No Jean Policy

You know what I really hate about house painting?
Kind of everything.
But what I really hate about it is that you just never win when it comes to getting dressed. Now don't get me wrong, I am very grateful to be a chick that knows how to do something, and I have always been very impressed and satisfied with my own handy work, so I'm not totally down on the trade, its just that...for the past couple of years I have for the most part gone to work feeling really really gross. And it doesn't matter if the clothes I am wearing were just washed and that I had just taken a shower and was feeling all fresh faced. I looked gross.


And it always shocked me how no matter how yucky I looked and no matter how I hid my hair in my hat and wore really baggy clothing and never put on a stitch of makeup, that men on sites would always look at me like I had just walked in there with a cocktail dress and a pair of high heels. Ok, thats not how they really looked at me, but I would definitely get checked out, and subsequently, ugh, hit on. I know this seems like an asinine(bratty?) thing to complain about, but being hit on at work just sucks. Especially by the 48 year old plumber whose been wearing the same Bruins t-shirt for the past 4 days in a row. Or the dude that you know is married with three kids and thinks that finally his wacko fantasy of meeting a cool young chick on the job site is going to pan out (yeah that scenario was actually presented to me once). I once sparked a big controversy on a job site because this sweet, but hopeless kid was buying me candy and wasting a lot of his time talking to me, and the rest of his crew found out. It was like no one could work for the rest of the day, and they did their best to make sure that I couldn't either. It was just a circus. A big fuckin 20 dudes + 1 girl circus. Oh, and I almost forgot, my very first GC while working as a decorative painter, guess what nickname he gave me and decided to use for 4 months? Booty girl. Guess who never decided to say a fucking word to him that it was completely inappropriate and unappreciated? My Boss. Thanks dick head.

And I realized later on that I totally should have spoken up, but I had just gotten the job and was concerned about being "that girl". Really wish I had said something. Or at least brought a recorder with me to work. I could have made so much money. I could like seriously be sitting on the beach writing this right now. Man I fucked that up. 


It was on that very same job that I had the delight of only having a port-o-john at my bathroom-needs-disposal. 20 dudes + 1 girl circus. Sweet jesus was a freaking joy. What a freaking awful unbelievable disaster. And you know what? Technically, legally, I should have had my own bathroom on site. But you know what? I didn't want to be that girl.


But back to getting dressed.

For like one day out of my entire painting career I've felt good in my clothes. And its that first day when you show up with clean jeans and a fresh sweat shirt or t-shirt, and about 1 hour into the job you either a) wipe your dirty ass hands on your pants b) have some smart ass paint you with a dripping brush on purpose (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), c) you completely muckle yourself with some kind of paint product and it just completely and very quickly goes downhill from there. You can't get paint out of your clothing. And theres no point. Face it kid, you're always going to look like one of the boys. A dirty ass boy.

So when I got this office job last week and they told me that there was a no jean policy, I quite honestly nearly jumped for joy.

Which is weird, because it meant I had to go and spend some dough on some real clothes. See, since being laid off, I've been kind of living in pajamas, gym clothes (of which there is hardly any distinction from pajamas), and sweat shirts and sweat pants covered in paint. It honestly does not matter when your unemployed. I'll go the entire morning without even putting a pair of pants on. Why? BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER WHEN YOU'RE JOBLESS. Who is going to know or care that I didn't wear pants today? Sometimes its easier to not wear pants.

See the person, the very kind benevolent person, who hired me for this position, totally understood my previous job experience and explained to me with great hesitation that there was a no jean policy in the office. What did she think I was going to do? Where my disgusting-painted-holes-in-the-kness-jeans to an office job? Come on, dude! What was even funnier was that when she called me to come in and interview for the job, I was in the midst of painting a living room. So knowing this she invited me to come in, and that she would explain to her office director that I wasn't usually covered in paint. Ha. I wouldn't even go to 7/11 for a dutch master and a lotto ticket looking like what I did when she called me. I promptly left the job, got home and took a damn shower and put on some real clothing. I have one outfit that is suitable for job interviews, so I wore that, natch.

So anyway, I just wanted to speak to how important it is to feel good in your clothing. I don't usually like to be this materialistic or shallow, and for a very long time I took pride in "being one of the boys" and being all like "nail polish, ewww",  and "shoe shopping? puhhlease", or "hair cuts? who do you think you are?", but honestly, if it makes you happy, then hell, it can't be that bad. And you know what I've realized after 2 1/2 years of looking like a bum?  Dressing up feels goooood. I'm all like "dammmmnnnnn giirrrrrrllll, you lookin' good in that camisole cardigan set."