Out of curiosity, what is your thoughts on proper dress for things like shopping? At what point does the price of the object actually influence an upgrade in dress? For me, I was in a button up shirt, nice jeans, and decent walking shoes when I went to look at houses, and figured anything more would have gotten in the way of looking closly at details on a house.

Proper dress for shopping? I'd say something clean and look like you shower and comb your hair regularly. I sure as hell don't even try to dress to the standards that employees are kept to, as I view shopping as a task more akin to housework, I dress for utility. As for price point where this changes? I'll tell you when I see it. I've got no problem showing up in Hermes with my tattoos showing (first thing I cover when worried about judgements) in jeans, and apparently, most people who are shopping there rather than browsing are in something casual as well. Most people buying Ferraris and the like I've seen are doing so in casual clothes. My family included.

Real estate, in residential instances, i'd apply the same standard, just look clean and relatively unwrinkled. Never saw my parents get dressed up to go look at property once in my life (and they own several) and have followed that standard. Commercial real estate is sometimes a different story. Realtors on the other hand, I went through 23 when looking at places before my parents gave me this house (ranging from mere imbecile to turdstain on humanity), including one charming gentleman who spoke to me like I was five and told me "my daddy might be able to help me". The guy I use now is usually in jeans and a polo shirt when showing houses. But he also doesn't consider himself above crawling on the floor to point things out. It's a utility thing. He's in a suit if it involves a bank or the seller.


Car shopping, the first one was in a t-shirt (tucked in) and jeans. Being mostly ignored at one dealership was one reason I went elsewhere, though the other part of that was likely my age at the time. Not too many places expect a 20 year old to be buying a new car.

Heh. I had one BMW sales guy tell me flat out I couldn't afford a Z3. Didn't ask about income, credit, price range, nothing. I had my checkbook in my back pocket, planning to pay for it outright when I ordered it. BMW dude number two was almost as offensive(ignored damn near every word after my mouth and talked to me like I was slow). And it was only BMW, got none of that at porsche or benz, which was just wierd to me. But 20 year olds buying new cars isn't wierd around here at all. I got sent to the Cadillac dealer more than once around that ageand younger to go buy a car to save someone else some time. I had many a newly licensed 16 year old with a blank check in their pocket come in and buy cars (usually found out after salesperson called mom or dad). YMMV

[censored] in other places (Neiman Marcus, the Chanel boutique in NJ), I basically think it's sheer incompetence along with poor form, visible in many lines of work.

As far as the white house issue, I'd also be dressed much nicer then the folks there, simply more as a sign of respect for what the office is. Just because Bush is there now doesn't degrade my respect for the other 40+ people who have held that office.

Exactly. I don't get the "It's a free country, I can ignore all extablished norms and do as I please because I'm special and you're all stuck up if you don't like it" mentality. You made the choice to show up, no one held a gun to your head. The agreement to show up somewhere constitutes, in my mind, and agreement to live up to the established norms and practices of the place. It's not just a clothes thing, it's degredation of acceptable standards of behavior.