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Wearing shorts to work

Ken C.
Ken C. Member Posts: 267
in THE MAIN WALL
At my new company, many of the employees (and even two of the owners) wear shorts during the warmer months. Granted, they do strictly construction plumbing/heating, where personal appearance is not as important as service/repair work. Me and the few other service guys don't wear shorts. However, even if I did only new construction, I still wouldn't wear shorts. It just seems like a bad idea, if you spend a good part of your day soldering, where a blob of molten solder could fall on your bare legs. And bare knees on concrete or dirt doesn't sound too comfortable either. Just curious to know if others in the trade wear shorts or know others who do, and what your take on it is.
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Comments

  • Mike Kraft_2
    Mike Kraft_2 Member Posts: 398
    When it gets real hot................

    I don my thong!Then everbody gets to see my "Skully" tatoo:)

    cheese:)
  • flange
    flange Member Posts: 153


    i do not wear shorts to work. i do not wear shrt sleeve shrts to work, UNLESS it is really hot i do not mean 85 degrees, i mean above 95, and i must not be doing anything involving flame or electricity. putting up hangars i think might justify short sleeves. i have done mostly comercial/industrial type work, and have worked in some seriously hot places 120 plus and still wear long pants/shirt.
  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    Why not

    UPS, FedEx and others have paved the way and made it acceptable in the work place :)

    I wear the Carhartt brand. Fairly long, lots of contractor friendly features, last forever, and "fit in" on the jobsite.

    I always use knee pads or kneel pads anymore. Wish I had started years ago.

    You learn to be neat and carefull when soldering. And gluing plastic pipe, for that matter.

    hot rod

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  • David_5
    David_5 Member Posts: 250
    No shorts here

    Not where I work. I have seen other places do it though. Not very proffessional in my opinion.

    David
  • lchmb
    lchmb Member Posts: 2,997
    would scare everyone

    The company I work for allow's this without question. But if I were to bear my "bony white bone's" people would be screaming for mile's..(or laughing uncontrollably).
  • Bob Bona_4
    Bob Bona_4 Member Posts: 2,083
    same here

    Carhartt shorts and a neat T. I put away the long pants mid May, and don't see them until late Sept. Ditto on the kneepads. I find that my flexibity increases with shorts, and I feel safer. Just say no to polyester!

    I've had kids working for me that wear those long shorts(or or they short pants?) and they tell me if they wore the just above knee length one like I do, the would get the snot beat out of them by their peers. Makes me chuckle..anyone remember the '70's? :)
  • J.C.A._3
    J.C.A._3 Member Posts: 2,980
    Lets hear from the....

    MURPH ? (no thong stories PLEASE!)
  • bob young
    bob young Member Posts: 2,177
    SHORTS

    I'M WITH HOT ROD . TO WORK YOUR BEST YA GOTTA BE COMFORTABLE. BUT ALWAYS PRESENTABLE. CAN'T BEAT CARHARDT.
  • Jeff Lawrence_24
    Jeff Lawrence_24 Member Posts: 593
    Uniform

    For my summer uniform, I wear my standard collared pull over work shirt (Y'all at WetStock have seen it) and black demin shorts. The shorts come to just above the knee, so they're not bordering on obscene.

    I look at some of the clothing the other people wear when I'm at the supply house and when the other trades are at homes with me. I'm (IMHO) slightly more conservative than most of them.

    Jeff

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  • Bryan_16
    Bryan_16 Member Posts: 262
    footwear

    Do you guys wear work boots or sneakers with the shorts? Sneakers don't seem to professional or safe. Shorts and work boots would get the snotbeat out of you in my neighborhood.
    Bryan
  • Ranger
    Ranger Member Posts: 210
    IN THE FIELD...

    ...unfortunatly for me I've never had good luck with wearing shorts while working in the field (or rideing a motorcycle) but I have accumulated alotta scar tissue.Some people can pull it off,but not a big oaf such as myself.Besides,the bar tan I sport is kinda scary to most folks...(A little side note:back in the day when I was courting my wife I was rideing back down to the Jersey Shore to meet up with her and her family and while on the way as you would expect on a warm summer day I happened upon a bee in my path of travel.Now for those of you who have done any traveling on or in an open vechicle you have undoubtedly encountered an insect from time to time.Now the troubles began when Mr.(or Ms.) bee was not deflected away from my person after our chance encounter but from what I can only surmise as a final act of revenge or God's twisted sence if humor...ya see I was wearing shorts that day It "beeing" a warm summer day and all..I had not noticed that the bee..had somehow clung to my person...and crawled up inside my shorts...and In a last act of defiance placed his (or her) stinger in a place we shall only describe as the locker for my potential lineage...an I was still 40 miles from my destination.By the time I had arived in Brielle the damage had been done if you will,And there wasen't enough tea bag's (to draw out the poison) Ice or benadryl in the world that day.So all I can say is choose your activity atire wisely...
    Ranger)
  • Mad Dog
    Mad Dog Member Posts: 2,595
    As long as its neat, and everyone from the company

    matches - its personal choice. Mad Dog

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  • Ken_8
    Ken_8 Member Posts: 1,640
    The shorts may not be obscene...

    but those legs...

