For Shorts!

I think it is just really unfair how my female colleagues can take their dress code so much more liberally than the men. One Friday of each month we get to dress casual and on my first time I wore my trusty cargo shorts, I was warned that we can not wear shorts.

But this rule has been broken ever since I have been here. My female coworkers wear shorts occasionally and they don't get any warning. One girl was wearing a long t-shirt with bicycle shorts, actually bicycle shorts is very common here and I show less legs than them with my cargo shorts. So I wonder where the line is. So, would I be excused on the "no shorts" dress code if I also wear tight, black bicycle shorts or wear long boots with shorts? What if I wear a long t-shirt with shorts?

It's been understood that we should wear at least casual business attire during regular days (everyday that is) but again my female coworkers are really given more freedom and are much more liberal with the dress code. A lot of girls wear cute stuff that you would imagine teenage girls to wear. They are definitely casual to me. I am not against, in fact, I like these colourful, energetic, causal wears. They help with making the office a more colourful place. I am against how the males are not given the same treatment under the dress code. We are limited to just pants with no alternative or excuse clauses.

Further more, with greenhouse effect, global warming, energy crisis and shortage of resources; we should really be finding ways to conserve. As a matter of fact, the head of Hong Kong SARS Government, CE Donald Tsang made an annoucement for more casual attire at work such as short sleeve collar shirt and shorts as a measure to save energy in offices. The logic being that we less clothing in a warmer world, we wouldn't have to crank the A/C as hard and set the A/C at the recommended 25 degree Celsius (which use less electricity of let's say, 18 degree Celsius). But there's more to that. Think about the less amount of fabric to put into the washing machine and the dryer. We would save detergent (chemical harmful to our water and ecosystem), water (in a world with ever less drinking water), time (not really related to the environment but you know) and energy (not just energy but also think about the pollution put out by the power plants to give us electricity). We could save millions of dollar by wearing less clothes. I think we should all do our part and adapt to global warming. As long as we keep ourself looking respectable, then it should be okay. In fact, my company might even be at the frontier and looked up upon as a forward looking and enlightened organization by others.

I think shorts or kilt should be part of the dress code. They are good for the society, the earth, the planet, the universe, the human race, all the other species on earth, the polar bear, the coral reef, and are more comfortable. Let's wear shorts.