Tie Day

A few years back, a coworker and I decided that we would balance out Casual Fridays with Tie Wednesdays. We did that for awhile and it was fun, but we never managed to compel any other coworkers to join us. Tie Wednesday died out when the company got rid of Casual Fridays…there just didn’t seem any point after that.

As you might guess from the title of this Scatterthought, it’s back…though on a different day.

I was wearing a tie on Monday for a project interview, and got onto the topic of Tie Wednesdays with another coworker (the guy from before has been gone for over a year). Before I knew it, we had agreed to resurrect Tie Wednesday, and quickly got buy-in from a bunch of other guys. Thursday was deemed to be a better day for some people, so there you have it: Tie Thursday. Heck, it even sounds better. Today was the first one, obviously, and it worked out well as I’m attending a fundraising dinner tonight.

I’m more excited about this than I really should be. I have a decent tie collection, but I rarely wear them simply because I’m too lazy to iron dress shirts. Also, my tie collection is better than my dress-shirt collection…I should do something about that. The problem is, I like funky ties, but you have to wear a plain shirt with them. I never go into a store thinking that I should get a plain shirt to match a specific tie, and really I should just buy a plain, white shirt to serve as a plain, white canvas. I do have a blue shirt and a black shirt, which also work, but sometimes white is the best thing you can have.

Anyway, three of us wore ties purposefully, and another one forgot, but had to give a presentation so he was decked out appropriately. The funny thing is, one guy didn’t wear a tie because he didn’t want to end up as the only one if everyone else bailed out. And y’know, I can’t really blame him. Of course, now that we’ve got momentum, Tie Thursday is in full swing. Now that others expect it, they’re more likely to join us. I love it when a plan comes together.

Side note: I was telling our HR manager about Tie Thursday, and he thought that I was pulling his leg. He pretty much refused to believe me. And y’know, I can’t blame him…I’ve joked around with him a lot in the past. So I had to get others to back up the story.

I used to wear a tie every weekday at boarding school, so it’s really not a big deal to me. And to be honest, I think we have a tendency to be slightly more professional when we’re wearing a tie…at least in the office. Guys at weddings and other social events are a completely different story.

And that’s all I have to say about that.