Kilt Noticed By Colleagues

[skirttron]

I arrived in the office on Monday to the following question from my good-humoured and very blunt boss: "Do you dress as a woman?".
He explained that a colleague had noticed me out and about el-skirto with a bunch of women (relatives as it happens). I explained it was a kilt, but that a kilt was just a kind of skirt, and I believed that gender equality should mean men can wear what they like in the same way as women, so I was not dressing as a woman. He reacted as any good, modern boss should, by saying I was welcome to wear it to work provided no customers were around at the time. This seems very fair to me, but this is just one reaction and I'm not sure whether to or not. I'm going to mull this over for a while.

[crfriend]

I arrived in the office on Monday to the following question from my good-humoured and very blunt boss: "Do you dress as a woman?".

He explained that a colleague had noticed me out and about el-skirto with a bunch of women (relatives as it happens).

You have a somewhat cooler head than mine, sir, and that's to be commended. If my boss confronted me with a crack like that I'd tell him in no uncertain terms that what I wear, what I do, and where I go in my off hours is precisely none of his [expletive deleted] business. Why? Put simply, because it's not. What I do on my own time is immaterial to anything about my employer and employment so long as I'm fit for duty when I'm on the premises.

Blurring the bounds between work time and personal time is great for managers who want mindless little slaves that are "on the clock" "twenty-four by seven", but is ultimately a great corroding force to a humane lifestyle.

He reacted as any good, modern boss should, by saying I was welcome to wear it to work provided no customers were around at the time. This seems very fair to me, but this is just one reaction and I'm not sure whether to or not. I'm going to mull this over for a while.

You obviously know him better than I, but I'd keep a wary eye over my shoulder from now on; somebody ratted you out for something you were seen wearing on your own time. Of course you could have denied the allegation as mere hearsay, but as you have an established pattern of wearing skirted garments it'd come out eventually anyway. Proper tact on his part would have been to say nothing because it is none of his business.

[Stevie D]

.....He reacted as any good, modern boss should, by saying I was welcome to wear it to work provided no customers were around at the time. ......

(my italics)

The trouble with this is that it relegates your kilts/skirts to something 'second-rate', almost as if you were doing something dirty and unwholesome, by wearing them when customers were around. How DARE your boss make such a covert allegation!

What do you do if, say, on a day when you wear your kilt, a customer suddenly turns up? Go and hide in fear and shame of being discovered or breaching your boss's rule? Nip to the loo and change into trousers (which you will have conveniently brought in to work for just such an occasion)?

Acceptance? No! To me this is tantamount to declaring that you are a second-class citizen whilst kilted/skirted. Which we all know is definitely not the case.

Sorry for the rant. Your boss's attitude just got to me.

[binx]

Woah...All this feedback is negative! Do either of you get to wear at work? The actual observation was by a colleague, not the boss. This is a chance to go to work in a kilt, which could open the doors to acceptance no matter who is there. One small step at a time. I think this is potentially a positive thing, provided it is researched first with the rest of the food chain...

binx

[The Satirist]

I wore kilts to work with my last employer. After the first couple of weeks there was no more fervor, just an occassional good humoured ribbing. I even got two of my co-workers in kilts for a day. I would just do it. Yes! Wear it to work!

[Departed Member]

I agree with binx & The Satirist - the 'door' is at least 'ajar' rather than 'fully open', but the opportunity is there! Don't leave it too long (one of those 'casual' Fridays?). A 'bonus' point would be 'showing-up' whichever colleague thought it necessary to run to your boss with 'tittle-tattle' in the first place, without having to confront/suspect whoever it might be! If they've been talking behind your back (or hoping to 'drop you in it'), then they're going to look pretty foolish............!

[rogerbigfish]

Regarding the initial comment that it will be alright to wear a kilt as long as it is not when customers are about, unless you work in a very narrow minded area this is something that I have found will produce no negative results.

I run my own business supplying all sorts of other businesses with support for their office printers. I therefore have to call at their premisises and it is nearly always in a kilt or skirt. The types of business range from lawyers and accountants to manufacturers and schools and colleges. So far I have never had an adverse reaction from any of them and quite a few compliments.

My style is always casual/relaxed and the general length of kilt/skirt is between 15 and 18 inches.

Roger.

[matman]

With Binx, Merlin and Satirist am I. To the extent that our skirtwearing extends beyond a choice for comfort and approaches a crusade for change, it certainly makes sense to go after the low hanging fruit, so to speak, and wear kilts and skirts when and where permitted. To be sure, some of the "permitted" uses will be offered with limitations, but what the heck. Our challenge is to enlighten others in our communities that skirts on men is a) not queer and b) nothing to fear. We can choose to do this with varying degrees of confrontation, and with varying degrees of subtlety. There may well be times with an all out, aggressive, in-your-face, militant challenge proves to be effective to bring about lasting conversion. There too will be times that attitudes will change more rapidly with disarming cajoling. In my own experience people seem to listen more openly when they are not being challenged or threatened.

Remember, none of us learned to walk by having someone make us run on our first day. We didn't learn the balance to ride a bike the first time we spun the pedals. In the same way, our neighbors and frineds won't accept our skirting until they learn that we're not queer (in the true sense of the word, not the vernacular describing one or another sexual orientation). Put another way, our families, freinds, and neighbors will learn to walk before they can run. Taking what they give us easily, i.e. low hanging fruit, certainly helps with that. So, by all means would I take advantage of what they will give us. No, I will stretch that, too, but I'm not going to complain that the low haning fruit isn't enough. But it is a great start.

Man, do I go on too long!

