Flips

Thursday mornings are our standard staff meeting days at Hays. At our meeting this morning, our program director spoke about staff dress code.

OK, first of all, let me describe what we do with the kids. We sit around the house talking with them, playing games and watching movies. We help them around the house with meal prep, cleaning up, doing laundry and completing other random household-type things. We take them on walks, to the movies, to walk around the mall, to play frisbee in the park, to museums and other various activities around town. We drive them to appointments and the like. We make sure they go to bed on time, get up on time, don't eat too much sugar, make sure they eat veggies and administer medications. This is my job. Sounds a lot like running a normal house full of seven teens, right? Well yea, because that's what I do.

So Pam has created a dress code. I have no problem with this. We can't wear see-through clothing. We can't wear tank tops thinner than two finger widths. We can't wear belly shirts. We can't wear clothing with inappropriate slogans (ie. slogans promoting drugs or alcohol). I have no problem with any of this. This is standard for any job or even school. This is what we hold the kids accountable to as well.

But then comes the clincher. We are unallowed to wear flips.

I don't understand.

She says it's a safety concern. However, we're not allowed to chase kids or put them in restraints.

She says we need to wear appropriate footwear for the activities we do with the kids. Well, when I go to the movies when I'm not at work, I usually wear flips. I don't have a specific pair of shoes for mall walking. And if we do any sort of hiking activity with the kids that I couldn't do in my flips, it's never a spur of the moment activity - it's always planned in advance.

She says it looks unprofessional. This is the one point I can almost agree with. However, when it is all right for my co-workers to wear sandals that attach to their feet - which is the Hays requirement of open-toed shoes - that look like they're eight years old, have been drug through the mud and run over by all eighteen wheels of a semi is when I stop. I think my new flips look nicer and more professional than some ratty old Birkenstocks. Or those river wading shoes that are all the rage now - humongous, rubber shoes?! One woman wears duck-hunting orange river waders to work. And those are more professional than my flips???

I brought up my points today at the staff meeting. Pam stuck to her guns, so I've got to give her that. Other staff say it's just because she doesn't like flips. Whatever. I don't like a lot of things that go on at the shelter but they seem to work out just fine. She told us that we just need to make good decisions about what we're wearing as professionals (in such the professional environment!) and not make her have to be the "bad guy."

I think it's all just lame.