Eddie Rabbitt - I Don't Know Where To Start

I hadn't heard this song in a while. Then it pops up on my radio while I'm driving home from work on a rainy day.  So perfect, so fitting. Love this song

Eddie Rabbitt - I Don't Know Where To Start lyrics

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Much ado about shoe (..or stripper shoes not allowed)

 

Stripper shoes?



Recently in my office, the question of appropriate office footwear came into sharp focus. The opening shot in this shoe saga, seems to have been the return of one of the ladies to work, after a 3 week break wearing, what I generally consider to be, stripper shoes. You know the kind .. suede platforms with 6-inch heels. The kind that make me take one look at them, clutch my back and moan, "Oy vey!". The young miss (they're always young, aren't they) was called into the manager's office and advised not to return to work in those shoes. Shortly after that, a safety article was re-circulated in the office advising all of the safest heel height for shoes (for those of you who don't know, it's 1-1/2 inch). Anything higher than that, the article pointed out, increases the risk of trips, slips and falls, and is generally a safety issue. Much ado about shoes!

I remember at the first job I had, footwear was extremely conservative. "Court shoes", they said. No toes (or even toe cleavages) were to be showing. No wedges, no slingbacks, no platforms, no patterned shoes and heel height was to be a minimum of 2 inches and a maximum of 3 inches. Even the guys were restricted - lace up oxfords or loafers (no tassels). Deck shoes or sneakers NOT ALLOWED!






But the question still remains - is what is deemed acceptable office footwear really just a manifestation of someone's personal preference? Personally, I still can't get used to members of my team wearing high-heeled strappy sandals to work - a hold-over from the years spent at my first job. Do I have the right to tell those who report to me that they are not appropriate office footwear? Uh, I don't THINK so! But what if MY boss doesn't want them in the office? What then?






The truth be told, we ladies know that the shoes we wear are NOT chosen for their safety features. We generally choose shoes because they're cute and, whether we want to admit it or not, because they make us feel sexy. Will that have a negative effect on our personal productivity? Why should it?! Is what we wear on our feet indicative of what's going on in our heads? Um... I should hope not. Does wearing sensible oxfords help women climb the corporate ladder faster than peep toe wedges? Or will we distract the young hot-shot gunning for that corner office by strutting around in 6-inch heels? (Hey - if he's THAT easily distracted, maybe he isn't cut out for the corner office anyway!)






As for the young lady in the “stripper shoes”, turns out that the manager’s preference aside, there wasn’t anything in the company’s policies that spoke to allowed (or disallowed) heel heights. So she continues to wear these shoes (oy vey!) to work. But I do pray that, for her sake, there isn’t an emergency evacuation on any day that she’s wearing them!



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15SEP2010

As fate would have it, there was an emergency evacuation drill today at the office. And yes, she was wearing the 6-inch high shoe heels. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see how she manoeuvred her feet getting out of the building.