Trina Machacek
Where was casual Friday when I was working as the K-12 secretary at the school, in an office? Or for the phone company. I just saw a commercial where casual Friday was a free for all of clothing.
Jammies to some pretty ratty sweatshirts were all acceptable workwear. It makes me wonder if President Trump ever has had a causal Friday. And what color tie would he wear? There are just some people who couldn’t pull off a casual anything.
But. Yes, a laid-back holey T-shirt “but.” I on the other hand have mastered casual every day. Just a few days ago it was Sunday, and I took a casual day. Just for me. No work, no cleaning, no writing. OK I wrote a little, it gives me casual vibes.
I take the casual part of a casual day very seriously. Not only am I allowed to dress like a rag-a-muffin, my hair isn’t coiffured. At all. Not a brush stroke. Maybe a tie back to keep it out of my Cheerios, but that’s about it. I don’t skip the task of brushing my teeth.
Hey, even I don’t want blow back of morning breath coming back at me. Now I bring this up because early that evening someone knocked at my door. I didn’t even give a thought to what I must have looked like.
HAHA I am a great believer in, “Your Home Is Your Castle.” You stop by you get what is being served. It was a grand casual Sunday. I slept a bit, I ate finger food, I moved from couch to chair and back and yes, I even went outside.
Even though it was maybe 17 degrees. If you are taking a day for yourself, you must go outside at least once for a few minutes. Clears the cobwebs from the brain. My visitor was kind and never said a word about my appearance.
Now that is a true friend. After company left, I did take a quick gander at my oh so lovely self in the mirror. I must call my visitor and apologize. Not that I was dirty, just wholly unkempt. But my teeth were brushed!
I am not opposed to a casual Friday in the workplace. It gives the worker bees in us a chance to feel we have some control of our lives even when we are working 40 or more hours a week for someone else.
That control of ourselves is as important to each of us as being able to go to the restroom without having to announce where we are going – or to ask permission. Oh my. The coolest thing about casual Friday is that there should be no rules about what we each find casual wear.
I would hope though, that each of us would wear something a bit more upscale that what we have all seen at Wally World. I don’t want to walk into my lawyer’s office on Friday and see the legal secretary that might be typing up my will, wearing a way to tight pair of neon pink yoga pants with a nearly see through blouse with Tweety Bird on the front.
With big orange feet and beak strategically place! If you can imagine it. I am sure someone has seen or worn it shopping at the big box store we all know. I mean, we must use some common sense. It’s not Halloween, it’s casual Friday.
What do people who work as lifeguards at swimming pools wear on casual Fridays? Or a rodeo clown? Or just a clown? What about someone that works in a morgue. That’s one we all can only imagine. I am pretty sure I don’t want to go into a mortuary to buy a funeral and deal with Lurch from the Addams Family.
You go in and he looks down at you with that gray black shadowy face, silvery plastic hair, darkest suit with shiny buttons that you can see yourself in because you only come up to his Adam’s apple, and smoothly he says in a deep dark voice, “May I help you?” Nope. No casual Fridays at the morgue.
Then there are places that are always casual. I like to shop in those places. I feel quite at home when the clerk is dressed in jeans and a T-shirt like me. I trust the farm stores and feed stores. The other place I have always felt good to go to are ERs.
The scrubs of today are so colorful and light-hearted. How could you worry about what is about to happen to you when your nurse comes in wearing a scrub top with Tweety Bird all over it. Uh, hopefully it’s not your lawyer’s office Tweedy blouse!
Trina Machacek lives in Diamond Valley north of Eureka. Email itybytrina@yahoo.com.