Dull Men's Club

I tried to get into ties. I bought myself a few nice ones, and coordinated them with my outfits. It was, briefly, glorious.

Then the idiots in charge started to treat me like I was one of them. They started to hold my opinions on the same level as their own.

I never said, "No, Bob, we don't both have valuable inputs in this nuanced technical topic. I have decades of deeply technical experience and you have a fine arts degree and took four seminars on interpersonal skills."

But I did stop wearing ties.

I'm a fan of fine arts degrees and those interpersonal seminars, but neither one (alone) will keep a fragile web service running safely.

Now I show up to those meetings noticeably underdressed, and everyone in the room assumes "oh shit, this person must know their shit, it certainly wasn't their fashion that got them into this room".

It irritates me that it works.

When I was fresh out of college (about 20 years ago for context) I was shadowing an executive for a meeting with a bunch of people. I asked him if I should wear a suit and tie. He said you can't go wrong in a suit and tie, but whatever you wear tells everyone in the room what you want them to think of you.

Some people dress comfortably because they don't want to impress anyone. Others dress comfortably because they want you to think they don't care if you're impressed. And then there are people who dress comfortably because they don't need to impress anyone.

I asked him what the difference was, and he said it's the cost of the tie they aren't wearing. I always thought that was clever while also completely useless.

Then in the meeting he made a bigoted joke and killed the entire deal. So, I don't quote his advice often, but I thought it was relevant here.

My grandmother tied my tie for me in 2008, she died in 2014 and it's still tied. I just slip it over my head on the rare occasion I need to wear one

I'm 37 years old and I have never worn a tie in my entire life, nor do I expect to ever wear one

When it comes to wardrobe, I find relish a better option than mustard.

I got a bow tie a few years back and my neckties are now hanging unused. They are just as tricky to tie, but they don't get into everything when you lean over.

Relish typically denotes a feeling of enjoyment, which is confusing in the context of the rest of your post. Did you mean "resent?"

That said, I've worn a brightly colored tie with a rib knit tank top, women's blazer, black cargo shorts, knee high socks, oxford heels, and tentacle earrings, but mostly just to punk concerts.

I went to Catholic school.

Pressed shirts, suit jackets and ties are for white collar criminals.

Like, the uniform of a burglar is black pants, a black and white striped shirt, a 5 o'clock shadow, domino mask, wool cap and a big brown sack with a $ painted on it slung over his back. The man who says "just let the power plant leak" or "we'll keep using lead pipes" or "it'll cost more to recall the cars than the wrongful death lawsuits" or "All employees will be subject to regular drug screenings provided exclusively by My Brother In Law's Drug Test Company" wears a suit and tie.

I have to look up how to tie any fancy knots like an Edritch Knot, or a Trinity. I could probably tie a full Windsor or Half Windsor in my sleep, despite the fact that I have only had a few dozen reasons to wear a tie in 44 years.

I don't use Windsor knots around my neck anymore, since I found out that the Edritch and Trinity knots exist.

Story time!

Years ago I had a client who owned a big car dealership. Really good guy and a straight shooter. His son, who is roughly my age, was the GM.

Anyway, I was wearing a suit and tie because I was on my way to a funeral but I had to stop by the dealership on the way. Stopped by the GM's office to say "hi" really quick. He looks at me and get this concerned expression on his face before saying, "You didn't let dad see you like that did you?"

I told him I hadn't seen his dad and asked why?

He says, "You need to ditch the tie ASAP. He's not going to like that at all. One time, a couple reps from [auto manufacturer] came by all suited up. They sat down in Dad's office and without saying a word, he grabbed some scissors and lopped both of their neck ties off. He hates ties. Says it makes you look like you think you're better than your customers."

Knowing his dad, I honestly believed the story. But, if I had any doubts they were eliminated some time later. I was leaving the dealership one day when two reps from [auto manufacturer] pulled into the parking lot, got out of the car, took off their jackets and ties and left them in the car before going in.