Conference 7.286::digital

    Hmmm, since the rodeo's in town this month, today is "Go Texan" day in
    Houston. All the suits stay in the closet and the cowboy duds come out.
    Probably wouldn't go over big in the GMA though, eh? ;-)
    
    (Rodeo is a VERY major event in Houston, it's held in the AstroDome and
    AstroHall, with daily attendance in excess of 60,000 for about 2 weeks.
    Major recording stars perform live every night in the dome. It's all
    done to raise money for scholarship programs.)
    
    Harry
    

    
    
    I don't know about engineering dressing up getting the customer to 
    give us a check... 
    
    Last time I was up with a customer on a visit to engineering
    we took lunch in cafeteria.  The preponderance of sandels
    and "I partied till I puked with the Grateful Dead" T-shirts
    was a source of amazement and wonder; as if it were an ever
    changing display of colorful chaos and individuality.
    
    The customer to this day, still talk about Digital Engineering 
    looking like a community college campus with some "Older/Nontraditional" 
    students.
    
    After returning I of course wanted to be able to "Look" the part
    of an engineer (at DECUS and such) so I went out and priced
    some obnoxious T-Shirts, stone-washed jeans, and sandels w/white socks.
    
    Upon being presented with the final price for the fashion statement
    I elected to buy another suit, shirt, wingtips and tie... 
    The Uniform is less costly then being a slave to comfortable style;-)
    
    So what I would have saved in hair cuts wouldn't have offset the cost
    of style, so I stay in the field -- doomed to dress for success, but 
    secretly wanting to wear my Beevis and Butthead T-shirts in the office;-)
    
    John W.
    

        The first time I, as a customer, visited Maynard I saw someone walk
    into the lab in very very casual clothing. I asked "how does he get
    away with that?" and was told that he was an engineer and who was
    going to tell him what he could or could not wear? I knew in that
    moment that I wanted to be an engineer at Digital. I was wearing a
    casual suit (ie no vest) at the time which was about as casual as
    one could get were I worked.

    Still I think the dress up day is a good one. It would show the
    management types that we could dress up and look like them if we
    really wanted to. I wonder if "owns suits and can tie a tie" should
    be on my resume? Perhaps it would get me interviews for management
    jobs?

    			Alfred

	I doubt if I will forget Halloween in Colorado Springs.  The 
    entire plant dresses "up" for the day (as in any other facility).
    On one particular Halloween we were conducting a tour of CXO 
    Manufacturing for 3 majors and two captains from the US Air Force 
    Logistics Command.  It was rather amusing to observe their tour of 
    the facility.

I had a tie once, but then I had to blow my nose.

    
>   I had a tie once, but then I had to blow my nose.
    
    I know.  Notice I've quit shaking hands with you since you quit wearing it.
    
    						:^] Brent

    This is what Clinton is looking for!  Think of the sales increase based
    on the need for ties, jackets and pants and quite possibly shoes.  The
    improvement in the US economy is a forgone conclusion with Dress-up
    Friday!

I like the idea...

re .8:

Well did you see the 'Made in China' label on all those new
suits at the department store? I guess somebody somewhere will
make some bucks off of this. Most likely the dry cleaners.

Now all you have to do is get the engineers to remember that it's
Friday.

erik

         Engineers work on Friday!  Next the UK will work over 
         Christmas. ;-)

re: .0

While I can tie a tie (at least I _think_ I remember how), I do not own a
suit, and have much better things to do with my money than spend it on one.

I used to like the idea of Engineering Hawaiian Shirt Friday, but I got rid of
the only Hawaiian shirt I ever owned, so I'm out of luck there as well.

-Jack

    .6:
    
    In a previous position, a new supervisor told us that we would be
    required to wear ties even if we were going to be holed up in our
    offices all day.  Went home, saw an ad for ties at a local department
    store -- and went to the local Salvation Army store, where I turned
    a sawbuck into the 10 ugliest ties they had.
    
    A collegue told me (at the end of a party, in vino veritas don't you
    know) that he wouldn't blow MY nose on some of those ties.
    
    Dick                                        

    re: last one : There's another benefit.  Engineers can blow their noses
    on their ties, reserving Friday for Handkerchef Washing Day.  That way
    we can have clean hankies...

Hey, lighten up guys.  

If the tie issue is such a problem I've had several volunteers already who are
willing to hold a tie knotting clinic on the first Thursday of every month.

What's more, we could hold a tie swap shop on the 2nd Thursday after National
Engineering Day (yet to be declared).

