Useless Conversation

[Merusk]

My footers are fucking bananas. I think a bunch of drunk monkeys (no offense, Paelos) poured them.[/spoiler]

That's a fairly apt description of the footing & foundation crews I saw in housing.

I assume it's just a trench footing, yes? i.e. they dug a hole and poured concrete in to it vs. forming it. That could explain some of the irregularity.

[Bunk]

The problem is that for most people I know who shave their heads it eventually becomes permanent, even if they don't really want it to be...... 

Not like I have a whole lot left to shave anyways - just never really wanted to go that far though. I've got a big lumpy noggin that's covered in scars from an accident prone childhood.
My chin hair is now again officially the longest hair on my head.

As far getting up for work - alarm goes off at 4:22 AM. Despite that I sleep til at least nine on weekends, and generally adjust by getting by with five hours sleep Sunday night.

[Sky]

I assume it's just a trench footing, yes? i.e. they dug a hole and poured concrete in to it vs. forming it. That could explain some of the irregularity.

Nope, it looks like it was poured in short sections, none of which match up to each other. Well, not precisely, it does look monolithic, as if the forms were all askew and mis-matched.

[Abagadro]

They're quite comfortable.

I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.

[Selby]

And I'm going to be doing a presentation next week in front of my boss's boss's boss that could have a large impact on my future with the company. First impressions and all.

I said "fuck it" after trying to impress The Man for several years and kept mine long, even when doing such a presentation.  They loved it and didn't care one bit about the hair.  I've had waist length hair for some time and love it.  The only time I ever pull it back is when at work due to electrical hazards and car work.  Every other waking moment it is down.

[Samwise]

And I'm going to be doing a presentation next week in front of my boss's boss's boss that could have a large impact on my future with the company. First impressions and all.

I said "fuck it" after trying to impress The Man for several years and kept mine long, even when doing such a presentation.  They loved it and didn't care one bit about the hair.  I've had waist length hair for some time and love it.  The only time I ever pull it back is when at work due to electrical hazards and car work.  Every other waking moment it is down.

I instantly distrust anyone who is trying to impress me with their appearance in a professional setting, unless their profession is "model" or "stripper".  As such I almost never "dress up" for presentations, because it makes it harder for me to take myself seriously.

[Chimpy]

Just a note to the previous two posters: The rest of the world is not the Bay Area. While we may, inside, strive to be that laid back the world we live in does not function so. 

[Samwise]

Sucks to be you?   

[Rasix]

Know your audience.. yadda yadda yadda.

IBM has relaxed a ton over the years.  Don't dress like you're going to play beach volleyball and wear closed toe shoes in the lab, and you should be OK.  Might be good to wear a polo instead of an ironic t-shirt when presenting to your 3rd line manager.

[Selby]

The rest of the world is not the Bay Area.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Bay Area and California in general really isn't that tolerant of long hair and other oddities in professional settings.  My last boss told me if he had known I was going to stop cutting my hair he would never have hired me regardless of how good my work was (and probably why he laid me off).

[Morat20]

Really depends on where you work. Some places care, some don't. I've found that if you're responsible for meeting customers, there's a LOT more expectations on dress and hair, unless your customer base is unusually tolerant of it.

My bosses don't care about hair, and I wear jeans to work. The older generation tends to favor slacks and long sleeves, and the one above that tends to wear ties or suits.

I dress nice when presenting. Jeans and a polo works for me, for where I work. The "Customers" I see are our partners (we develop in conjunction with them) and then the "main" customers I see once a year, and they know I'm a developer -- and they're all engineers who couldn't give a crap how I dress.

Which is one reason I work where I do. :)

Now, visible piercings (besides discreet earrings, which I doubt they'd care about) and lots of visible tats? That wouldn't fly. I suspect in 20 years it will, though -- and then I'll be the old guy in his polo shirt instead of a t-shirt and sandals like everyone else.

Because in the end? It doesn't really matter HOW you dress if you're not, you know, interacting with random walk-in customers or trying to sell your product to strangers.

[Viin]

There is something to be said for "dressing for success". If you want to be an unpolished developer and don't plan on leaving that post, wear whatever you want. Want to get into higher responsibilities where you rub elbows with VPs, EVPs, and C-level folks (customers or not?), better start dressing nicer so they take you seriously when you want to talk about more than how C++ is better than Java.

[Paelos]

My industry is completely different in regards to dress.

[Viin]

My industry is completely different in regards to dress.

Pajamas and slippers? Finance is different, only developers in finance tend to wear comfortable shoes - everyone else is in suits or close to it.

[Morat20]

There is something to be said for "dressing for success". If you want to be an unpolished developer and don't plan on leaving that post, wear whatever you want. Want to get into higher responsibilities where you rub elbows with VPs, EVPs, and C-level folks (customers or not?), better start dressing nicer so they take you seriously when you want to talk about more than how C++ is better than Java.

