Lookin' too damn good...

I really didn't think I could be over-dressed for an office job but that's exactly what I did last Thursday. Took a lot of flak from everyone I met in the hall. Had my bosses worried, secretaries gossiping. What was my sin? My tie!

Yup, it actually looks bad to wear a tie to work here. Why? Assumptions. In an office environment where you don't have to wear a tie, that uncomfortable, useless piece of clothing, why would you wear one? It's that question that gets you into trouble. "Is Mike going to a funeral?" "Does he have a work review and is getting fired?" and the worst "Hmm, I wonder if Mike has an interview with another company today?".

The last one is probably the most common. Of the 40 people I interacted with that day I think only 2 didn't say anything about my tie. My boss wondered if I'd be staying with Conoco long, other engineers wanted to know what kind of incentives I was getting to leave. Very confusing and I did so much explaining and back-pedaling by noon that I took it off for lunch at Japanese Village and never put it back on.

So you may have a question. Why did I wear a tie in the first place? I bought 3 nice ties in Thailand, I have shirts that go great with ties, so why would I purchase all that and never wear it? Because it gets you in trouble at work obviously. Sorry, I didn't know! The kicker is it was actually an old tie that had on, not even one of my new ones. So this week I'm back to boring, comfortable golf shirts.

In other news, made it down to Montana for the one and only time this year to put away the cabin. Pretty cold down there so I didn't make it out on the water other than to take the pier out. Sure like having that place. I promise to make good use of it next year. Also, this Friday the 13th is Luke's 23rd birthday. He's in the field then but will be back for some partying Saturday night. I think buckets are on the menu.