Being casual is the greatest conformism of all

"With numbing regularity good people were seen to knuckle under the demands of authority and perform actions that were callous and severe. Men who are in everyday life responsible and decent were seduced by the trappings of authority, by the control of their perceptions, and by the uncritical acceptance of the experimenter's definition of the situation, into performing harsh acts. A substantial proportion of people do what they are told to do, irrespective of the content of the act and without limitations of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command comes from a legitimate authority" Stanley Milgram, 1965

The following ‘corporate communication’ – drearily typical of many such missives – was brought to my attention recently:

‘Dear All,

Following the key communication that was sent out to all key communicators ……. this is a reminder that all Fridays will now be dress down starting tomorrow.

This is to ensure cultural alignment with our other offices across the Group.’

Note in particular that use of the word which drove Herr Goering to violence - in his case for quite the wrong reason, while for us the reason would be right but the response should be less explosive.

This handy example of over-officious inanity does, however, give me an excuse to answer a common query, i.e., how should individualists respond to the ‘Dress Down Friday’ corporate phenomenon?

This may be the most important question of our time. The answer, as ever, is with dignity, good manners and a very straight face.

But in order to reach that conclusion we must first ask who caused the phenomena: the answer to which is that your employer demanded it.

And was this demand because of extensive research and  ‘feedback’  from you and your workmates?

No, it is far more likely that your boss is slipping away for another long weekend’s drinking with fellow misogynists. Being too lazy to change from his business suit, he prefers to come to the office in his golf-clown outfit. He then needs to be seen to have taken a ‘management decision’ rather than being revealed as a rich, inbred slob.

Having established that, many other things become plain. Because there is - in truth - no sadder sight in the modern world than the boss class or their most devoted lickspittles  trying to act cool and casual.

They are the leading contemporary  examples of what the late Derek Jarman used to call “drabs” . This was not just his way of marking out homophobes, but in a wider sense dull, beige people who – unfortunately – control far too much of the world.

And the harder they try to be as one with their employees, customers, electorate and ordinary members of the public in general the more revolting their appearance and behaviour.

Such horrible, petty-minded  people with their fake camaraderie - as if anyone with a gram of taste would wreck their ears and dull their wits being stuck in a pub or on some frightful corporate jolly with them. Boasting how much their cars are worth, pretending knowledge of or interest in sports or family life, playing incessantly with their techno-toys in a desperate attempt to look simultaneously busy and up-to-the-minute……..

Yuk!!

We cannot go along with this enforced slobbery. Because there is nothing voluntary, life-affirming or even progressive about it.

In addition, a brief perusal of any company’s ‘policy statement’ on ‘acceptable casual wear’ reveals little but an attempt to stamp out the last efforts of employees to retain some humanity and individuality in the most awful daily situation they could find themselves in – the workplace.

Who amongst us would want to be as badly dressed as his or her employer, especially when that employer is mis-dressed to crawl around some ghastly plastic  pseudo-pub with other pseudo-people?

So the simplest form of resistance is to ignore it: turn up to work dressed, as usual, in clothes in which you could, if necessary, meet someone deserving of respect – or failing that senior government officials, royalty or international leaders of finance. Then, when you unexpectedly encounter a major foreign potential client or business partner in the car park, enjoy being mistaken for a company director, politely introducing an abomination in badly-fitting polyester as your MD and watching the faces of both parties drop in dismay.

The beauty of such a tactic is that the corporate world is programmed only to deal with insurgency rooted in the real culture of the business world – dishonesty, the avoidance of responsibility, fear of progress, imagination or objective knowledge. The primary fear of any business executive is that a younger, more ruthless clone will lie, cheat and steal his or her way to the MD’s chair. Thus the real business culture within any business culture centres on the attempts of those in power to prevent the young pretenders stealing it. Honest, self-respecting people who seek no power can simply stand aside and watch as these sad and desperate bores attempt to wipe each other out.

‘Management’ has no answer to the mannered rebel who turns up on time, treats colleagues and clients with respect, puts in a full day’s work and then simply goes home and forgets about it.

Resistance, then, rather than being futile is actually quite facile - and fun.

Be a law unto yourself

Most of us long for a kinder, more pleasant world, so are well disposed towards those who treat us well. This works in your favour if you happen to find petty byelaws, or even major acts of parliament, illogical, immoral, insane….or just a huge inconvenience to a happy and productive life.
In truth, you can probably ignore any law of the land with absolute impunity, as long as you do it elegantly enough.
When I say this I do not advocate breaking the law. I only advocate making your own, informed decisions and treating others with respect in all things. Your informed decision, though, may well be that the law is an ass and that we are governed by donkeys.
I certainly do not advocate a criminal lifestyle, because it is so uncouth. Career criminals get caught precisely because they insist on behaving at all times in a violent, anti-social manner instead of just getting on with their lives in a way that does not bother others (which is the intent of any true stylist or individualist). As psychologists suggest, perhaps they choose to get caught, either because they lack the self-discipline to live outside prisons or because they see prison as part of the lifestyle.
In fact, the uber-conformism of both law-enforcers and criminals is anathema to any stylist, while the similarities between these supposed sworn enemies is really too funny for words. Who else could such bolt-necked bores possibly find to talk to, if not each other?
I simply say it is possible to live outside the law, in the same way that it is possible to ride a bike without stabilisers. Just think of it as deciding to grow up and take responsibility.
For example, if I hear someone say “You ought not to........” I listen respectfully to their reasoning, then decide if there is any sense in it. But if I hear someone say “You must not.....…” all I think is “I must escape this knee-jerking simpleton and avoid him at all costs in the future”.
Because our approach to laws and regulations in general, rather than to blindly obey them, should be to understand why they are there and if those reasons stem from common sense and decency, or just common spite, pig-ignorance or even superstition.
In some cases – such as certain sections of the highway code – there may be good reasons, so there would be some common sense consensus to go along with the thing. There you conform not because you must, but because it makes sense to a reasonable person, and it is the thing you would do anyway, without threat or reward.
In far too many cases though, it may be for no good reason other than because some inadequate needed to demonstrate power over others: in which case why on earth would you let them, unless there is an immediate threat of violence or other danger?
In such situations there is an easy solution. Keep your dignity and appear to conform until the danger or simpleton posing it goes away, then carry on as your common sense suggests and as if institutional idiocy was not an everyday constraint to civilisation.
To paraphrase that cliché about forests and fallen trees – if there is a one way system in your supermarket car park, and no other cars in the car park, does it matter how you get to a space?
Far too often, the only policeman preventing us from going about our lives in a happy, inoffensive and adult manner is the one in our own head. All I am suggesting is that instead of being content to mentally police ourselves (and like the police serving only the powerful and corrupt), we should go up the food chain and mentally judge ourselves instead. Who else, in all honesty, is fit to judge any self-respecting adult?