I love it….

My company sponsors a “jeans day” every so often. The employees who want to wear jeans on the designated day have to pay a minimum amount – usually $5 – and then they are allowed to wear jeans with the following stipulations: “jeans may not be torn or faded…..shorts and t-shirts are not appropriate…..clean, white sneakers may be worn”. There’s also an unsaid rule that says you cannot wear jeans that have those little silver rivets on them - - -you know, those little tabby things typically on the corners of the pockets. Try finding a pair of jeans like THAT! And when they say “white” they mean you cannot have ANY other color on your sneakers. The money you fork over, which enables you to wear your jeans that one day, goes to a charity which “they” pick (whoever “they” is I’ll never know).

Today is one of these “jean” days.
It’s “Lee National Denim Day” – a push for breast cancer awareness. That’s cool. So yesterday I hand in my 5 bucks and get my little shiny pink ribbon pin. Last night I even go shopping for a nice pink top to wear for today. Luckily I already own pristine white sneakers, so I don’t have to worry about finding a pair of THOSE. I get up this morning, put on my little “jean day” outfit and head into work. All the way in there’s a part of my brain nagging away at me asking “Are you SURE it’s today?!?!?! Are you SURE it’s even Friday?!?!?!” until I pull into the parking lot and am reassured to see that EVERYONE is in jeans.

I get settled into my desk and, after a few minutes, receive a delivery that I need to take into my boss. He asks “I was meaning to ask…is today a “dress down” day or something like that?”
Here’s where I just have to internally shake my head in disbelief.
This man is one of the HEADS of this company. And he doesn’t even know about today being a company-wide charity event.
I explained that it’s “Lee National Denim Day” and that it was to raise awareness of and donate money to breast cancer as I pointed to the shiny pink ribbon pin I’d attached to my turtleneck. Then, for shits and giggles, I threw in that October IS, after all, breast cancer month.
He just looked at me. “Breast cancer day, huh?”
“Yup !” I chirped and walked out of his office.

To add to this interaction, as I walk back to my desk ANOTHER of the guys in the area (again, a member of senior management) asks “Hey Liz, is it like a dress down/jeans day today or something?”
I was like “Yeah. Lee Denim Day? For breast cancer?”

Too much.
This is something that this company does EVERY YEAR…and there are e-mails sent out about it to EVERYONE and flyers hanging up on the bulletin boards.

Yet, they didn’t know anything about it.