My manager has banned all vests, skirts and shorts

[itsjustthepricewepay]

I could cry right now.

I understand banning thin strapped vests but surely thick straps are fine? She’s also banned all shorts (including knee length) and skirts that sit at the knee. Basically we have to go down to ankle length trousers.

AIBU to genuinely consider quitting my job? Her office is air conditioned but we’re in a horrible hot sun trap!

We were in a pub garden yesterday and every time this chap sat down his arse was hanging out so far you could park a bike in it. It was so disgusting my kids couldn't stop looking and laughing. Once you have seen it it's burnt on your retinas.

Thank goodness it's not 1976 anymore and we don't have to live like that.

How many offices have you worked in?
I used to temp, doing single days or a week in different offices in various cities, and I've seen the range from strappy vests with shorts and flip-flops to strict suit with long-sleeve shirt and skirt below the knee.

Dress code can depend on job title: numerate and technical, can be very relaxed, but usually not actually boxer shorts. NHS always more formal, because even if you work in an office, you usually walk through the waiting room/ eat in the canteen and might encounter patients on the way.

In general, OP, your outfits that you posted are way too casual: yes they do look like pajamas. Lots of women would wear a tee shirt and drawstring shorts to sleep in. The home-sewn top has a tee-shirt neckline and is knitted fabric - that shape would be formal enough in a crisp woven fabric. You'd need a button opening to put your head through, and that could be at the front.

Even at the most casual places I've worked, those shorts would only be okay in a lab where you wear a labcoat over the top. Shorts that short have to be more structured. Soft unstructured shorts like those are only okay if they are long - touching the knee.

Hope that helps.

I’ve never really understood the reasoning that losing a few cm of fabric is vital to remain cool.
If it’s hot it’s hot, the extra fabric that turns a vest into a t-shirt or knee length shorts into 3/4 trousers makes little difference.

The OP only wore the shorts for the photo to demonstrate the top. She repeatedly said that, and that she was not going to work in the shorts. There have been several posts correcting that from the OP and loads of posters.

But not everyone likes that! I don't like dresses - they are akwkard and long hems are not practical for tubes, stairs and small kids. I hate how we are all supposed to wear some floaty concoction as a uniform just so we don't, horror of horrors, flash a knee. It's giving handmaid's tale. I also hate sticky, sweaty material on my joints so no way am I covering my knees or armpits.

My guess is that she hasn't come back because she doesn't want to read any more posts by people scandalized by bare arms, and horror of horror, toes.

Apparently having a big hairy arsecrack on display would be fine in an office though, because it's 'perfectly natural'.

Nope, no arsecracks thanks..

I can understand vest tops, it’s not the top it’s the people wearing them, all boobs and armpits is not good.
we were allowed long shorts and skirts over the knee. To be fair though as long as you wear cotton or linen, it’s cooler than synthetic and far better than wearing nothing alot of the time.
can you invest in a fan? I’ve got a shark one which can be used portable after a full charge so no worrying about the pat testing.

Is there not an organisational dress code/uniform policy that overrides her telling you what to wear? There usually is with NHS

Wearing short sleeves helps me feel cooler. Hate the thought of sweaty sticky skin hanging out in vest tops.

She said she wasn't wearing the shorts for work and then asked what was wrong with them. I have seen an entire accounts team in hotpants and vests so yes, in some places it's considered acceptable but there were circumstances (not only 35 degree heat).

What's that got to do with it? OP hasn't suggested anything that was likely to show her bum, and neither has anyone else
Wearing shorts isnt the sane as getting your bum out. Having bare knees or upper arms isn't in anyway comparable to having a builders bum!

My brother is an NHS manager. I'm going to ask him about this. He's always in shirt and suit for work.

When I worked in the NHS anyone who turned up in shorts and a vest would have been advised it was unacceptable by their manager.

Thank god OP didn’t (and won’t) wear shorts to work then.

Yes, I think she already posted it upthread.

Used to work in the NHS. Sleeveless and strappy tops were specifically banned, along with T-shirts and the 'knee length' skirts sold in Marks and the like that invariably were nearer the wearer's arse than their kneecaps under the banner of not wearing clothing that patients might find inappropriate, even if the only contact with them was walking along the same corridor.

I was also informed that I had to walk completely off site before changing into trainers, which I was less happy about.

I’m sure some people will try it.

Men don't wear tank tops, shorts or anything sleeveless to work, otherwise we'd say the same too. No need to try and create a feminist outcry when it's not necessary.

The OP said that men have not been banned from wearing shorts whereas women have. Challenging sexism is hardly a “feminist outcry”.

Fucking hell - we all wear trainers in my team (although we're community and trusted to get on with it) - I take my lead from what my Clinical Leads wear - which is usually smartish (not distressed look) jeans, trainers and something on top (which isn't meant to be a hoodie but I do often ignore that bit and still wear one).

We work with a lot of clients who've had previous trauma with healthcare professionals (learning disability) and will go into fight or flight mode if someone in a suit starts looming over them - so dressing down is also a reasonable adjustment to help them access what we're trying to do with them.

Also most care homes have their heating set to sauna so we'd bloody die - guy I saw in 33 degree heat earlier this week who was insisting he was "bloody freezing" while his support staff were wilting!

The OP has also said that she would see nothing wrong with wearing those shorts to work ...

Whilst it's cooler weather over this side of the globe, just this week I had to take some stronger pain killers for a temporary problem. I was at day 2 of a conference with a sleeveless top under a jacket. Should have been fine as conferences are usually freezing. Nope. Turns out a side effect of the pain killers is over heating and sweating. It was awful. A couple of days off winter and I'm there with no sleeves feeling like I've spent hours in a sauna.

Sleeveless workwear is acceptable over here, but in the ilk of the tailored top posted earlier, not the pic OP has posted. Fabric also plays a part. T-shirt fabric is casual vs dressier fabrics. Drape, cut and fall all go together to elevate.

One place I worked years ago, the dress code was terrible. People would have had to dress up to go to a BBQ.