    Oy Vey!

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  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    Bryan

    for summer footware I have a pair of Everlast, black, high tops, with steel toes. light, cool, and comfortable. For winter leather Dr Martins steeltoes.

    hot rod

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  • steve gates
    steve gates Member Posts: 329


    only when I don't want anyone around. It(they) scare too many people.

  • Firedragon_4
    Firedragon_4 Member Posts: 1,436
    When soot-sucking is in order I

    always liked coveralls over just a tee-shirt and skivvies. If they threw me a service call, get changed and put on the uniform of the day. In the wintertime coveralls over the clean uniform.
  • Don Walsh
    Don Walsh Member Posts: 131
    Thongs for Murph!

    Try this for a laugh:

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  • Don Walsh
    Don Walsh Member Posts: 131
    Thongs for Murph!

    Try this for a laugh:

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  • Don Walsh
    Don Walsh Member Posts: 131
    A thong story for Murph!

    http://www.superlaugh.net/1/thong.swf

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  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,601
    I just

    spit coffee on the screen.
    Retired and loving it.
  • Jeff Lawrence_24
    Jeff Lawrence_24 Member Posts: 593
    yeah?

    But YOU won't ever see me in a thong....

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  • Jeff Lawrence_24
    Jeff Lawrence_24 Member Posts: 593
    Mine

    was the keyboard.....

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  • Ted_9
    Ted_9 Member Posts: 1,718


    Also to note. I notice that when I wear pants in the summer, my productivity goes down, especially attic work. If you'll be in a basement all day then pants/jeans are fine. But if your a service tech in and out of houses all day including in and out of attics i think it just slows people down.

    Just look neat and profesional.


    Ted Gregoriadis
    Patriot Heating & Cooling
  • Bob Bona_4
    Bob Bona_4 Member Posts: 2,083
    I live

    in Timberland "Chukka" boots, size 12, smooth tread, mind you:). They feel like moccasins to me. Problem is the toes wear out before anything else!
  • Dave Stroman
    Dave Stroman Member Posts: 766


    I am a tee shirt and jeans type of guy. And you can not beat a good pair of Red Wings for all day comfort.

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • D lux_2
    D lux_2 Member Posts: 230
    bob redwing boots

    Have a plastic toe shell that glue's to toe . I saw a guy with some he said worked great .
  • Wethead7
    Wethead7 Member Posts: 170
    Shorts

    Shorts are not out of the question in Kansas in the summer. The longer short are permitted on staff. The employees are very hard on the other that wear something in poor taste. The steal toe sneaker are also permitted.

    When in Iraq shorts not a good, sand fleas can be very nasty. The Camel spiders can be deadly. We tend to wear flea collars on our ankles. The long pants is helpful too.

    If you know any service personel send them fleas collars. They will very thankful.

    Enjoy the cool weather back home.

    Mike
  • EJW
    EJW Member Posts: 321
    Not Professional?

    I come to your house, solve a problem or repair something that has been bugging you for weeks. Do you really care that I showed up in shorts?
  • Dingo
    Dingo Member Posts: 38
    At my company

    embroidered polo shirts with long pants. No shorts.

    Dingo
  • Glenn Harrison_2
    Glenn Harrison_2 Member Posts: 845
    I have those glue on toe protectors from Redwing.

    I used to go thru boots every 6 to 9 months by grinding thru the toes. Now my last pair of boots lasted over two years before I blew out the side, and my current pair is almost two years old and looks like they could go another year. $10 accessory, you can't go wrong.
  • Glenn Harrison_2
    Glenn Harrison_2 Member Posts: 845
    Interesting timing on this thread

    I was just doing a service call on Friday on an older Rheem boiler. I moved my leg and caught the bottom of the cabinet with my Knee. Ripped a 1 inch hole in a brand new pair of pants (argh!!!)and sliced my knee. I know that if I had been wearing shorts the slice would have been twice as long and probably down to the knee cap, and possibly needing stitches. I will always wear pants as an extra amount of protection. Besides, if I showed of my gorilla legs I'd probaly have customers calling animal control.

    A note about shoes. Our insurance is very picky about work boots. If anyone is wearing non-work grade shoes/boots and has a foot injury, they won't pay. Anything other than standard work boots must be approved by management and the adjuster. Just something to keep in mind.
  • Glenn Harrison_2
    Glenn Harrison_2 Member Posts: 845
    That just made my curl into the fetal position

    Reminds my of the time I had a bee fly in my truck window while driving about sixty. Somehow managed to come in the window backwards, and sting my in the side of the neck. Boy did I fly all over the road and pull over in a hurry when that happened.

