Dress to Impress

Have you ever heard the saying, "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have"?  I'm sure this phrase or something similar has been uttered to you by self-appointed role models throughout your life - you know, the teacher and parent crowd.  This type of advice usually goes in one ear and out the other (to use another parental phrase) - that is until you experience it.

The restaurant/hotel I'm working at has literally just opened, which means everything is in some type of state of organized chaos.  For example, a few days ago we were issued uniforms.  The waitress uniform was grey pants, a white shirt, and an apron.  Typical waitress attire.  I was wearing this uniform for two days, until the General Manager of the hotel came up to me and told me this wasn't actually my uniform.  Since I am a floor supervisor, I have a supervising outfit.  The GM helped me find a suit jacket, however, the only one left was two sizes too big.  Also, we have to wear our hair pulled back.  This results in me looking like a butch mature bird in a baggy power suit.  You know the look, like Hillary Clinton....

Nonetheless, I must admit I am absolutely amazed at the difference the suit has made in the way my colleagues treat me.  Since wearing the suit, people come up to me, asking me for directions and advice.  This definitely wasn't happening in my waitress uniform - they were more likely to boss me around than listen to anything I had to say.  While I've heard many times that dressing in a certain way can influence how people act towards you, I have never experienced the change so strongly.  Now I am a believer in the power suit.  You know, while everyone was making jokes about Senator Clinton's pantsuit uniform, she was probably the one laughing the hardest because she knew the secret of success.  You don't see skinny bitches in miniskirts and push up bras running for president after all.