« At Last! | Main | An Organized Effort? »
Yeah, okay, so I've gotten picked on a *little* bit at work for being the new guy (and also by far the youngest full-time person around), but it really hasn't been bad. But today for some reason I thought of a really good way to drive a new employee crazy. I'm giving my example for a male employee, because the lines of dressing are much more black and white for men.
During the interviewing process, don't specifically mention the dress code of your office. If he asks, dance around the question without giving an outright answer (management is generally excellent at this). Make sure the interviewer is wearing a coat and tie.
The new employee (we'll call him Chuck) will show up for his first day of work in a coat and tie. Your whole office, of course, will be wearing business casual. If Chuck is smart, he'll have worn a shirt that would look okay without the tie, and sneak off to the bathroom about 8:15 and change it. He'll think no one really noticed his original dress. If he's not, he'll poke fun at himself and try not to be too rattled about the situation.
Naturally, make sure that for day two, everyone dresses up. Coats and ties for the guys. Chuck will show up in his khakis and his favorite polo shirt, and feel really uncomfortable the whole day. He'll be confused and probably try to ask some people what's up, but make sure they don't really give a definite answer about the dress code.
Day three is the kicker. Everybody wears casual clothes...like blue jeans and possibly even t-shirts. It's difficult to predict exactly what Chuck will wear for day three, but whether he goes business casual or formal, he'll still feel nice and out of place either way. Make sure that co-workers, especially the women, slightly snicker when he walks by.
Continue the next two weeks randomly wearing one of the three each day. I suggest setting up an email distribution list that includes everyone but Chuck...this makes coordinating what eveyone's going to wear easier. Of course, there's a 33% chance that he'll guess right on any given day, and if this happens, have coworkers make up names of forms to ask him if he's turned in yet. Examples are, "Hey Chuck, have you turned in your Resource Allocation Form yet?" and "Chuck, while I'm headed over there do you want me to turn in your Paradigm Appropriations Worksheet?". If you run out of ideas, throw in a few acronyms..."Chuck, where's your LDA?" If you want to scare him a little more, have his superiors ask him about the forms in a frustrated voice.
In the event that Chuck manages to guess correctly a second time, make sure everyone in the office besides Chuck has an identical company t-shirt or golf shirt in their desk. Sometime mid-morning, everyone should go change into this shirt. Make sure Chuck's boss says, "Chuck, you didn't forget picture day, did you?".
The last Friday of the initiation should find Chuck suddenly called into his boss's office. While his coworkers are in the breakroom watching the whole encounter on a hidden closed-circuit camera, Chuck's boss will berate him about not following the company dress code. Some key phrases like "making a mockery out of this company" and "distracting everyone with outlandish attire" should be thrown in. If he doesn't quit, Chuck's boss will then fire him.
The ending either finds the coworkers surprising Chuck with a surprise party and explaining the whole gag, or Chuck storming out of the building and suing for wrongful termination. I leave that determination to you.