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So I have a meeting with some bigwigs at this company tomorrow morning. A few days ago, I got an email from the key contact I've been working with who sent me the following email:
"Regarding your on-site visit next week, couple little heads-up pointers for you so that you can avoid some common pitfalls:
We are a unique culture/work environment, we celebrate the brands we sell.. and we wear them. If it's practical, I would highly recommend you wearing some "our brand" clothing while on campus. I am literally wearing shorts and flip flops right now - and jeans on the colder days. I happen to normally wear an "our brand" button-down shirt, but many folks in the summer wear short sleeve "our brand" T-shirts and/or "our brand" polos. Many people have a very hard time accepting this notion without having first seen the campus, but trust me that I am not joking =). Folks that wear business-casual (or especially suit attire) end up sticking out like a sore thumb... and I'd hate to have you guys noticed for the wrong reasons. If you are unable to grab some "our brand" gear for any reason, I'd recommend otherwise casual clothing, but with a huge caveat that it should not display other clothing brand icons/lettering/insignia/etc., and it should definitely not be black in color. If you wear jeans to the campus, I'd recommend a similar inconspicuous brand, preferably dark-colored denim (again, no black of course). "
Needless to say, I picked up some of "our brand" clothing and it just doesn't feel right on me, but whatever it takes to win the business. It's a massive deal and I'm a ho, so I'll do what it takes, but..... WTF?? This is literally my first meeting in my professional career that I didn't have slacks and at least a sport coat, if not tie on....
Question is - do any of you work for a company like this that drinks the kool-aid and just bleeds corporate culture? Do you believe the hype?
"Regarding your on-site visit next week, couple little heads-up pointers for you so that you can avoid some common pitfalls:
We are a unique culture/work environment, we celebrate the brands we sell.. and we wear them. If it's practical, I would highly recommend you wearing some "our brand" clothing while on campus. I am literally wearing shorts and flip flops right now - and jeans on the colder days. I happen to normally wear an "our brand" button-down shirt, but many folks in the summer wear short sleeve "our brand" T-shirts and/or "our brand" polos. Many people have a very hard time accepting this notion without having first seen the campus, but trust me that I am not joking =). Folks that wear business-casual (or especially suit attire) end up sticking out like a sore thumb... and I'd hate to have you guys noticed for the wrong reasons. If you are unable to grab some "our brand" gear for any reason, I'd recommend otherwise casual clothing, but with a huge caveat that it should not display other clothing brand icons/lettering/insignia/etc., and it should definitely not be black in color. If you wear jeans to the campus, I'd recommend a similar inconspicuous brand, preferably dark-colored denim (again, no black of course). "
Needless to say, I picked up some of "our brand" clothing and it just doesn't feel right on me, but whatever it takes to win the business. It's a massive deal and I'm a ho, so I'll do what it takes, but..... WTF?? This is literally my first meeting in my professional career that I didn't have slacks and at least a sport coat, if not tie on....
Question is - do any of you work for a company like this that drinks the kool-aid and just bleeds corporate culture? Do you believe the hype?
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