed at nearly as much if she wasn\u2019t thick,\u201d tweeted<\/a> culture writer Shamira Ibrahim<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve seen slim girls get away with straight-up minidresses at corporate workplaces while curvy girls are demonized for wearing anything remotely figure hugging.\u201d<\/p>\n Much has been made about the anecdotal rise in not just dressing casually, but a newly laid back style of interacting with co-workers. Gen Z<\/a> has become the face of this careening into a less uptight style of work, wherein you bring yourself to the office or less of an alien doll version of said self.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDoes anyone else feel like young adults display a distinct lack of professionalism,\u201d wondered a commenter<\/a> on a viral tweet regarding said video. \u201cThey don\u2019t know how to dress for interviews, send emails, network, write resumes, or conduct themselves professionally in a lot of ways and I\u2019m wondering where this \u201cgap\u201d is being created.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, many of these generational differences are often overplayed. Across the board employees are feeling less engaged<\/a> with their 9-to-5s, likely in part due to an existentialism as spurred by the pandemic, climate change, and socio-economic turmoil. Formality, or the placed importance of acting and looking a certain way, is seemingly is thrown out the door as interest in our jobs wanes. With all this apathy, maybe it\u2019s time to throw in the towel on the office wear debate, or at least our shorts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n