Your worst "Oops" moment?

[candcallen]

One time I was at a grocery store, and what I thought was a chick in leggings in front of me, turned around and was a guy. My eyes...

 

[Sam7sf]

At my last job, our VP generated this strange following. He couldn't send an email without it reading: "skdfndkjfdnfkjfbnkjfbndkjbfbkjdbgfkjb" and would shift his stance last minute. Do everything by the fly. But some people function like that.
I don't know if he did coke or didn't care to use spell check. God knows I need to review every email I send. As one should anyway. All you heard from the brownies: "He's such a smart guy". "Yup he's on top of it". Whole time I'm just looking out the window wondering what I did wrong in life.

 

[candcallen]

Male grooming is essential if you want to improve your image (which opens doors in other areas). Haircuts and beard trimming are the absolute minimum. I go to the Salon, get tea tree oil treatments, pedicures, and manicures. On top of that I also have different lotions at home for body and face (they aren't the same thing), and a supply of lactic acid face peel pads.

Do a little exercise (cardio and weight training), get a good cologne, and some nice clothes, you will look and feel like a new man.

I promise you, if you keep up the regimen for 6 months, you will look 10+ years younger and people will notice.

Dude, some shit you keep to yourself.

 

[Sam7sf]

Oh god. LOL What a blast from the past. I rarely laugh out loud.

 

[candcallen]

All I know is I never saw any "chewed up finger nail" dudes get invited to the "management retreat". All expenses paid to Kauai for 5 nights. These people brought their kids, wives, some of them brought their "girlfriends" (escorts). Everyone looked like they were straight out of a fashion magazine.

That's caus they dont like their asses fingered with rough nails during the circle jerk.

Not everything is as it seems.

 

[robertc1024]

Pfft. I read "Dress for Success" - this is the same song, second verse. Did that stuff for a while - never wear short sleeved shirts to work, everything pressed, groomed. After I proved what I can do - screw that. Blue jeans or shorts to work. Since I started that, I moved up again to one position below the president of the company, and I sure as hell don't want his job. I get the point, and it might be helpful when you're trying to advance your career, but I'd 10x rather have competent people if they look like Jabba the Hut, than incompetent David Beckhams (or whoever is hot now.)

 

[toddnjoyce]

Pfft. I read "Dress for Success" - this is the same song, second verse. …

You’ve gotta shave your balls to make it to the next level. Heard it here, must he true.

 

[benenglish]

Its good to know you are human. You run this place so well its dang near perfect.

I don't run anything. Texcross runs the place. The mods (like me) just try to pitch in and help. And there are several other people and entities that are involved, too.

I just have the biggest mouth out of the whole bunch. Don't let that fool you into thinking I run anything.

 

[Colonel]

Look man, I love buying guns more than most people. I am 90% done building a gun room, that's how much I love them, I need a separate room with a vault door to store them.

But personal hygiene and grooming will take you places in your career, I swear by it. I would venture to say, if you're at any Fortune 500 type company, if you're in management, the difference between being some low-level supervisor, and a VP over say a division, can come down to image and hygiene.

Yes, connections/personal relationships play a role as well, but if you have dirty hair, a scruffy face, and chewed up nails, you won't be making VP level, let alone anything above that.

I never wanted to brown nose enough to make VP

 

[Hoji]

On top of my other “quirks” at work, I wear a Hawaiian shirt of some flavor every single day.

 

[CaliGunner]

I never wanted to brown nose enough to make VP

You don't have to "brown nose" if you want to move up the ladder. Actually it probably hurts your chances because you won't be respected.

I've gotten into heated arguments with managers before, like fairly elevated voices (not outright screaming). Emotions can run high in any organizations, I don't care if it's 10,000 employees, or 10 employees. If you're good, and add value to the organization, you'll be pretty much impossible to fire. I still get calls from companies I've worked for (in fact I'm reading a very polite e-mail right now from an in-house recruiter I used to know asking me if I'm open to working remotely for them).

Adhering to "management" expectations isn't about brown nosing, it's about reflecting the image and culture that higher up executives want to see representing their brand, and most importantly their board.

If you want to dress like Ted Nugent, wearing a sleeveless camo vest, and a cowboy hat, more power to you. But if the organization you're part of doesn't care for that "image", you're not going far and probably should find another company if you want to move up. It's just reality.

 

[Sam7sf]

Heh...My dad. I need to scan some photos for y'all. The guy was at Oregon State University for decades. All these other professors would dress in suit and tie. He would teach glass in what we would call boogaloo shirts and jeans. You could tell he was an old school democrat...I would have people that went to high school with me or friends taking his class tell me he's an asshole. If a student asked a questioned after he just finished talking about something I was told he said something like: "That means you didn't take notes. Pay attention next time".

 

[benenglish]

Since the "oops" purpose of this thread has been entirely lost, I'll drop an anecdote or two.

I've had two most-senior executives during the times when I worked for a large organization. One was neat as a pin and a snappy dresser. He was also a people person. He had thousands of employees yet I never saw him greet anyone, even the lowliest clerk, without inquiring about the employees family by name. He was also a lifer, having worked his way up through the ranks from a trainee officer position. Best exec I've ever worked for.

We had another who knew his shit front to back and did a perfect job even though he was nowhere near as much a "people person.". To boot, he was always wearing a wrinkled brown suit and was never "put together" in the sense we're discussing here. Second best exec I've worked for.

Why do I mention those two? Because they were both ends of the personal appearance spectrum yet they were both great. In between, I had a half dozen chief execs who were all pretty boys and basically incompetent. In fact, dozens of mid level guys passed through my command chain and the only thing consistent about them was that the ones brought in from outside all looked great but didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

Want an example closer to home? Let's try the NRA.