*shrug*. I don't particularly want to be promoted, as I'm about as highly ranked as I can be without shifting to the management track, which I do not want.

I could probably hack project manager quite well -- which is technically a management promotion, but more on the software engineering side. Regular management, even on technical projects? Screw that. I do NOT want a job wherein, sooner or later, I will be called upon to fire someone.

And other than the half-a-step up "more in charge of overall design and integration" type project manager, that's the only "further up" there is. I don't really envy the guy doing that job for us now, and I know he's not paid much extra for the headaches.

I'm a bit of an oddity, in the software business. I don't change jobs often. I like where I work and what I work on.  

[Bunk]

Know your audience.. yadda yadda yadda.

Exactly - I can get away with looking an addled hippy at my own company, because everyone there who matters has known me for ten years. The people I am presenting for have essentially never met me and will likely decide my future. Their office is also decidedly more, professional shall we say, than mine.

I'll still be going business casual, and will continue to rock the scraggly Van Dyke - but the frizzy halo of unkempt hair was a bit too much.
Too bad though - I had planned to keep it until at Least after seeing Maiden next month.

I said "fuck it" after trying to impress The Man for several years and kept mine long, even when doing such a presentation.  They loved it and didn't care one bit about the hair.  I've had waist length hair for some time and love it.  The only time I ever pull it back is when at work due to electrical hazards and car work.  Every other waking moment it is down.

Waist length hair means you have a full head of strong healthy hair. I don't - I have male pattern baldness, and light frizzy hair.

[Sjofn]

I have my hair (it is to my waist) pulled back probably 90% of the time, but I still have no desire to cut it. I wear it in a bun when I don't want it on my neck, and it works fine (although if my hair is wet, my bun is really heavy :P). I had short hair when I was in fifth grade and I loathed it. Never again!

Or at least not until I have old lady hair that looks much better short.

[Chimpy]

I cut my hair in the middle of my first summer doing summerstock after getting tired of my ponytail getting caught in the arrester hook on my safety harness. There are days when I miss it, but as I am now going bald I really just miss not looking like a monk.

[ghost]

I am pretty much required to have a professional haircut and facial hair.  People don't want their orthodontist looking like a weirdo.   

I always skirt the edges though.  I loved the Movember stuff because it gave me the opportunity to do some facial hair.  I may start growing a goatee now in preparation for this year.......

[Sky]

I instantly distrust anyone who is trying to impress me with their appearance in a professional setting, unless their profession is "model" or "stripper".  As such I almost never "dress up" for presentations, because it makes it harder for me to take myself seriously.

Goddamned hippies. One of the things I love about my job is that I can dress decently (I don't have enough money to dress 'well'). If the slackers want to wear jeans and polos while I have on a three-piece, so be it. The ladies understand.  

Also, long hair and a beard look completely different when wearing a suit. People saw me at Lowes in my flannel and jeans and are  because I looked like a psychotic woodsman...but it turns into quirky professor in a suit. I loved that part of having the hair/beard combo.

[ghost]

I really want to do the hair/beard combo, or possibly the hair/mustache combo, but the wife would probably run over me with her car if I did.  I may do it anyway, just for shits and giggles.   

[Engels]

All I can say is that it rocks being able to wear my AC/DC t-shirt to work and still be nominated for a staff excellence award out of a staff of hundreds. My dad was a proff at one of the most conservative business schools in the world (IESE) and he got away with cut off shorts and Ts for most of his career because he rocked that job so hard he made the stuffed shirts look like prancing layabouts.

[Sjofn]

I cut my hair in the middle of my first summer doing summerstock after getting tired of my ponytail getting caught in the arrester hook on my safety harness. There are days when I miss it, but as I am now going bald I really just miss not looking like a monk.

Ha, yeah, a lot of dudes I worked with were always marvelling that I keep my hair so long, the few that had long hair never let it get past their shoulders because "it gets caught in everything." I told them to start a movement where it's cool for dudes to have their hair in a bun and it would solve a lot of that. They never did, though. :(


My hair DOES get everywhere, though. Ingmar bitches about it a lot. 

[Hammond]

When I did my first interview at my current job I dressed really nice you know the whole suit and tie bit.   When we got done with the interview they told me that they wanted me to come back but that I really did not need to dress up and in fact it was discouraged by the owners.  So the typical work outfit is polo / t-shirt and jeans.  Since we are a manufacturer we do have to do closed toe shoes. (steel toe is not mandatory)   Overall it is a pretty lax place to work and I see all kinds of oddly inappropriate t-shirts out on the floor.  Your typical chicks love me shirts and such.

