I Got My Ossandals!
May 2nd, 2007One of my goals, when I was young, was to avoid jobs where I had to wear suits and ties. I’ve done pretty well at it: I was supposed to wear a tie when I was an English teacher, but I managed to bluff the tieless look as an “exposing students to American culture” thing. And in my current job, I haven’t worn a tie or suit jacket in maybe 4 or 5 years, because I actually checked what the policy was: “shirt, with collar, tucked in, slacks, leather shoes”. So I’ve been a polo-shirt wearing flunkie for a long time now.
However, the “leather shoes” thing was something I just couldn’t abide by, so I’ve worn black trainers for most of my tenure here. About 6 months ago, word came down the wire that “black jeans do not count as slacks, and black trainers are not acceptable shoes”. So I had to go out and find slacks, and rummage up the shoes I usually reserved for peoples’ weddings.
Fortunately, soon after, another directive came down the wire (not directed at me): “No sandals without heels”.
Wait. “…without heels”? So, “with heels” is fine? Sure enough, looking at the feet of the managers, they were wearing these leather (or fake leather) sandals with heels.
Thus began my 6 month quest to get a pair of black heeled sandals. And, just when I thought hope was lost, a coworker, right out of one of those “just say no” ads back in the 80’s, comes up and says, “Hey. So I, uh, hear you’re looking to score some sandals.”
$30 and a few days later, and I am now an official office ossan (old man).
