2022, Uncategorized, work

Predictable Me

45 Comments

I had to testify in court on Friday at a mental health commitment hearing. I typically dress very casually at work. In the summer I wear capri pants and cotton shirts. In the winter, you find me in corduroy slacks and sweaters. I like to be comfortable at work, and skirts and dresses just don’t work for me.

I dressed up for court in a silk skirt and coordinated, two piece top, with tights and low heeled pumps. I wanted to look like an authority, even though I have known the State’s attorney and judge and court reporter for 35 years, and we could probably all wear overhauls to court and have a successful hearing.

I went to work directly after the hearing, and the comment I again got from virtually everyone at work was “You must have been in court, Dr. B”. Predictable me.

I wrote last year about changing my clothing style at work to include some fun and funky pieces from a Swedish designer. I am still planning to do that, but I have to wear out my current clothes before I can start replacing them. Until then, I will be predictable Dr. B, and everyone will know when I have been to court.

How predictable are you? What would you wear to a court hearing if you were a witness? How well do (or did) your coworkers know you?

45 thoughts on “Predictable Me”

  1. Next week I’ll have jury duty and will be wearing a black suit, black dress shirt and yellow tie. Unpredictable.
    But predictable (or at least should have been)to my former co-workers On time and diligent. Perhaps that accounts for the animosity.

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    1. I got called for jury duty about 30 years ago and I don’t even remember what I wore that week. I never got to sit on a jury. After a week they sent me home and said I didn’t need to come the following week.

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    2. No, I discovered that doing the job I was paid for didn’t always make people like me. Specially working in the rain when others didn’t, though I do have good reason to regret that particular thing now.

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  2. I don’t think about it much, but I suppose I’m predictable. I don’t change my routine very much, and I’m not impulsive about important matters. But if the stakes are low, I’m usually willing to say, “Heck yeah, I’ll give it a try.”

    For a court appearance as a witness, my default outfit would be my “weddings and funerals” suit. But I’d also heed the advice of my lawyer as to what would resonate best with the jury (assuming a jury trial). Maybe he/she would want me in more casual, ‘regular folks’ clothing.

    I’d like to think I was an enigma with co-workers. But I didn’t have that many jobs where I worked with people on a daily basis, especially in the last 25 years. So who knows? I’m not gregarious, don’t like to talk about myself, and am not great at starting conversations with strangers (or even with friends).

    That said, I’m pretty much a what you see is what you get person. I don’t put on airs or suck up to people or hold petty grudges or start rumors or talk behind people’s backs. My overall mantra is to avoid conflict as much as possible. Life’s too short to be mad at everyone for every little imperfection and stupid things they do and petty emotions they allow to get in the way of their happiness/success/quality of life.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  3. I’m pretty predictable, except when I’m unpredictable. I can go along on an even keel for days or weeks, and then just blow up at something that I didn’t see coming. Husband knows this, but a lot of other people don’t.

    We got to know each other well when I worked with the small group of consultants, as we had monthly days when we had an onsite “retreat”, and then a semi-annual weekend one. I was known to be able to get things done, make things run smoothly, but it was pointed out to me that when the going got tough, I would “run away”, or at least threaten to leave at some future date.

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  4. i am a creature of habit
    i try to form habits i like but have been known to allow habits to get me off in the wrong direction on occasion so i have to watch out
    to court as a witness
    sports coat and open collar
    pants and shoes that work

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  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    If I were to go to court I would wear a dark suit. That is what I did in the past, and there is no reason to change that. So I am entirely predictable. I work in such a small private practice right now that my co-workers know me well—one of them usually knows what I will do before I do it. But we have known each other for a very long time, so that also is predictable.

    I feel old and stodgy these days—I like my routine which predisposes me to miss lovely surprises. Saturday I arose early and blasted myself out of the house to the Mpls Farmers’ Market. It was good for me to do something different. I usually do WORDLE early in the morning, so that day it did not get done until late morning while we waited for gardening questions. And Lo and Behold, I still got the answer. It was still satisfying. And I met a Master Gardener from EP who I had not met before, which was a lovely surprise.

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  7. Called to court as a witness, I would wear my suit. It’s medium gray and it’s at least fifteen years old but it’s my only suit and I probably have worn it less than a dozen times. It still fits but it changes my body language, like a costume, so I wouldn’t wear it anywhere normal.

    Sartorially, I am eminently predictable. I have one basic outfit (in multiple iterations) for summer and another for winter. A lot of my clothing items are at least ten years old, which makes me think, Renee, unless you wear out clothing a lot faster than I do, you’ll be retired before you ever get your quirky Swedish ones.

