In Sydney, I find it impossible not to see the suit and tie as an arbitrary cultural hold-over from a different climate.
The suit causes the company to waste thousands of dollars on air-conditioning, and introduces a gendered Cold War, because we simultaneously make the female staff wear clothes that strike a delicate balance between professional and attractive.
The suit is so impractical and stupid in this climate that it's hard not to think negatively about an office culture that demands it, or those who haven't questioned its place as a status symbol.
Yep. As a South African I felt the same way about my high school's overly warm boys' uniform. (And unlike wealthy corps, my school didn't have air conditioning.)
The little moments of "everything's optimised for being on the other side of the planet" are everywhere once you notice them.
All of our suburbs have peaked, ceramic tiled roofs. That design makes perfect sense when you have regular snowfall, which you need to run off the roof.
Here, a slightly sloping concrete roof would be a pleasant roof-top garden, or a more easily accessible place to put a solar-powered hot water tank.
The tiled roofs are expensive, costly when they're damaged by our frequent, heavy hale, and a good place for possums to get trapped and die.
All because our architects regularly pretend we're in England.
In Sydney, I find it impossible not to see the suit and tie as an arbitrary cultural hold-over from a different climate.
The suit causes the company to waste thousands of dollars on air-conditioning, and introduces a gendered Cold War, because we simultaneously make the female staff wear clothes that strike a delicate balance between professional and attractive.
The suit is so impractical and stupid in this climate that it's hard not to think negatively about an office culture that demands it, or those who haven't questioned its place as a status symbol.