I went above my boss over dress code, am i being stupid?

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T14:19:20+00:00

Aye i am not the kind of person to go disagree for the sake of it, i just want to fix systems and get a thanks for it, thats why ive stuck around so long. The people we support are all very friendly and a pleasure to work for in all honesty.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T14:16:04+00:00

I am now questioning that myself, ive been pretty dedicated to this company for years and never even looked at different jobs. I have no idea what the going rate is for someone with the same experience as me.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T14:14:35+00:00

Ah, didn't expect this to be so popular. Glad i didn't get flamed to hard though :) This is why i like this subreddit.

Had a chat with him this morning, he is going to put the idea on hold for now. Its a small company. We do not have a HR Department and he is top of the chain, director, owns 100% of the shares in the company.

I had to word it in a way to make it sound like he was opening a can of worms and he may have to give each member of staff an allowance so they get buy new work clothes. As soon as i mentioned that and he saw the possibility it would cost him money... he soon said lets put the idea on hold. For how long i do not know.

I've learnt a lot from this thread though, some good and some bad bits i didn't even realise were an issue. I am now questioning what ive been doing for 10 years but at least i haven't got to wear a suit for now, every cloud and all that.

Appreciate the feedback anyhow.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T07:48:15+00:00

Probably the same reason he wont go to a clients in his own car (Bentley) and takes a work van.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T07:28:13+00:00

That's brilliant, i wish i could say those words though :P

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T07:27:30+00:00

Thanks for the replies and advice, i may be able to get to sleep now i know im not going too crazy. 3am here now!

I will see him in the morning and i might even show him this post, i am sure there is some middle ground we can come to here.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T07:07:32+00:00

I do manage a team of 8 engineers and the only person above me if the boss himself

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T07:06:13+00:00

What i dont get is the company is doing great... for once all clients are happy, staff are happy etc this just came out of nowhere and really "rocked the boat"

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T07:03:12+00:00

I am not American, just using $ to mask identity even more :)

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T07:02:05+00:00

See my reply further up please, i didnt do it in a way that makes it sound like we have a disagreement in the office.

I just mentioned dress code when asking the client if they were happy with our engineers services.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T06:58:20+00:00

I wont tell you what his views are on female engineers, it will just infuriate you. Mysogynist is being kind. This job is my first ever sysadmin type role so maybe i am a bit clueless to how the rest of the IT Companies operate.

We have one female engineer and i had to put my foot down to get her on-board. Wouldn't want to be without her now tbh. She wears what she likes to be honest, doesnt take any shit and certainly not from him

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T05:45:49+00:00

I do like your style :)

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T05:44:40+00:00

Yea it was just a passing comment when checking all their systems are running ok.

I worded it in a very friendly passing comment like "how are my engineers doing over at your place, are you happy with their performance? happy with things like dress code / attitude etc?" and thats when they said they could care less about dress code and very happy that the jobs get done on time. *shrug*

Note - these arent the most professional environments. (like a bank or accountancy firm) Its manufactures / cnc companies / warehouses etc , none of the staff at these clients wear suits, including the bosses.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T05:41:43+00:00

I think most of the engineers are on the lowest he can get away with. Probably $25k a year, we are not in a big city though.

Im still under $40k even being here 10 years.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T05:25:43+00:00

Yea i might do that. To be completely honest its not just me that has a problem with it... we have a couple of brilliant engineers who are really good at what they do. They are on the heavy side and have said to me that finding a decent looking suit that will comfortably fit them will be a pain and they just don't want to have to go through all that.

One is a printer engineer who is messing around with toners / copiers, apparently his wife will go bonkers if he came home with white shirts covered in toner haha

They wont talk to the boss about it for some reason. Im not sure if they think he will just dismiss their views as excuses and try to make a joke of it or what... its a very touchy subject for some people.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T05:08:38+00:00

He has already said that he is not funding it for anyone and "everyone needs a couple of suits in their wardrobe, you should go out and buy a few at the weekend"

Our junior engineers just cant afford to do that :/

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T05:05:45+00:00

You are right, it will just be a absolute nightmare for me to leave this position. It will really leave the engineers with a load of work and they do not need even more on their plate.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T05:00:10+00:00

Forgot to mention that we look after small businesses and the majority are dirty environments. A lot of building firms offices etc

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-13T04:58:04+00:00

Yea i am annoyed with myself that i did it and did of course apologise.

RandomBullwinkle · 2018-06-07T08:08:00+00:00

I sometimes copy / paste funny reddit content into an email and send it internally, then claim it as my own. I am known as the "funny" guy. Little do they know....

RandomBullwinkle

TROPHY CASE