By the way, I am perfectly serious about .0 (for those of you who can't take
a joke).  If you like the concept, send .0 around to your friends and general
distribution lists and lets see what happens.

All-dressed-up-and-nowhere-to-go

RE: several previous -

>    re: last one : There's another benefit.  Engineers can blow their noses
>    on their ties, reserving Friday for Handkerchef Washing Day.  That way
>    we can have clean hankies...

>    All-dressed-up-and-nowhere-to-go


  Is this a typo or should it read:

     All-dressed-up-and-nowhere-to-blow!

p.s. Think it's a great idea - some can use the practice. :)

	I've still got my DECworld '88 tie someplace. Now THAT was an
	ugly tie!

					fit to be tied,

							mike

    If word gets out of Digital Engineering dress-up day, all other
    engineers will be lead to believe that we pay more and treat our
    engineers better, else why would they dress this way?  This will lead
    the cream of the engineering crop to leave our competitors, giving us a
    distinct engineering advantage.
    
    The best will be getting better, our market share will improve, gross
    revenue jumps, stock prices soar - this could be an answer to prayer...

    I'm an engineer and I've got a suit (I think).  Bought it back about 15
    years ago.  But still, even if the moths haven't already devoured it, I
    just ain't comfortable in that dammed thing, despite the fact that I
    completely forgot what it feels like to wear it.  It's too.... I mean
    it's too much like... like.... Well it's too "IBM", that's all!
    
    I've got a tie too.  It's hanging here in my office, already *knotted*
    and ready for action. You know, just in case some big shot customer
    comes in or something.  Don't laugh, it can real perk up what would 
    otherwise be just an ordinary Fruit-of-the Loom colored T.  And it's 
    sufficiently wrinkled to match my jeans too.  Too bad that don't come
    in denim, huh?
    
    To .0, Good idea but I don't think it'll fly.  Although you might
    suggest something along the lines of a Friday "Toga" dress down for
    engineers.
    
    -dave

    Years ago I came up with a clothes line for Engineers patterned after
    the Granimals for children.  All's you had to do was make sure
    everything you wore had disk drives, printers, whatever all the same.
    
    Given this wasn't available, I switched to buying all clothing from the
    Gap, which was the next closest thing.  After some years passed, I got
    married, the entire contents of my closet were removed by Goodwill
    Industries and replaced.
    
    I still suffer through periodic purges wherein "out-dated" clothes go
    and I've yet to figure out the mysterious code whereby you're either 
    allowed to leave the house without changing or not...

    ok, I'll try to start up DTS (Digital Tie Store/Services)
    
    danny

I'll never forget the day I, as a sales support person, invited someone from
engineering to a customer site to address product issues.  He showed up with a
shirt and tie, so far so good, but with bright green pants.

I figured, and I think the customer did too, that someone who dresses like that
*has* to know what he was talking about.  More times than not, customers trust
someone in green pants more than someone in a three-piece suit.  They've heard
enough fluff and want real information.

I can't believe the stereotypes about "engineers" live on to this day.

Paul

    Only four more days till Friday.......
    

I wear suits so seldom that my only one was purchased back in 1978
when I was still a software specialist in Charlotte.  Still fits and
is in good shape.

/john

    This thread does put a new twist on the statement:
    
    "all our engineers are tied up today"
    
    re roelof

    A few months ago, some senior managers and engineers of Apple had a
    meeting scheduled with some senior managers and engineers of IBM. The
    meeting was an exceedingly important one, and fully aware of this the...
    
    ...Apple managers and engineers discarded their open neck shirts,
    T-shirts, casual slacks, jeans and sneakers to dress more like their
    IBM counterparts e.g. white shirt, tie, 3-piece Suits, etc.
    
    ...Conversely, you guessed it, the IBM managers and engineers discarded
    their white shirts, ties, 3-piece suits in favour of Apple's more
    relaxed dress code.
    
    The sight of these to groups first meeting must have been something to
    behold. Unfortunately there was no follow up article describing how
    both groups dressed in subsequent meetings.
    
    Angus

>I wear suits so seldom that my only one was purchased back in 1978
>when I was still a software specialist in Charlotte.  Still fits and
>is in good shape.

Yeah, but how wide are the trouser flares?    

(Too late, you missed the flares revival :-)

Re: .25

Remember the TV show WKRP?

In one episode, Venus Flytrap, a black DJ, abandoned his usual business
attire and wore some stereotypical flashy outfit (very atypical for
Venus) for his in-studio interview with a black magazine... turns out the
interviewer was a conservatively dressed white person and Venus felt
rather awkward for departing from his regular attire.

