There is a young man who works where I work who rides a small motorcycle to work. I see him from time to time because we both park our motorcycles in the same place, though he arrives later than I do and leaves later than I leave. But over time, we have occasionally seen each other at our motorcycles when I leave late or he leaves early. <\/p>\n
I see this young man around the building. He works in an entry-level position, and has been here for about two years. What I notice is that he always wears a suit. I asked him once about that, and his response was the typical brainwashed phrase from the Dress for Success<\/em> bloggers — that is, “dress for the job you want, not the one you have.” <\/p>\n Okay, all well and good. We may differ on the suit stuff. He will realize as he matures that a suit isn’t the only thing on which a rising professional is judged.<\/p>\n But what has bothered me about the suit (and dress shoes), is that he wears it while… We smile and say “hey” to each other, but I always frown at his footwear — dress shoes. Besides being generally yucky, leather-soled dress shoes are dangerous to wear when operating a motorcycle. And a suit on a bike? No protection at all if involved in a crash. Also, I have seen this guy in the bathroom brushing dirt off his suit. Why wear something that you are fearful of getting dirty? <\/p>\n Now to top it off, this youngster goes to the gym every day. He brings a gym bag with a change of clothes, including sneakers. So I have often wondered that if he brings a change of clothes to use for the gym, then why couldn’t he wear decent motorcycle-suitable clothes and boots to ride to work, then change to dress clothes when he gets here?<\/p>\n I finally had nerve enough to ask him that question yesterday. His response made sense: “I don’t have anywhere to store my suit on my bike without causing it to wrinkle.”<\/p>\n I asked about road dirt, and he said that he only “touched up” his pants from time to time and didn’t find it a problem. He did admit, however, that he keeps a spare pair of dress pants at his desk in case he gets sprayed from a car riding through a puddle. <\/p>\n So while I was speaking with him, I asked about the dress shoes. His response: “I couldn’t imagine wearing boots<\/em> … not with a suit!” His visceral reaction was evident. I tried to explain the dangers of leather-soled shoes, but he wasn’t having any of it. “No way would I wear boots to work!”<\/p>\n To that remark, I said, “well, there’s no way I would wear those things…,” pointing to his wingtips. We just have to agree to disagree on that.<\/p>\n But I did have one small win. I asked him why he wore a tie while riding, especially in hot weather. He agreed and said that he usually carries his tie (in a tie case, no less) on his bike and puts it on in the bathroom when he is cleaning off his suit pants.<\/p>\n Well, this was interesting. I think as this young man matures, he will get over the enthusiasm for the suit shit. He doesn’t need to wear one. I don’t, and I was selected as employee of the year. Figure that?<\/p>\n Life is short: wear boots when riding a motorcycle; always.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a young man who works where I work who rides a small motorcycle to work. I see him from time to time because we both park our motorcycles in the same place, though he arrives later than I … Continue reading
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\n…riding his motorcycle! Yep, dress shoes, thin little sockies, suit jacket and tie flapping in the wind… with a full-face helmet. <\/p>\n