Even when companies like Computer Associates in Long Island, New York in the late 1990s adopted "casual Fridays," I never really participated. In my 7+ years there, I wore a golf shirt only three times — each one on days when I had to prep my cubicle, and later my offices, for moves to new locations.
Wearing a suit actually proved useful more than once. When major breaking news occurred anywhere in the world, the global networks based in Manhattan — CNN and others — would often send a limo for me to get to their studios and go live on-air as an unscripted independent commentator. Being already dressed professionally in well‑seamed clothes made those last‑minute calls seamless. (I'm not in stitches or creasy about these bad puns!)
Even now, for any important video call on Teams — a product I championed and helped improve during my Microsoft years, despite not being in product management or engineering — I still try to give my underutilized suits some purpose. And to show professional courtesy to the leaders I speak with.
But for an important call this Friday with a high‑level global executive in Paris, I decided to go wild and try my version of "business casual." See? I was being downright rebellious. It was not a "wardrobe malfunction!"
My dark trousers were not exactly the matching pair from the dark blue suit jacket. Yes, it left me — more bad puns alert — panting to hang out more! And no — even during the COVID era, I was never one of those people wearing a jacket and tie on camera while secretly pairing them with shorts.
Thankfully, my call was an absolute pleasure with someone whom — as we realized mid‑call — I had been with at a major event literally 14 years earlier.
Unless your job requires a uniform or outdoor work, do you prefer dressing casually or professionally for your line of work?
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