[Bunk]

My department today has three guys in shorts and sandals and one lady in a Lamb of God concert shirt. I'm the dressed up one in khakis and a buttoned shirt.
Can't complain though, I get away with posting pointless crap like this all day if I want to. And I've never worn dress shoes to work - love my Merrell walking shoes.

Generally, support departments/call centers are pretty lax, especially when you only support your own company.

As for problems with long hair - when I was 20ish, worst thing I remember was being in a dense mosh pit, banging my head, and someone taller pushes up behind me - pinning my hair to my back as my head comes up. Suddenly I'm stuck, staring straight up in the air.

[Xanthippe]

I had long hair until I was 19 (long as in below waist long). Then I got a job working as a pants presser in a laundry, and there was a heat wave. Imagine being surrounded by 3 presses (in 105F outside, no idea what it was where I stood) and no air conditioning.

Cut my hair short (girl short not boy short, although boy short feels better) and have loved it short ever since.  It doesn't get into everything (like my daughter's hair does), it dries quickly, takes 5 minutes to fiddle with after a shower.  Certainly frees up a lot of time.

Why do men prefer long hair on women, even when it looks like a shroud (as it did me, being a shortie)?

[ghost]

I had long hair until I was 19 (long as in below waist long). Then I got a job working as a pants presser in a laundry, and there was a heat wave. Imagine being surrounded by 3 presses (in 105F outside, no idea what it was where I stood) and no air conditioning.

Cut my hair short (girl short not boy short, although boy short feels better) and have loved it short ever since.  It doesn't get into everything (like my daughter's hair does), it dries quickly, takes 5 minutes to fiddle with after a shower.  Certainly frees up a lot of time.

Why do men prefer long hair on women, even when it looks like a shroud (as it did me, being a shortie)?

Well, biologically we are clearly meant to have long hair.  So the right question is probably why don't more women prefer long hair on men?

[Xanthippe]

Goddamned hippies. One of the things I love about my job is that I can dress decently (I don't have enough money to dress 'well'). If the slackers want to wear jeans and polos while I have on a three-piece, so be it. The ladies understand.  

Also, long hair and a beard look completely different when wearing a suit. People saw me at Lowes in my flannel and jeans and are   because I looked like a psychotic woodsman...but it turns into quirky professor in a suit. I loved that part of having the hair/beard combo.

I like suits. There is something about a suit that makes every man look better. (Assuming it is not ill-fitting, that is; I hate those stupid skinny suits that I've seen Ryan Seacrest wear). After suits, polos or dress shirts and khakis.

I haven't seen anyone look good in jeans in 20 years; I despise the recent styles of jeans. Why can't we go back to normal 501 types? Not skinny, not boot cut, just straight legged normal jeans. Saggy baggy skinny ugh.

[Xanthippe]

Well, biologically we are clearly meant to have long hair.  So the right question is probably why don't more women prefer long hair on men?

It's fine until baldness sets in. Provided it's well cared for; it's not, usually.

My town has a lot of old bald haired long-bearded hippies. Not a great look.

[ghost]

Old, bald, long haired hippies aren't meant to procreate.   

[NowhereMan]

Why do men prefer long hair on women, even when it looks like a shroud (as it did me, being a shortie)?

I don't know how universal the preference for long hair is, personally it can depend a lot on the build/facial structure of the girl in question. I've known plenty of girls who I think have looked really good with short hair (even boy short) but others who I cannot even begin to imagine that length working on. Oddly (perhaps) I think height can account for it somewhat, I don't feel that taller women can pull off short hair as well, although that's my only real prejudice regarding taller women, I don't mind a woman that towers over me in heels or anything.

[ghost]

Ah, yes.  I love blatant malpractice.

[Sjofn]

I don't know how universal the preference for long hair is, personally it can depend a lot on the build/facial structure of the girl in question. I've known plenty of girls who I think have looked really good with short hair (even boy short) but others who I cannot even begin to imagine that length working on. Oddly (perhaps) I think height can account for it somewhat, I don't feel that taller women can pull off short hair as well, although that's my only real prejudice regarding taller women, I don't mind a woman that towers over me in heels or anything.

I think the fact I am tall is part of why I like having my hair so long. I think I would look weird with boy-short hair for sure (and yeah, I think some ladies look great with boy-short, including shaved heads), and I don't think I'd much care for girl-short.

Also, I look fabulous in boot cut jeans and no one will ever convince me otherwise. Skinny jeans can go straight to hell, though.

[Abagadro]

Ah, yes.  I love blatant malpractice.

Giving or receiving?   

[Cheddar]

Clothes are more important then grooming.  Much more.

This being said- don't need a suit.  I rarely bother- normally stick with dress shirt/pants and loafers with occasional tie.  I am considered sharp, even with gnarly goatee.