Business Casual

In my occupational past I've had some great jobs and some truly mind numbingly boring jobs, none more so than Stanton-Smith Consulting. I had recently been laid off from Superpages when, through a relative, a job opportunity sort of fell in my lap. It was a temporary gig but one that was easy to come by and close to home so I decided I could handle it for a few months. This job was boring unlike any I'd done yet, my job was to take a closet full of documents and scan them so they were stored electronically.

The one bonus to this job was that, unlike all my other office jobs this was a very casual office, meaning I was no longer required to wear the dress pant, sweater combination I'd been sporting for the last 5 years. I was excited and showed up my first day wearing jeans and a respectable top. It didn't take long to realize that unless I acquired an old hoodie and some dirty sneakers I'd be the best dressed there and that sweatpants would make me fit right in. For about a month I loved this casual dress but eventually started to feel grubbier and grubbier and I think I even quit putting on make-up, what was the point? No-one else there wore any.

Eventually that job ended, I found the job I'm in now and reverted back to my usual uniform. What's all this leading too?

I've just had two glorious weeks off of work and I enjoyed every minute of it but yesterday while I was washing my hands in the ladies room I took a look in the mirror and realized something, work clothes make me feel just a little bit better about myself.

I like the way dress pants fit and that argyle sweater looks much better with black pants than jeans. I like dress shoes and the expectation that I'll do my hair every once in a while. Don't get me wrong, I sure enjoy hoodies and pajamas and jeans but I need a good balance of casual / business casual.
L