At the restaurant where I work as a cashier, we (the female staff) are encouraged to wear outfits that the male customers will find ‘attractive’. This needs some decoding. It means that our skirts have to be reasonably short. And tight. And that our blouses have to show some cleavage. We are issued with work uniform that meets these specifications, and that uniform is meant to be worn during the work hours. But then, the rules are such that even the personal (non-uniform) outfits we come to work with still have to meet the same specifications – hell knows why. And that is where my dilemma in choosing what to wear to work starts.
The challenge is in that I don’t want to upset my bosses, by wearing outfits that don’t meet the specifications. On the other hand, I don’t want to wear outrageous outfits that end up sending the wrong messages about myself — outfits that create the wrong impression about me. Being a cashier, I want to look different from the waiters. I want to look like someone who handles money, to look like the ladies who work at banks such as Capital One, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase banks (where I hope to work one day). I don’t want to give the impression that I work at one of those red districts. So I end up with a situation where I have to walk a tightrope, between finding ‘attractive’ outfits that my managers will approve of, and ensuring that the outfits are decent as well.