    Then there was the time I had a bee fly in a can of pop in my truck that I didn't see. Took a swallow, felt it moving inmy mouth, and spit the pop and bee all over the dashboard and wheel. What a mess, but I didn't get stung.
  • Robert O'Connor_7
    Robert O'Connor_7 Member Posts: 688
    Oxygen! Oxygen!

    I can't get air! That was funny..Robert O'Connor/NJ
  • Weezbo
    Weezbo Member Posts: 6,232
    Listen Here...my mom lives in Bermuda...

    People would think you quite over the top suggesting that their shorts didnt look Professional. or to quote the Limeys on the matter "Skip along You Little Nancy!" :)))... Personally i like to wear my dark blue courdroy haiawatha suit on warm days, its the American Thing to do:) :)) of course it hasnt warmed up to that temp around alaska in along while:) this year it may:) today was "hanging" pretty close to 80 :) I dont suggest anyone else try this at home unless in close supervision of an adult:).....If you have a uniform well,then you probably would feel uncomfortable in summer heat wearing winter woll slacks your tie and blazer on the job site... IMHO..... (¡ã_¡ã)
  • DaveGateway
    DaveGateway Member Posts: 568
    Leather booots and jeans...

    darn near every day. The only time I might wear shorts is if I KNOW the workday will safely permit. Gym shoes? fuggedaboudit! They have no place on any jobsite.

    About the bee thing... I had a molten ball of steel/slag/does it matter? roll off the table into my lap while sitting on a stool welding on a part. Straight thru all clothing and imbedded into you know where. Lesson learned. Always stand while welding at the bench!
  • Ranger
    Ranger Member Posts: 210
    Glenn,Dug the bee in the...

    ...soda story!I mentioned to my wife that I had posted the "Bee Story",First she reminded me how long ago that was (with a snicker)Than she brought up the VAV Box incident.
    Many moons ago (again) My good friend Joe Paino had gone out on his own and I would help him out with his service backlog after regular work (I'm a gluten for punishment).
    So we go on a service call on a vav box in a mall bookstore.
    Well the box was mounted higher than we could reach with the 12' A-frame,so we had to also break out the 32'extension to reach the box to troubleshoot the problem.Anyway at some point I had forgotten my position
    relative to the floor an I non-schallantly stepped off the rung...now mind you I was standing completely above the drop ceiling several feet...the bad news is that I once again forgot also to don a parachute...the good news is I cleared the drop ceiling grid with ease...and remember that 12' A-frame ladder?!(It was wooden buy the way,second hand 'cause he just started out on his own)well with surgical precision I managed to get the right leg and the left leg dead in between one of the center rungs on the decent downward and WHAM!The crown jewels suffered the worst
    posible case of sudden deceleration syndrome.As I now clung to the ladder with the sissor grip,not half way up nor quite half way down,almost semi-conscious I noticed the a woman,frozen in disbelief and with a look of horror at what she had just witnessed just down the isle from wear she was standing...I don't rightly remember much after that,how thay say thay pryed me off that ladder that evening...or the ride home.Talk about "dead reckoning".
    Ranger
  • Jimmy Gillies
    Jimmy Gillies Member Posts: 250
    Kilt.

    I wear my kilt in the summer here. Very, very cool !
    Regards.
    Jimmy Gillies.
  • Murph'_5
    Murph'_5 Member Posts: 349
    wethead7

    thank you for sharing your thoughts. are you in the middle east now? If so please tell us more of what your experiences are, I am sure most would like to hear how you stay cool and some other things about the climate and your duties over there, Thanks for all you are doing !!



    Murph'

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  • Murph'_5
    Murph'_5 Member Posts: 349
    So you are the guyt.......

    That got Ken started ? I did not know exactly what he was expecting to see, but the mystery is now solved!! Thanks for that!!



    Murph'

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  • Wethead7
    Wethead7 Member Posts: 170
    Stay Cool

    Drink lots of water {gallons each day}, Stay in the shade[bring a hat if all possable], Work early, sleep midday Lastly I have been working nights lately.

    I have been trainly Iraqi's in several different area's. I'am not allowed to provide any more infromation than that.

    I was informed today my mother has cancer. I have e-mailed my brothers requesting more information. The network here is streached past the point of reliable.

    I was also notafied I will be reurning to the states with two days. The Reagan services are the reason for my reuturn. The person I work for has asked they replace me. I have been in Iraq for over a year. The lost of life over here is uncall for. The Iraqi people for the most part support our mission.

    Mike
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