    The thing that always surprised me was when I received inferences that co-workers were ever talking about me at all. I couldn’t imagine why they would. I’ve related this before, that once an acquaintence, in response to some remark I’d made, said, “I’ve heard that you do a good job but you never do it the way you were told to do it.” I took that as a fair assessment, but the person making that comment was not a co-worker and didn’t even know any of my direct co-workers. He was friends with the brother of a co-worker, who was friends with my immediate supervisor. My co-worker would have been unlikely to have been in a position to make that assessment, so it likely originated with my supervisor. Strange to think that I had been the subject of commentary that passed all the way to third hand.

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    1. I know I had the respect of my employers and begrudgingly from a few co-employees. I desired to be well-liked but not at the sacrifice of my basic self. Public acknowledgment from each sector would have been gratifying in the sense that “somebody noticed”! Employee of the Year!
      “Him again?!”

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      1. I’ve always gone on the assumption that I’m kind of a pain in the back side, as an employee. But on my retirement I got three different offers to stay on, two of them in different parts of the company. It actually made me feel good to think that people outside of travel valued what I bring to the table besides my travel work.

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    2. People that do their job are unusual. (I’ve mentioned before that Baboons seem to tend to be those sort of people.) You no doubt nagged away at your supervisor’s mind with a mixture of gratitude, admiration and frustration. He could have talked about you a lot.

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      1. I had another ectopic one. The reply I sent to Bill ended up with Sherrilee. Luckily, it looks as if it probably still applies.

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  9. I don’t have any dress clothes or suits. I do have some casual dresses and some cotton skirts that are appropriate for music festivals, etc, but no suits or professional-looking outfits at all. There have been too many years of needing to wear clothes that wash easily and wear for a long time. I have some pairs of cotton-polyester slacks and capris that I have worn for almost 15 years and I still wear them. If I had to look professional, I would probably reach for one of the casual dresses. You can dress those up with a pretty scarf. I don’t have any shoes with a heel either. The best they’re going to get is my Birks. I am predictable that way.

    I don’t think my coworkers “get” me at all. We really don’t have much in common, except for working in the same place. They just need a job and I made it a career. It has been important to me to do the best I can. Quite often for many of my coworkers, a lick and a promise will do. They really expect everyone to be the same and to react the same way to things that happen but I can be unpredictable.

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    1. I know for sure my coworkers didn’t get me. In a meeting about two months ago a couple of my peers suggested that it was “expected“ that you worked more than 40 hours a week in travel. I looked up in surprise and the gal across the table from me said “well you’re different“. This is in reference to the fact that it is well known that I almost never worked more than 40 hours a week.

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  10. I think I was pretty predictable to my co workers. Most of them shared being devoted to a career but I think that is more likely in direct health care. Yes I dressed up for court appearances but did not enjoy them most of the time. Most attorneys are polite but occasionally a judge would intervene in a protective way when it got crazy. I was usually appearing for a patient; it was a little easier for the few times I was an expert witness. For routine days at the hospital where I was based the outfit was slacks, a nice top and a white coat. NEVER HEELS as I often walked a minimum of 14000 steps at during the day at the hospital.

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  11. I’m extremely predictable clothing wise. Slacks, jeans, T-shirts or tnecks, sweaters (Norwegian or Irish, 90s style).  For court, dress pants, maybe my favorite skirt from the 80s.  I’m still in touch with former co-workers. Three of them meet with me for lunch or supper once a month. The woman who hired me in 1991 still checks in and we try to get together in the summer. Other former MPR co-workers stay in touch via Facebook.  Cynthia “Life is a shifting carpet…learn to dance.”

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  12. Hi-
    I’m pretty predictable. And I’m not comfortable in suits. I might wear the jacket, but no tie unless required. In court I’d even take off the seed corn dealer hat. And probably wear sleeves.

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      1. Yep, sometimes people expect me to look more presentable….and a few co-workers sort of resent the sleeveless look. Admin especially… but several of them have left… so…

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  13. Predictable about what? Some things very. Some things not at all. Clothing. Very middle middle.
    Wear to be a witness about what? Depends on what. For most things a suit I guess. Having lost 40 lbs I now have two suits and two sport coats that fit.
    At my last job I became very much the odd man out for a host of reasons, chief among them that none of them knew me nor wanted to. On the other hand I knew them very well.
    Emotions very high today, pain even higher. Neither has caused the other. This weekend a high school classmate died, the first in my social set or that I know of. We were once very close. But he slowly got turned to the very dark side. My last three encounters with him were nasty. He attacked me about public education, teachers unions, teachers pay, and how I taught. Not sure how he had any idea how I taught. His attacks were vicious and non specific. I never answered, just took it.
    Locking the door and staying inside.
    Clyde
    P.S. got a new iPad. So much easier for me to read it.

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