AIBU to not want to see my colleagues’ pants in the office?

[ThePussy]

I get that it’s hot, and we either have no a/c and fans or crappy a/c in the office but last week some of my colleagues looked like they were dressed for a day at the beach.

One turned up on Friday wearing a short, see through linen tunic that didn’t even cover her bum. She was wearing sturdy grey pants underneath (and a vest), and was clearly self conscious as she kept pulling the tunic down. Her friend was wearing a crop top and shorts.

Another, last week, was wearing a play suit that was so short that her bum cheeks hung out from underneath.

One of the men was in a tee shirt and cut off shorts. The shorts were so low slung, that the top of his boxers were on display.

I don’t require much from my colleagues - clean, tidy and clothed will do. But it’s an office, not a fucking beach. And we do deal with senior visitors - MPs, Ministers, Mayors, Diplomats and members of the public, all of whom turn up appropriately clad.

I think most of the women who wear these kind of things where their arse cheeks hang out just look at themselves in mirrors from the front. If they saw the mess we do they might think twice. I can't imagine many workplaces where this is appropriate.

Thats bollocks. And if these MPs and Ministers (and Mayors and diplomats!?) exist they would absolutely be raising it with the senior leaders.

I worked with someone exactly like this. She was a nightmare. I believe it

😂

Endless alerts about the heat, then people complain because other people don’t wear a full suit in said heat, not as if they were wearing a thong and a smile, some people need to get an actual life

You've over-egged the pudding now, OP.

People where I work are dressing like this too for meetings. Im NHS so uniformed most of the time but meetings are supposed to be smart casual. One in particular wore hot pants and a boob tube for one meeting and management said nothing. Nobody thought it was appropriate not even the men.

My DH used to work in the Middle East, he didn’t dress like that even when it was 45 degrees. Nor did anyone else. You can easily tell abroad if people come from the UK from the clothes and excessive make up.

I'm a civil servant and we do have a dress code. We're non customer facing but could have senior managers etc visiting. No beach wear allowed. Shorts are ok as long as they are knee length, no football strips/ shirts as they could cause conflict. I think if someone turned up inappropriately dressed their manager would have a word straight away. It's a professional environment.

Are you in the public sector? There'll be a dress code which should be enforced. Skin generally isn't encouraged so the crop top and shorts was inappropriate, the linen thing to a lesser degree.

I'm getting flashbacks to the office I worked in 25 years ago when jeans and trousers were very low rise. Lots of visible thongs and crop tops. A very slim colleague in really baggy low slung jeans had to hitch them up when accessing low shelves etc. Another colleague was very ample up top and her general choice of top was mesh, low cut with visible bra. There was no dress code

Of course she must be if people have mental health days if they are told off.

I went to lovely gastro pub recently with my gay male friend. He's very handsome and doesn't come across as gay so women are always falling over him and possibly wondering why with he's with an older woman like me 😁
Anyway the waitress was wearing a belt basically with a thong underneath and kept bending over in front of us, leaning over the desk to get things and so on. It was just horrible. It put both of us right off our lunch. Not to .mention if I had have been his partner or wife it was bloody cheeky......literally.

It is absolutely true, I’m afraid. We have a number of excellent young people but we also have a lot who can’t get through the month without a duvet day or mental health day. Unfortunately these are mostly the young women - the men seem more resilient. One of the women got very upset the other day and said she found the noise from a nearby meeting room triggering when the meeting finished and people were noisy leaving - chatting in the corridor. Someone suggested she close the door.

And no, I wasn’t the poster who posted about a low cut top.

Are they the only two options?

Does your office not have aircon? It have been about 20 degrees in our office and so perfectly comfortable weather to wear a dress or cotton trousers and a t shirt.

As an aside it is always cooler of you wear long loose clothes in natural fabrics such as a linen maxi skirt or loose linen or cotton chinos. That is why men in very hot desert countries wear long loose robes.

I can only think these people don't understand the concept of dressing appropriately for the occasion.
I lived in hot countries and nobody dressed like that when going to work in an office or for meetings. Men an woman of all ages managed to look smart and keep cool in very high temperatures without the need to display their entire body parts to the world.

And 100% this was also the case 40-50 years ago when a lot of offices and cars did not have air con, in the days when my parents were going to work in a hot climate.

And I have to agree absolutely nobody wants to see Amy's lower bottom on display in an office (or anywhere else) or Greg's pants or Georgina's full chest. However attractive these individuals may be, it's totally inappropriate.

Agree about the inappropriateness.

What occurs to me is how many could reasonably have worked from home that day given you have what seems like inadequate airconditioning. Simple enough to make exceptions to office attendance based on Met Office forecast temperature.

After someone wore a see-through dress which caused havoc with the guys, our company (late 90s) implemented a dress code - no crop top or navals showing, no slogans on shirts, no cargo trousers, smart jeans only. Nobody was told off, and it didn't mention no see-through clothing, but it did the trick as people were more aware of what they wore.

Gen Z?

Having managed Gen Z in a very similar profession to OP, I believe her.

Why don’t you take a mental health day if you don’t want to see half dressed colleagues?

@ThePussy surely someone senior can just send everyone a general reminder about dress code, or get HR to draw attention to dress code. That way nobody is singled out.

HR Policy should outline it.

At my place none customer facing but still nothing shorter then knee length and no cleavage and no strappy tops. Clothes must be professional or professional casual with sensible shoes no flip flops or they such.

The boxers waist band nether here or there non issue
Bum cheek hanging out of play suit inappropriate