A Social Experiment

When Van Halen came to Houston, I wore the rockingest facial hair EVER into the office for a few days after the concert. I’ve amassed a solid collection of t-shirts from companies like RandomShirts.com and Busted Tees, so the other folks at the office don’t even look twice when my shirt says “Fact: Clowns Eat People” or claims “Texas messed with me First.” I zip through the office on the company’s Segway, and I’m usually listening to music on my iPod.

Needless to say, I’m not known to be very formal.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I sported a green t-shirt, jacket, and pair of tennis shoes. You’ll note the “I’m too lazy to shave” beard and regularly-worn jeans.

As you would probably guess, given this context, I face full-on inquiries from curious coworkers when I wear a shirt with buttons or khaki pants, so I decided to push the envelope with a social experiment:

Clean-shaven. Suit. Tie. Hair gel. No detail was spared. I wasn’t this formal when I interviewed for the job, and even when I showed up in a sport coat, I was over dressed.

I made sure to document all of the reactions, so here they are … even the awkward ones:

Either you’re interviewing or somebody’s dead.
- Jimmy T.

I am fully freaked out right now … Now I can’t remember what I was doing!
- Katie S.

That’s your Bob Dole outfit … What? You have an interview today? You’re lookin’ niiice.
- Bryan M.

Check it out, Kevin shaved. When’s the job interview? … You somebody’s best man today?
- Aaron T.

Woah … Hey … Good luck on the job interview … Sorry if somebody died.
- Brandon P.

Fancy! You running for office? … You’ve got a Stephen Colbert thing going on.
- Gretchen P.

Job interview today?
- Judy B. - Chung W. - Andrew G.

What?! Are you feeling okay?! Are you sure?
- John B.

SUIT! You’re a suit today!
- Richard L.

Somebody have a court date? The only reason you’d dressed up like that is if you have a court date or if you’re taking out a nice lady.
- Clayton S.

You’ve got your nerdy hair on … Do you have a date today? Is everything else in your closet dirty?
- Ali L.

Niiice…(*sort of creepily)
- Urvish V.

What’s this all about? What are you doing? What are you wearing? I don’t like it … Who are you meeting?
- Todd M.

What are you doing? Interviewing? You’ve got your power tie on … lookin’ like Donald Trump. When Kevin’s wearing a suit, you know something’s up …
- Will C.

I feel like you’re going to sell me a used Buick…
- Jeff N.

What’s going on today? You meeting the President or something?
- Arnold Y.

You’re lookin’ sharp!
- Kelley H. - Matthew S. - C. Valderamma

Wow. You own one of those [suits]? You get dressed up, and you’re a pretty handsome dude … I know it’s weird to hear another guy say that … Is that a clip-on?
- Steve K.

When you come to visit The Planet, I’d suggest you lean more to the “casual” side of “business casual.”

-Kevin

P.S. Steve said I should include this quote from Gordon Gekko in Wall Street to embody my “look” for the day:

The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Evangelist's Corner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.