Un-tied States
or "Eric Unleashed"

I hate wearing ties. Period. I'll concede that on occasion, they look nice, but generally they're unpleasant to wear. So of course, where do I work but at Disney, well-known for their dress code and appearance guidelines, a.k.a. "The Disney Look." They even make mention of it in the FAQ of the Disney Careers website. Fortunately, a few years back, someone realized that clothes don't make the man, and decreed ties unnecessary — especially in the Florida weather.

In our building, our then-Director said we didn't have to wear ties, so long as we wore button-down collars. He did strongly suggest we should continue to wear ties when meeting with clients, especially for the first time. His ruling sounded reasonable, so I've tended to follow it.

This month has made me question that wisdom. I've been in 10 different "first-time client" meetings in the past two weeks. In most of them, I've either been the only male in the room, or the only male wearing a tie. To make it worse, each of the meetings has been 4-8 hours long. It has been all I can do to not rip off my tie the minute I leave a conference room.

I was relieved this morning to not have to select, wear, or even bring a tie to work. All the client meetings from here are follow-ups, so I should be able to escape the "fashion leash" for a while longer, yet.