At the same time, Herb Tarleck, the obnoxious ad salesman that nearly
always wore some kind of electric plaid polyester sport coat, decided
that to snag that 'big new account' he would wear a more conservative,
3-piece tailored suit. When he went to call on the 'big new account'
he found the guy wore the same kind of plaid sport coats that he had been
wearing! Try as he might, Herb was unable to land the big account because
the new account was untrusting of those "3-piece suit types that just
couldn't understand a regular guy".

Whatever you're doing, stay in character I guess.

Lee

    I own one suit and I just bought it last month because I had to meet
    with the VP's of LSI Logic.  Before that the last suit I bought was
    when I was interviewing out of college 10 years ago.
    
    My first job invovled a lot of debugging in the lab, after the first
    time I had to crawl on the floor to hook up some cables and got filthy and
    caught my blouse on the pins of my proto board, I gave up on nice clothes 
    and lived in jeans and shirts.  I don't even think that the military
    big brass or the company vp cared too much how I was dressed when I
    presented a WORKING system.
    
    When I came back from maternity leave I made a vow that I would try to
    dress nicer (skirts, etc, since now I don't have to work in a lab) and
    it lasted all of 2 weeks.  I made it to the 2nd Friday and decided I
    was just more comfortable in jeans or casual pants.  I dropped my
    daughter off at daycare and the woman asked me if Friday was dress down
    day at my office, I had to laugh and say "No, I'm just an engineer,
    they don't expect us to dress well."
    
    Besides, if I ever came in in a suit my boss would get nervous. When I
    wore my suit last month he had a quick meeting with me to make sure
    that I was happy and not interviewing elsewhere!
    
    Susan

	... ceremony in D. C., and his wife made him!

	Or was it Steve Bate's orders?? :>) :>) :>)

Hey, I saw some cool ties at the mall! X-Men! 

Really impress those customers: I *am* the mutant 
coder, ready to unleash the dreaded Kilrathian 
Cybertet virus upon your virtual network!!!!

Gee, and I thought all those hours reading
comic books when I was a kid were a waste...

    re -.1
    
    ...and you used to be such a nice young man!  Now you're a...a...
    
    			MUTANT HACKER ENGINEER!
    

    
    
    I saw a cool X-men Tie at the Burlington mall/MASS. Wild stuff!
    
               -=-=-R~C~W-=-=-

Only three more shopping days till Friday ....

To the mall,  to the mall....

And here I thought the base note was to honor "National Engineers Week, February
20 - 26, 1994.  Celebrating Engineers: Turning Ideas Into Reality".

This note from my college alumni newsletter.  I'm surprised Digital doesn't make
more of this!

Elaine

    What ? To  ties vending machines in you facility , really DEC
    engineering is stone age !

    Another benefit:
    
    The northeastern entreprenure's will see the sharp increase in the
    number of executives (engineers in business attire) and will
    immediately build more golf courses...

    real engineeres don't dress up.
    
    real engineers don't need to dress up.
    
    \nasser
    a_real_engineer

    Having a large supply of not-recently-worn-but-still-functional ties
    (I still have a VAXmate if that helps you know what I mean), I would
    be happy to make a donation to the TIE-AID foundation.  Anyone 
    started a tie collection box in Nashua or Maynard where I could drop
    a few off?
    
    Mark
    

One more day to Friday.....

Either lead,  follow,  or go tie shopping....

Real engineers don't dress, they sit around their PC's
at home in their underwear at 2AM.

	... go to jail.

Just say No!

    When I worked at Hughes, our department did this every October - as
    close as possible to Hallowean.  Made the management *very* nervous.
    Do it!

So...

How many of you did it?  So far there are at least 2 of us here all dressed
up (Yup, nowhere to go..)

Feels like a groundswell to me.

Sorry - chamois shirt, jeans, and sneakers - just like always.

-Jack

    Erm, the only warm shirts I had available this morning were all
    turtlenecks.
    
    Ah, hell, maybe I'll go for it anyway!
    
    Dick

    	There was a time in the late eighties when some customers wouldn't
    believe the person who flew in was a real engineer unless they dressed
    down.  One customer I heard about really didn't believe Digital had sent
    an engineer when the he showed up in a suit and tie.  But most of our
    account teams appreciate the engineer dressing up to meet the bankers
    and brokers of Wall Street.
    
    	Rich
    
    
    	

    RE: .45  You trend setter you.... :')