There's a price to pay for looking young. It's awfully hard to get people to relate to you age-appropriately. I have started wearing less casual clothes at board meetings and donning my glasses to garner respect and it seems to work a little. But the day-to-day at work? Tough. Everyone is our building dresses casually - jeans and tops. I'm a casual dresser, not a formal suit type of woman (plus it would be out of place in my office). But casual wear on me just exaggerates the chasm between my actual age and how old people perceive that I am. We recently added a new staff member. She is a good 15 years young than me, but relates to me like her contemporary. She's very sweet, but very young, and some of her behavior is pretty immature in the office. If I looked older and more womanly, I highly doubt she would feel comfortable acting the way she does in the workplace. Any ideas on how to combat this?
As I kid I just used really big words to make sure people knew I was older than I looked and I meant business. Maybe I should have a t-shirt made that says "I'm old enough to be your mother".....
As I kid I just used really big words to make sure people knew I was older than I looked and I meant business. Maybe I should have a t-shirt made that says "I'm old enough to be your mother".....
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4 comments:
Colt .45. Open carry. Rapt attention from the entire room.
Or a sword.
Maybe you can teach me some good sword-y moves, JC!
********Warning long post*******
My idea was much more boring that than Charley's!! And perhaps not as effective.
My 2 cents worth - I would change the style of casual clothes that you wear to work. My office is incredibly casual (t-shirt and shorts that you wore to bed last night can double as work attire) but I always dress a bit more formally so that people don't mistake me for a uni graduate! So things like, wearing jeans with high heels (sorry! but some of my high heels are only 1 inch high), blazer or structured jacket and possibly scarf. Or suit skirt with t-shirt and cardigan. Every now and then I wear a full suit, if I have a meeting.
There is blog called corporette which posts clothing ideas for professional women. It does tend to focus on biglaw etc but they do have some good suggestions which can be adapted to the most casual clothing environment. It might give you some ideas if you're really interested. They do also mention specials and sales.
As for the behaviour - no idea. I have someone here who does the same thing, but I've just started to avoid conversation and if she starts to venture into inappropriate discussion I just mention that I need to get back to work. But I don't have to work directly with her.....
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