Thinking About: T-shirts

When I used to work in an office in London I had to wear a suit every day to work. I didn’t mind it too much – except maybe during the summer – but never really liked it. For one thing it made me feel anonymous, just one of the crowd (OK, that’s a complex subject for me but more about that another time). One thing I did to stamp my individuality on things was my choice of ties – bold, colourful or just silly. Later when I move office and city I still worked in a suit but when that job came to an end I joined a tech-support group where suits definitely didn’t fit in. For one thing we didn’t have many direct dealings with ‘the public’ and for another we seemed to spend our out of office time either scrabbling under people’s desks or in server rooms where hanging ties and flapping jackets just got in the way. It’s there that I got into the habit of wearing T-shirts. Then came dress-down Friday….. I don’t think I’ve worn a shirt since – except for the occasional interview.

These days, despite the increased need to meet clients/customers or ‘Points of Contact’, I’m very much a T-shirt only person. I think if I showed up in a shirt/tie combination people would think I’d either had a break-down or was going for an interview I’d kept secret up until then. Indeed over the years in my present job I’ve become notorious or at least noteworthy for my variety of off-the-wall or just odd T-shirts. Even when I’m wearing a top over my T-shirt people still ask what I’m wearing underneath and even one of our contractors was taken to task by her boss for dressing like me too much which he saw as unprofessional. I did have a good laugh about that!

I certainly pick my T-shirts with great care. I certainly don’t wear logo T’s as I don’t regard myself as a free mobile advertisement. What I do wear reflects my personality and my take on the world. I wear T’s I’ve picked up on holiday which I choose again with great care. Often they’re funny or off-beat. I wear T’s of my favourite cartoon characters or from my favourite cartoon series, so Bugs Bunny (a hero of mine), The Simpsons and Family Guy and not forgetting Mutley from Whacky Races. I think I’m most renowned for my SF related T’s I stumbled across in the SF shop Forbidden Planet. Many of them are produced by a company called Last Exit to Nowhere and cover a whole range of movies and TV Series. I have RoboCop, Bladerunner, Alien(s), Iron Man, and Terminator related T’s which always bring a smile to people who recognise them. What makes me smile most is that most people don’t recognise them, though I have had quite a few people smile, give me the thumbs up or even laugh out loud on at least one occasion. My latest acquisitions are Blizzard designed World of Warcraft T’s which, again, go over most people’s heads – which makes wearing them even funnier.

At 53 it seems odd to some people that I wear T-shirts at all never mind to work! From my own point of view I intend wearing them for as long as I’m able. They’re reasonably hard-wearing if you spend the money on quality and are very comfortable in most weathers. There’s also a seemingly inexhaustible supply of different designs in a whole spectrum of colours – so what’s not to like? I’m still wearing T’s that I bought 15 years ago so I imagine I already have enough ‘in stock’ to last me the rest of my life, not that’s stopping me buying more from time to time (my last one a few weeks ago was a Stark Industries one that made me chuckle). So if you see an old foggy in a Bugs Bunny or an ED-209 T-shirt it might just be me……..  So smile and maybe say hello.