Adults who don't dress properly for winter

[Bearpawk]

Driving me mad.
I work in an office where must people have a commute or a decent walk to get to work . I'd say about 90% can't dress themselves properly.
Young woman next to me ankle trainer socks. Midriff showing. Pissing and moaning about being cold. It's 1 degree outside and it's December.
It's raining and they come in wearing canvas shoes and a fluffy coat. No umbrella or waterproofs. Then expect to have the heating on full whack all day to dry their coats and shoes out.
In a training room all day where the lead trainer (middle aged, old enough to know better) insisted on having the heating cranked up all day because she's wearing a thin acrylic jumper and got cold to the bones on the way to work and can't warm up.
Everyone without exception has access to the weather forecast via their phones. It shouldn't be a shock when it's raining or cold. Yet they dress like it's May, all year round.
They earn decent money and aren't hard up so it's not a financial issue (maybe with some of the VERY junior/ young ones fair enough )

AIBU to fed up of people moaning about being cold or wet but making zero attempt to dress appropriately for the weather ?

My adult DS goes out in all weathers in shorts and tshirt, he feels warm, he's autistic so I'm not sure if it's connected and is a sensory thing?

He does put jeans on if we are going to the pub or out for meal etc as he knows to be "socially acceptable" but if he goes for a walk in his shorts and tshirt in zero degrees then that's up to him and has zero affect on anyone else. It doesn't make him a knob.

I feel like saying FGS stop judging other people. Thanks to breaking my foot 3 months ago I can only wear trainers and that's all I'll be wearing for the foreseeable future. I'm so sorry if my rain soaked trainers look scruffy and unkempt to other people 🙄

Oh bless you, one of the people who can’t get their head around people who choose to dress differently from them saying it’s because of a failure of imagination or intelligence. That’s so funny.

Good god you don't pay for the heating give it a rest . Just take one of your many appropriate for the weather layers off and stop moaning

Most of my cashmere jumpers and cardis came from charity shops.

The charity shops round here won't have anything like that kind of quality. I'm lucky if I see anything from Next or M and S.

Bless your heart for replying so nicely to my post. That's sweet.

Um, what I'm saying relates directly to the original post - that is, that some adults seem to find it hard to dress appropriately for the weather, which wouldn't matter if they didn't then moan about being cold/demand the heating is whacked up high.

This isn't an issue about some people expressing themselves as free spirits and individuals by opting to wear cropped tops and no coats in sub-zero temps - it's about their daftness. HTH

Totally agree. They can put extra layers on. You can't exactly sit there naked if you're too hot. One of the reasons I continued to work from home after covid. It was like sitting in a sauna.

Many years ago I worked with someone who never wore tights even in the depths of winter. She was a bit eccentric though.

I think this is key. I was the same. Could have dressed how I liked if I'd known about the virtues of layering and a good coat, for example, and different types of clothes for situations and the weather. My experience has been that a lot of people have been unprepared or are dressed inappropriately for the weather. I suspect some is financial though, so I am sympathetic.

My own teenagers are sensible in this regard now. It's definitely something I've instilled into them.

YABU I have had horses for 13 years, I spend all my spare time outside, including hiking Snowdon in -10, I know exactly how to layer and keep warm and I'm rarely cold while doing outdoor things. The office I work in however should be warm enough that I don't need to wear multiple layers just to not be cold, I should be able to wear a single pair of trousers and a vest top under my jumper. Not trousers, tights, vest top, long sleeve t-shirt and then a jumper.

Many years ago we had a particularly harsh winter with loads of snow. I used to commute to Oxford Street every day from South London where we had a lot of snow. I dressed appropriately, wore wellies with warm socks to walk the mile to the station, hat, gloves and warm coat. When I arrived at work they used to call me captain Cook because of my clothes. It was gentle ribbing and I took it in the good humour it was meant to be. Everyone I worked with lived in London just a short tube ride away and they had no idea how much more snow we had.

My flatmate used to catch the same train as me and she hobbled down to the station in her stiletto heeled boots. I didn't want to miss my train so I'm afraid I just dashed on ahead. She missed the train.

I've recently sustained a foot injury too, and I've discovered waterproof trainers, expensive but worth it being as I will also be wearing them for some time.
I hope you're foot recovers soon.

