Originally Posted by
brocklee9000
Scrapeaddy beat me to it, but sorry for every “complaint” of someone wearing clothes someone thinks are tailored-too-close, there’s the overweight guy wearing pants and shirts which are sizes too large, unflatteringly cut and fitting, with the archetypal new balance shoes and giant otterbox phone strapped to his belt. Clothes that actually fit well, look lightyears better. Doesn’t have to be skin tight, but an in-shape guy wearing fitted modern cut looks better than an out-of-shape guy wearing a circus tent.
and like I said, everyone comes out to slap down a beard. No, there wouldn’t be beard-growing competitions. Some guys will dabble, and grow out of it if you pardon the pun, and go back to normal. Some of us would be so relieved to have a well-manicured beard. I’ve done it for years. It suits me better than cuts, nicks, ingrown hairs, razor burn, and all the red irritated bumps from sensitive skin.
I don’t disagree with your first part. There are extremes to both ends. There’s nothing wrong with a modern cut shirt and a tailored uniform. Nobody’s uniform pieces should be worn “out of the box”. Mine certainly aren’t. That’s what tailors are for. But there’s a difference between a modern touch to the traditional uniform and completely bastardizing the uniform. The person I described was on the extreme end and the way they were dressed is unacceptable in this profession. A well tailored shirt and pants with a half break with black DRESS shoes is still professional. A skin tight uniform shirt with nearly non existent sleeves, capri pants, and fuzzy sketchers is *never* acceptable.
To your second point, I mean no disrespect, but you’re barely off of IOE. You have no idea of the pilot group or our personality. We have an amazing group of pilots here, but it is full of good ‘ole boys who don’t give a poop. Still great people, but following uniform standards to appropriately represent the profession isn’t quite something that they consider before leaving the house (a large amount are contained in the aforementioned DEN base).
Truth be told, after many years here, I’ll be making room in the left seat for another captain upgrade and leaving the animal. I have loved every minute with all of the people I’ve worked with here over the years and the pilot group is what I’ll miss the most. However, the idea of them complying with any sort of standards if allowed to grow beards makes me chuckle.