From a PTO reader:
I’m a 27 year-old white guy who lives in Brooklyn. I came to work in my NYC finance office (I’m an underling) today in a nice red checkered shirt and a pair of robin-egg blues Uniqlo slacks, finished off with a pair of very white Toms classics.
As a finance firm with a trading floor, it gets very fratty (earlier today, there was a pushup contest and an arm wrestling bout). And it being Friday it was pretty sloppy clotheswise. I walk on to the floor to collect some documents, and a group of five dudes start hooting and laughing, pointing at my Toms.
No.
To quote Captain JeanLuc Picard, “The line must be drawn here! This far! No further!”
So I turn one of the mooks who’s spouting nonsense like “How can you wear those?” and fire right back with “How can you come to work wearing a barf orange fleece jacket?” Laughter erupts, and a rare lady trader pipes up from across the room, “You tell ‘em!” I grab the folder I need, and as he sputtered for a response, I walk past him, “Yeah. Have a nice weekend, be sure to put on some comfortable shoes when you get home.” And I leave. Like. A. Boss.
It was like a scene in a goddamn movie, and I feel great. Put This On definitely gave me the confidence to pull that off.
I’m ambivalent about Tom’s, but I’m gung-ho about sticking it to the mouth-breathers. Bravo, reader!