When we last had a good fall of snow several years back, I saw a man wearing a bobble hat and his hood up, a puffa jacket, short shorts - and flip flops!!😱 After that, I gave up wondering what people were wearing🤷‍♀️

Would you mind letting me know ones you have?

I hope you recover quickly as well

I think you are trying to say that it’s about ‘your’ perception of what people ‘should’ wear, which meets ‘your’ standards of what is acceptable.
Of course it’s about people expressing themselves by wearing and behaving in the way that they want, it has no more impact on anyone else than someone who wants the heating on low and / or windows open when other people are cold.
But the fact that you think people expressing themselves the way they want through the clothes they wear rather than what someone else wants them to wear shows a failure of imagination or intelligence is incredibly funny. The fact you don’t see this shows that you struggle to understand that there is a world view and experience different to yours, which is much more reflective of those qualities you are throwing at others. So yes, it does help in that it reinforces what was so funny in the first place.

I think the question is why does OP have such dim colleagues?

I work with a whole range of ages and nobody whines and everyone dresses appropriately! yes, even the young ones!

People can dress how they want. I come from Scandinavia and what you call winter here is not cold and i dont dress in winter clothes most of the time either.

I mostly agree with OP but, in fairness to the young 'uns, it's not easy to look good and keep warm on a budget if you're 25. I'm in my late 30s now and classic trumps fashionable in my clothing choices so it's pretty easy but when I was that age it was a different story.

I certainly knew I should be wearing layers, sensible shoes and woollen jumpers etc but I was relatively trend led like most people of that age and didn't have the time or knowledge to trawl the charity shops for hours to buy nice looking wool/cashmere/natural fabrics at a good price. I was permanently overdrawn at that age. Plus, I would've have been rubbish at caring for cashmere and keeping wool away from moths (still could be better tbh)

When you're young it's so much easier to pick up a nice looking jumper at a decent price from a high street shop, which is likely to be some acrylic/polymide composition that doesn't keep you quite warm enough. There are loads of great pieces to be found second hand but they're harder to find. And at the same time, fast fashion that superficially looks great (or at least for a couple of months!) is rammed down your neck if you're young nowadays.

These days I'm delighted to sport an Argyle jumper, hard wearing blundstone boots and thick tights. I buy bargain pure wool coats from Vinted and save up for special pieces as and when. That just isn't the way most young people shop though and though I think I look cool for my age and I absolutely love fashion and put a lot of time into styling my look, I appreciate they wouldn't be seen dead in 'fits like mine! So fast fashion has the advantage and it's mostly piss poor really - even in higher end places like & Other Stories. Though this generation do seem better than mine at shopping second hand and, in theory, Vinted, DePop etc should make it easier for them to make good choices.

Many years ago I was on a work trip to Frankfurt. It was January and temperatures never got above freezing. We were all warned to bring warm coats, which we did, except for my boss.

I remember going down the escalator to go under the station to walk to the Messe. My boss was just wearing a suit and was shivering. All the locals, who were dressed warmly just openly stared at him in amazement, probably thinking "what an idiot".

@PinkSparklyPussyCat I've attached the link below 😊

www.gooutdoors.co.uk/16268860/salomon-womens-barrakee-shoe-16268860

I went in store to buy as I had to try them on and ensure there was enough support in the shoe before buying. Fortunately the store assistant was very patient as I had to try on 10 pairs of different shoes before I could find the right fit 😁
I also had to size up to accommodate orthotics for plantar fascilitis.

Good luck 💐

You only need one x jacket and one x boots, and generic cheaper but warm brands exist. Dress in layers if you cannot afford Merino (Primark do thermal vests and bottoms, as well as standard long sleeved tops/jumpers).

This would be me- except I complain I am too hot most of the time
I wear outside for an hours walk in the morning a jumper, or a jumper and a gilet if it gets into minus figures... I hate coats and the restrictive feeling that they give- and I just don't get very cold...

Agree (also grew up in a colder climate). I have an oversized wool coat and scarf that I wear for when it’s below negative 5 but underneath I’m usually in leggings and a top with trainers otherwise I’m in my waterproof jacket.

At least where I am in the SE England, it only gets what I deem cold maybe 10 days if that out of the three months of winter. I think early this year there was definitely some cold days (enough that I lost some plants in the garden), but it’s usually quite mild imo.

Try knee length socks or put a pair of tights on.

No you are not being unreasonable and in the main people are idiots