At this point in your life, you probably have been hired to perform a job. It can be anything from mowing a neighbor’s lawn to a desk job. Regardless of what you did, there is an implied dress code. When I mowed my neighbor’s lawn, he did not require me to wear certain clothes. However, it was implied that I had to wear clothes that I would not mind sweating in. Apparently, some employees at Wal-Mart can’t see that a dress code is necessary. The new dress code at the retail giant called for employees to wear a white or navy blue polo shirt with khaki or black pants, according to Yahoo Finance. The issue employees have is that Wal-Mart is not providing the clothes.

Not everyone who works at Wal-Mart opposes the code but, it’s not that bad. I was a dishwasher at a barbecue restaurant in Syracuse over the summer. My dress code was pretty simple: A baseball cap, shoes, any shirt and any style of shorts. On the other hand, waitresses had to wear a shirt and black shorts or jeans. I will admit I was lucky because I did not need to purchase any new clothes. However, I decided to purchase used clothes because of how terrible they would smell. At the end of the night, I would smell like barbeque, smoke, sweat and alcohol. Waitresses received one free black shirt with the logo on it, but had to buy other clothes. Most of the time, they wore black shirts to match their shorts but other shirts were acceptable, especially attire supporting                                                                                Syracuse athletics.

Obviously the restaurant business is different than the retail business, but buying clothes for work is not the end of the world. You see, there is this magical place called a thrift shop where items are sold at a drastically lower price and clothes come in many sizes. For the workers who do not live near a thrift shop or cannot find clothes in their size, use that employee discount to buy your work uniform. Ask a friend who works at another store if they can buy your clothes with their employee discount and then pay them back later if you think that your discount is not as good. If money is tight, just ask family or friends to borrow their clothes, if they do not                                                           need them anymore.

If you work on campus, there may be a dress code for your job. The “Red Carpet Crew” for moving students into their residence halls have their shirts, dining hall staff have their uniforms and campus referees for intramural sports have referee shirts. If the department you work for provides uniforms, be thankful you do not have to pay for them. Almost any “real world” job will have a dress code, so don’t be surprised when you hear that a business requires one. Be prepared.