Back in the 1980s, when the NRA was still the national governing body for Olympic shooting sports in the U.S., I coordinated the biggest annual qualifier. I worked closely with the head of training. He was a grizzled old fart who didn't care how he looked. But he knew everything there was to know. He was a gem.

A couple of days into the shooting, we were blessed with an appearance by the official NRA rep. He drives his Buick GNX (the fashionable car for rich guys back then) right onto the range and gets out like he owns the place. Perfect hair, sweater wrapped around his shoulders, aviators in place, the guy couldn't have been more out of place among the shooters and fans if he had tried. He managed to glad-hand all the wrong people before he swanned out of the place. I talked to the head of training about him and he was dismissive.

"Oh, yeah. New executive type. They look great and talk smooth and don't know which end of a rifle to point downrange but they get to strut around like they own the place and wear their fancy sunglasses on top of their head. We're getting overrun by these pretty boys at HQ. They'll be the death of us."

My take? The rot inside the NRA started long before we all realized and it was spearheaded by a bunch of professional businessmen, executives with MBAs who were impeccably dressed and impressively coifed.

IOW, I tend to look with a jaundiced eye at anyone whose grooming is too perfect. I've known too many who did very little in their job other than screw up stuff and ignore the people who could actually teach them the things they needed to know.

 

[Tnhawk]

If you're good, and add value to the organization, you'll be pretty much impossible to fire.

During the last 60 years I've observed several individuals who thought too highly of themselves and thought they couldn't be fired. Some found that "Don't no one monkey stop the show."

 

[Sam7sf]

You don't have to "brown nose" if you want to move up the ladder. Actually it probably hurts your chances because you won't be respected.

I've gotten into heated arguments with managers before, like fairly elevated voices (not outright screaming). Emotions can run high in any organizations, I don't care if it's 10,000 employees, or 10 employees. If you're good, and add value to the organization, you'll be pretty much impossible to fire. I still get calls from companies I've worked for (in fact I'm reading a very polite e-mail right now from an in-house recruiter I used to know asking me if I'm open to working remotely for them).

Adhering to "management" expectations isn't about brown nosing, it's about reflecting the image and culture that higher up executives want to see representing their brand, and most importantly their board.

If you want to dress like Ted Nugent, wearing a sleeveless camo vest, and a cowboy hat, more power to you. But if the organization you're part of doesn't care for that "image", you're not going far and probably should find another company if you want to move up. It's just reality.

We all know what brown nosing is and adhering to standards isn't brown nosing. Take my last boss...He loved the attention and knew he didn't need assistants. Some people need a yes man because they are pathetic inside. They can't trust people because they have done terrible things. They need power to attract people. And in return he kept asking others why people turn on him.

If a job pays enough, you bet I'll deal with the drama. Even then I would more than likely decline an offer to go hang out on a beach with my boss. But...It's a game. And it's a game people play to win. My former boss was a real POS. Not to my face, but I didn't like how he treated others. He was a walking HR problem. He would be out in public and act like a POS. He was a walking movie character. Screw spending time with him.

 

[Tblack89]

I would rather stick my dick in a blender than to be caught in a chair getting a whatever the **** your getting done in your salon. My barber comes and cuts me at the house and always has. The last time I was in a beauty salon I walked out with $190,000 check after I built the fucking thing.

Some of the richest people I know look like they don’t have shit. The brokest ones are the pretty boy type that are house and car poor, that know it all.

 

[Sam7sf]

Here's some advice given to me from a former instructor: It's not about the destination it's about the journey.

It's easy to take my advice and say that's what poor people say. That's true. What's also true is you have to look at yourself in the mirror.

 

[Vaquero]

Anecdote.
I busted my ass for 24 years.
Never kissed ass.
I looked like me.
I started as the lowest position in the company.
At 25 years, I was director of operations.
I enjoyed my job for 22 years. I hated going to work for the last 3.

I hired on to a consulting firm and gained 10 years on my lifespan.
16 years later, I still can't believe they pay me to do this.

I try to look decent for my wife.
Comfort is mandatory.
IDGAF what anyone else thinks.

 

[seeker_two]

My worst Oops moment.....a while back, I was surfing the internet looking for a new gun board, particularly a Texas one that talked guns.....

 

[General Zod]

It's not about being "presentable", even a bum can be presentable with a haircut and a bath.

I'm talking about presenting an image that a VP can look at, and say, "He's my new director of applications management."

Yes it cost a "little money", but when you have that director position making in the high six digits with RSUs that mature in 12 months, you're talking almost a million bucks total compensation. Is getting the occasional tea tree oil treatment and facial peel worth it? For my field, and career path, I think so.

Not necessarily for everyone obviously.

See, here's the difference between the image I prefer to present, vs what you're describing:



Both are cowboys with hats and accessories. I personally prefer the Sam Elliott path. Clean, presentable, but not overdone and artificial. I don't smell "pretty" - nobody's going to be smelling me. I just don't smell. I don't need lotions and body butters and all those mysterious vials and tinctures my wife clutters the bathroom counter with, I don't need eight shampoos and conditioners, and I sure as hell will never need a pedicure. Who are you showing your toes to at work anyway?

Here's the deal. I do my job and I do it well. I'm presentable at the office and on those rare occasions that I interact with clients. The most important part of that is being knowledgeable and being able to communicate effectively, not smelling like cucumbers and citrus and having soft skin.

You do you, but I see no justification for spending that sheer amount of money on what boils down to simple vanity. I shave my head every 4 or 5 days. I keep my beard in check. My clothes are clean, reasonably pressed (not generally possible in July and August, but oh well), and fit me correctly. I have a professional bearing and am able to carry on a conversation with anyone I encounter. That's what matters more than whatever beauty regimen you feel you need.