Gents,

This morning at work I rolled by the coffee pot and one my female coworkers was there too, however wearing pajamas.  It looked like she
just rolled out of bed, put on slippers and showed up to work.

I was so baffled that my immediate response was: “are you wearing pajamas?”
Excited reply: “yep”
I just left back to my desk

I have a fairly new job with a tech company in the SF Bay Area, so things are a bit more laid back, but I was still surprised to see her wearing pajamas.


What would have been a better comment to set her in line?

Cheers.

Do you work at Google?

In the workplace it's not a good idea to go alpha on your female coworkers.

You have to play their game. In this case it would be going to human resources and saying that she is creating a distracting and unprofessional work environment.

First post and thanks for the fast replies. I'm not at google.
Roosh, good advice. I will stop by HR.

Quote: (04-23-2012 05:32 PM)BrownianMotion Wrote:  

What would have been a better comment to set her in line?

You: (confused) But where's your blankie?

Quote:Quote:

In the workplace it's not a good idea to go alpha on your female coworkers.

You have to play their game. In this case it would be going to human resources and saying that she is creating a distracting and unprofessional work environment.

You can't "call them out" balls to the wall style. But a little bit of cutting humor, leavened with charm, won't get you in trouble. Infantilizing women always sets the right tone, but I'm not sure it will do much else beyond ensuring that she won't see you as a chump.

Show up to work shirtless.

Quote: (04-23-2012 05:55 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

In the workplace it's not a good idea to go alpha on your female coworkers.

You have to play their game. In this case it would be going to human resources and saying that she is creating a distracting and unprofessional work environment.

"I can't focus when she struts by in those formless threadbare flannel pants, it turns me on so much."

Show up for work wearing this:

I worked in TV for a while, and you can pretty much wear what you want. Things started to get so sloppy that management had to set some parameters. It's always the women that push the envelope of decency, because they have so many more options in terms of dress. For men it's pretty simple - shirt, pants, shoes. We had to wear a shirt with a collar, and no sneakers (but some guys still did, because no one actually said anything). Everything else was fine. But chicks? They'd wear those velour sweatsuits and flip-flops.

Girls shouldn't wear pajamas to work. Suggest a teddy or babydoll instead. Unless she's fat.

"Nice skid marks. Did you have curry last night?"

"Are you trying for a role on 'People of Walmart'?"
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

Play up the Walmart angle, but if you're in the South Bay never use the term "trailer trash". In Sunnyvale where Tasman and the Lawrence Expressway intersect there's multiple huge trailer parks that were put in for NASA Ames employees. There's very high tech-cred for living there, and joking about people living in trailers just gets locals shaking their head that you're not cool enough to know anyone who works at NASA.

Do it with a smirk or roll your eyes, but stay on the sarcasm side rather than direct. Silicon Valley can be a small, gossipy place of bristly egos. You don't want them giving you the thumbs down when you interview at a future employer. And that includes receptionists.

Bay area tech companies pride themselves in creating "progressive" work environments and thinking outside the box. I would just ignore it. The culture of an organization is set from the top. If it is a startup and the founding team or management has a problem they will let her know. No sense in bringing yourself down to her level. If she is physically interfacing with customers and you think it is a problem for the company approach it with management from that level - trying to help the company.

My vote is that you put her to shame by wearing a custom suit to work and kicking ass at what you do and otherwise don't get involved.

Alright get this I'm probably not the only one at work who has allergies to strong scents but this really obese woman always comes to work wearing so much perfume I think she must bathe in it. The worse part is that cheap perfume smell mixes with some sort of awful greasy smell that really makes me want to vomit. I almost thought I was going to vomit all over my desk today no joke. Not to mention the allergies.

Quote: (04-23-2012 05:55 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

In the workplace it's not a good idea to go alpha on your female coworkers.

You have to play their game. In this case it would be going to human resources and saying that she is creating a distracting and unprofessional work environment.

^Exactly this

NEVER say anything that can be construed as misogynistic in the work force.

But seriously, a job that allows you to wear pajamas (or anything else casual)? That sounds awesome. I'd be showing up in track suits and sweats.

Quote: (04-23-2012 06:03 PM)basilransom Wrote:  

Quote: (04-23-2012 05:32 PM)BrownianMotion Wrote:  

What would have been a better comment to set her in line?

You: (confused) But where's your blankie?

haha, that's pretty funny actually.

What? Is this real?

No wonder the worlds in a recession and Facebook just paid 1 billion for a company that never made a profit

This is a joke, right?

I cant imagine myself going out of my house, taking a bus without my hair done. You see, i also work at a casual enviroment, but there are silent boundaries to respect. No matter hoe early are you up. I see girls in heels and make up done and fresh at 4 am going work!

Quote: (04-24-2012 05:54 PM)tjames Wrote:  

Alright get this I'm probably not the only one at work who has allergies to strong scents but this really obese woman always comes to work wearing so much perfume I think she must bathe in it. The worse part is that cheap perfume smell mixes with some sort of awful greasy smell that really makes me want to vomit. I almost thought I was going to vomit all over my desk today no joke. Not to mention the allergies.

If the office layout permits you could set up a fan to blow the scent towards her and/or away from you. Don't laugh. I actually did this many years ago with a guy at a company I was working at for a couple of weeks who was a chain smoker (before workplace smoking bans). It was like his desk space was a wind tunnel. Papers flying away, his hair blown back a bit. But at least my workspace was much less affected by the smoke.

Lot's of women wear strong scents for various reasons, but obese women especially have all sorts of skin folds, nooks and crannies that are difficult for them to clean. So they need the scent more than regular weight people.

Quote: (04-23-2012 05:32 PM)BrownianMotion Wrote:  

I have a fairly new job with a tech company in the SF Bay Area, so things are a bit more laid back, but I was still surprised to see her wearing pajamas.

Welcome to Bay Area. You'd be surprised to see how the geeks dress up.

Quote:Quote:

What would have been a better comment to set her in line?

Nothing. Get used to it, this is how the things work here. Unless you're sales or receptionist nobody gives shit what you wear to work.

The best feeling I have in the world is while on the brown line train going to work. Me wearing wrinkled jeans, wrinkled shirt under my jacket, not shaved looking like crap and still knowing I make more than half the people who are wearing suits thinking their the shit.

Quote: (04-23-2012 05:55 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

going to human resources and saying that she is creating a distracting and unprofessional work environment.

The operative code words are hostile environment sexual harrassment. Can you imagine if a guy wore pajamas and made a woman uncomfortable?