[crfriend]

Woah...All this feedback is negative! Do either of you get to wear at work? The actual observation was by a colleague, not the boss.

Maybe I should clarify my position a wee bit.

One of the vexing problems that's going on in many corporate circles in the US of A today is the continual erosion of private time; employers are demanding more and more time of their employees, and are keeping much closer tabs on them whilst they're "off the clock". This, needless to say, is insidious at best and will ultimately lead to employers having total control, full-time, of their employees' lives. That's why I "went off" about the boss bit.

Skirttron's co-worker (cow-orker? ) should be rather ashamed of him/herself as well for acting as "The Man's" eyes and ears during off-hours. What somebody wears off-hours is his own business, and nobody else's; it's certainly not for third parties to bring into the workplace -- for whatever reason.

This is a chance to go to work in a kilt, which could open the doors to acceptance no matter who is there. One small step at a time. I think this is potentially a positive thing, provided it is researched first with the rest of the food chain...

I work with some of the best and brightest people in the industry -- people with open minds and incredible intellect. They're not the folks I'd worry about. It's the closed-minded 'droids I work for that'd be the problem. You can always reason with intelligent creative people; all hope is lost when one comes up againt a closed mind that cannot think rationally to save its neck.

That said, it sounds like Skirttron has a decent relationship with his boss (or at least one in which jokes are tolerated -- I don't know about in the other direction, though), so if the jab was delivered in good humour there may be a slight opening. If there is, I hope Skirttron takes it, and may luck be with him. However, the "not in front of the customers" crack sounded like it had a nasty edge to it which is what set Steve D off.

[Reject]

My style is always casual/relaxed and the general length of kilt/skirt is between 15 and 18 inches.

Roger.

Dude...mind if I ask again, just to verify. 15-18 inch? In length? are you sure you got that correctly? If not, isnt that...how to say...a bit north of the knee? Not that I mind, I'd love to be able to wear something like that, but I find my legs (even though muscular from 9 years of basketball league playing) a wee bit too hairy.

/Ricky

[iain]

I have to say, I have maybe 30 skirts and don't have much that's more than 17". some of the beach and summer stuff is well shy of that--maybe 14-15 inches tops.

but my hip to mid knee is 50cm or roughly 19.5". maybe that's shorter than some. longer fashion has its place, but I have to say, I prefer shorter--gets a good reaction and feels great.

[AMM]

I have to say, I have maybe 30 skirts and don't have much that's more than 17". some of the beach and summer stuff is well shy of that--maybe 14-15 inches tops.

but my hip to mid knee is 50cm or roughly 19.5". maybe that's shorter than some. longer fashion has its place, but I have to say, I prefer shorter--gets a good reaction and feels great.

I'd love to try wearing shorter skirts. My waistline--mid knee length is about the same as yours. I made an 18" skirt (about 110" hem circumference), and when I wear it, I feel like naked. I worry that the slightest move will expose "what's under".

I also find it uncomfortable to sit in a chair -- my lower thighs sit directly on the chair, and in the summer, my skin sticks to the chair. The back part of the skirt has to be at least 24" long to cover that. Even with a "beer gut" adjustment (cf. Utilikilts), that means the front is at least 21", which is well over the knee.

How do you (or you all) deal with (a) modesty and (b) thigh-chair adhesion in above-the-knee skirts?

-- AMM

[ChrisM]

Just to make sure we are talking apples-to-apples here:

When I speak of a skirt length I refer to the length from the waistband to the hem. I wear skirts at my natural waist, which is basically at the navel. Thus waist-to-top-of-kneecap is 24 inches. A skirt 12 inches long would leave critical body parts exposed when standing, and drastically more so when sitting. Any length less than 24 inches means skin-on-chair when sitting.

When you gentlemen speak of 15 to 18 inch skirts, are you speaking of "navel to hem" or do you wear your skirts lower?

Thanks....Chris

[Stevie D]

Maybe I should clarify my position a wee bit......
....employers are demanding more and more time of their employees, and are keeping much closer tabs on them whilst they're "off the clock". This, needless to say, is insidious at best and will ultimately lead to employers having total control, full-time, of their employees' lives. That's why I "went off" about the boss bit .....

... Skirttron's co-worker (cow-orker? ) should be rather ashamed of him/herself as well for acting as "The Man's" eyes and ears during off-hours. What somebody wears off-hours is his own business, and nobody else's; it's certainly not for third parties to bring into the workplace -- for whatever reason.

CRFriend, I agree with everything you have written here. It's spot on.

I work with some of the best and brightest people in the industry -- people with open minds and incredible intellect. They're not the folks I'd worry about. It's the closed-minded 'droids I work for that'd be the problem. You can always reason with intelligent creative people; all hope is lost when one comes up againt a closed mind that cannot think rationally to save its neck.

Absolutely. You just have to walk away from the latter.

the "not in front of the customers" crack sounded like it had a nasty edge to it which is what set Steve D off.

Yes, exactly that. Sorry if I came over a bit strong originally, but I still stick politely to what I wrote. Thanks forgiving me the opportunity to elaborate

[matman]

AMM--

Here's what I've done to two (2) lycra material tennis skirts I enjoy wearing. As you know, tennis skirts tend to be on the shorter side, but boy, they are comfortable. I bot large, so the hemline strikes about three inches above the knee. (Wanted longer but that was the longest I've found.) Anyway, I went to the fabric store and purchased some lycra material, cut it into a triangle, and sewed the short base of the triangle into the inside front waisteband. The point of the tri-angle hangs freely down inside the front of the skirt. When I sit the tip of the "pyrmid" falls gently between my legs to add some measure of additional modesty.

Its not perfect, but it does function better than nothing at all.