Friday, March 19, 2010

March Madness

No, not the basketball kind. Besides, UNC didn't make the tournament, so I am boycotting it. I am loyal even when my team sucks.

No, I am talking about the madness, or at least weirdness in The Building.

Lately, it has taken the form of shoes and smells.

The shoes I sort of get. It has been a long winter of having to wear heavy shoes so you can brave the snow. And sneakers I get in the morning and evening if you walk to and from work. But I am beginning to think we need to reissue Secretary Powell's infamous cable about dress codes. You remember that one? He reminded people that wearing sparkly tank tops, shorts and flip flops to work was not appropriate. Yes, I am serious.

I was in A-100 at the time, and couldn't imagine that anyone would really do that. But I have been noticing shoes lately. Lots of flip flops. Some of them sparkly, though to be fair, Secretary Powell didn't specifically mention sparkly flip flops. Just sparkly tank tops.

Yesterday, I saw a woman in a suit wearing SLIPPERS. The light brown suede kind with blue, red and green embroidery on them. And she had the heel mashed down so she could just shove her feet in them like clogs. But that doesn't make them clogs, not that clogs are appropriate either (and for the record, neither are crocs). With her black suit, they really stood out. And not in a good way.

And the smells. What is up with that? Now that I am taking early morning Russian, I am regularly walking down the most odd smelling cooridor in the building. There is one section that always smells like mollasses, and just beyond it, a part that smelled of smoked sausage. Further from there, a section that smelled of either urine or burned popcorn. Not sure which. And this is a regular occurrance at 8:45 am.

And then of course there was the very loud, musical fart that came from behind a closed door yesterday.

Luckily I walked fast enough to miss THAT smell!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you were at A100 did they have a fashion consultant give the class "dos and don'ts"? I've heard that they do now.

It was interesting over the past 3 years to watch as 23 yr olds and thereabouts put on suits and went to interviews. Some of their guesses as to what was appropriate to wear in an interview with, say, Latham Watkins were - creative.

Anonymous said...

Oh and something else... at some point if you have some time I'd like to hear your experiences on learning Russian at the FSI.

Digger said...

I have a friend who just finished A-100. I will ask her if they really had a fashion consultant. We didn't, but that was six years ago.

I'm not taking Russian at FSI. If you are in The Building, you can take early morning language classes if enough people are interested. There have to be at least 3 at the same level. In my class, there are four of us, and we are being taught by a Ukrainian guy who is great. I think the class is a lot of fun...definitely the best part of my day.

My wife may have a different take, since she did a Russian "top up" at FSI. I will definitely ask her.

TSB said...

I must not have gotten that cable about sparkly tank tops. Before next Casual Friday, I'll shop for some plain navy blue or charcoal grey tank tops.