Not to want to take an Orange Person with me to a business meeting?

[Hopefullyrecovering]

The business is professional services. We went out to a client and the graduate in our team came with me. She was bright orange. Literally bright orange. I could see the client visibly wondering whether or not the orange would rub off onto him during the handshake. It looked grotesque and thoroughly unprofessional. There was an accompanying issue of shedloads of make-up. Which was similarly unprofessional This girl does not need it. She is perfectly nice-looking (I believe although there was so much orange, and fake lashes etc that it is difficult to tell)

So, AIBU? And if IANBU, how on earth am I going to raise this issue?

I know you didn't ask me, but I am law. I have literally seen it once in 12 years. I didn't know her well, but I know she left after a year or two as, as far as I know, also left law.

You could take her to lunch and mentor her a bit generally, and mention the orange thing while you're doing it.

Or say next time she comes into the office "Fuck me, you've been tangoed, look everyone, she's been Tangoed"

In my neck of the woods, extreme unconventionality may be expressed by the wearing of a bow-tie and/or a waistcoat.

yes, we had a small (and they always seem to be small) man in a waistcoat and bow tie :o
I had forgotten all about him until you mentioned

just out of curoisity, and as soeone has mentioned TOWIE, how would everyone react to the trout pout?

Ah yes, bow tie. I know someone who was told off as a trainee for wearing a tank top with his suit.

Unconventional = brightly coloured suede LK Bennett shoes round my way!

Good thinking, Boffin

I meant to ask everyone, thanks You'lllaugh, because for one thing, I don't know how widespread orangeness actually is.

oh I know tank top man too - different job, and dopubt he was told off for it

Interesting thread. I work with undergraduates and I think that many of them, however bright they may be, exist in a sort of undergraduate bubble where they don't notice what other people around them, who aren't undergraduates, are doing and thinking. OP, your graduate may still be in this state of mind and I think you would be doing her a big favour to explain to her yourself that while she's at work, she's expected to present herself in a certain way. If you ask someone else to do it, it will become a matter of public discussion, as you've already said. BoffinMum, I'm interested to hear about your course for students - sounds invaluable!

One of my (male) colleagues has been dabbling with knitwear. He even mentioned it in a meeting, under AOB on the agenda(!) and suggested that we all loosen up a bit on the dress front.

Long silence. Lead balloon. Poor man.

1. I stand in front of them in top drawer interview dress and do a kind of striptease. First I take my jewellery off, then my jacket off, then my heels, and all other accessories, until I am standing there in pencil skirt and blouse. Do I look professional now? I ask them. No, they say. They look thoughtful.

1. My colleague and I tell them about trying to find jobs in the 1990-1 recession when we graduated. They go pale.

1. We then run an employability day and get national and local employers to tell them good and bad things about hiring people and getting jobs. They are required to attend in interview dress, and we make it like a professional conference with posh buffet, wine and so on so we test whether they can behave professionally over a protracted period of time with booze around. They actually do very well at this and our employment rates after graduation seem rather good. I hope it's because we do all these things.

There are other components - the uni does CV sessions, volunteering placements and so on, so it's a collective effort. We take it very seriously.

If I say so myself, I run a bloody amazing course, and it's because we take nothing, repeat nothing for granted. We sort them out and package them up and give them tools for life as well as a degree. And they love it.

DH (am also DH, very confusing!) - I also work in accountancy (Big 4) and I can quite see some of our clients doing that. And it wasn't that bad - tango woman didn't notice, did she? But I don't think it's wrong to expect your horribly expensive accountants to look like horribly expensive accountants.

And Boffin, that sounds great. :)

There are sadly some graduates that really don't have a clue. I worked once for a much smaller firm in a contract position and the managing partner was giving a talk to groups of people on set days. One graduate trainee rang his PA to say that actually, that day wasn't terribly convenient for him because it was a study day for him and could the MP rearrange it for a different day? :o

Christ there's some navel gazing on here
Woman looks silly. People lolling at her. She represents firm. Tell her to sort it.

I think you're all Oompa Loompa ist. :o

Well obv that's daft of the graduate trainee but he needs to be told and then move on.

We can't all know everything in our yoof. I did lots of daft things. I cringe at the memory. But luckily people told me and helped me out.

What's great is that you teach them to think about stuff before they enter the workplace. So many places don't and not everyone has much nouse

The way I see it is that not everyone has professional parents, so it's a bit daft sending them out to apply for professional jobs without levelling the playing field.

well bland is a convention, it depends how important you think conventions are
Personally I've not aspired to work in professional services but I would probably fit the bill in terms of appearance as I have very litte interest in the whole thing and would throw on a dull suit quite happily
In terms of personality however I'd be totally shit
give your orange person a break op, and stop being so darned superior (yy you're older and wiser ..) fwiw I think your client sounds like a rude tosser looking at his hand and then at you, knowing your colleague was a junior

She should watch The Devil wears Prada. Or something. You can not work in Fashion and look like you picked your wardrobe from the M&S factory outlet. You wont be taken seriously.

Sorry, I had to google trout pout. It took a while and I went down a few cul-de-sacs en route. Sounds like a procedure I could do with, frankly. Not seen one in practice though. Sheltered life I lead.

The man in a bow tie is small indeed. Is he ubiquitous? Does every firm have one?

I can't even take an acquaintance, who I occasionally see on nights out, seriously because of her fake tan and ridiculous fake eyelashes, so I can completely understand what the problem is in a work situation. Yes, it is prejudiced and discriminatory, but that style of dress is associated with unprofessional, unintelligent people unfortunately, and most people will judge accordingly.

I worked with a girl once who wore the most provocative clothes ever on dress down Fridays (she was fine for the other 4 days of the week).

Cleavage, belly, pubic bone, stocking tops, underwear all on show in a professional office. In warm weather she practically turned up naked. I had to speak to her about it all the bloody time.

Then she complained to HR that she was being sexually harassed because her colleagues constantly ogled her.