underdressed

A large Fortune 500 automotive company has offices on the top floor of the building I work at. I generally know the people who work there when I walk in and out of the building because they have strict business attire and all seem to have gotten good deals on the SUVs that their company makes.

I work in support for a software company, so the dress code in my office is casual. I am not talking khakis and a polo shirt casual, but rather t-shirt and shorts casual. This was actually a big selling point to me when I was interviewing because I work better and am an overall happier employee when I can wear comfortable clothes. This isn't really a big deal, either, until I get in the elevator and run into one of the suits from upstairs.

There is something about being dressed extremely differently from someone else that is unsettling. There is also something unsettling about being in a closed space with someone I don't know for just long enough that the silence is awkward, but not long enough to strike up a conversation.

Yesterday, I hit the down button on the elevator and prayed silently that the elevator would be empty so I wouldn't have one of those awkward moments. God answered. He said no. As I stepped into the elevator the man inside gave me a look that said, "What are you doing in an office building." The doors closed, we both stared ahead, the doors opened, and we left.

In truth, he was probably as uncomfortable as me. It isn't easy to share an elevator with an obsessed paranoid introvert who misreads a smile for condescension.