The recently-turned-18-year-old has been interviewing for retail jobs. 
This is what she wore for a second interview at Macy’s, which resulted in a good offer. But what surprised me was what she learned about Macy’s new dress code:
- If you work on the floor, you are required to wear black. Not necessarily entirely black, but the segments of your outfit which may be other than black are strictly defined.
- For Recovery, which job she will probably accept, “no-wear” jeans are allowed. Shirts must be collared OR black, and closed toe shoes are required.
Since she, maybe even more than her mother, prefers color to black, she is happy to have the greater flexibility of the Recovery job. If what you must wear to work is what you already wear, your investment in work clothes is naturally less.
BTW, for those who may not know, Recovery is the team of people who bring the merchandise from the stockroom to the floor, fold things, and keep the sales floor presentable.
I really love this outfit – the way she put those neutrals together. And what are those
wonderful gleaming shoes?
Happy Birthday, Rebecca!
And – of course – she’s lovely and your advice is spot-on.
I love this outfit! It looks professional, comfortable, chic and not “old lady-ish.”
A million years ago, when I was about 18, I worked for Macy’s. I really disliked Recovery. Picking up and putting away clothes from the dressing room was especially tedious, like having hundreds of sloppy children! However, it was great incentive to continue my schooling so I wouldn’t have to work retail forever.
Does your daughter like to interact with people? If so, she may prefer to work on the floor. If she’s a bit of an introvert, she may like Recovery more than I did.
Very cute outfit! And pardon my ignorance, but what are “no wear” jeans? Dark wash dressy jeans?
Hey, good for her! I like her outfit – those shoes are really snazzy! 🙂
More to come on the shoes. 🙂
Dana ~ thank you! How did you know?
More to come on the dress code, too. In other words, she needs to get a precise definition of “no-wear”.
Dana beat me to it, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!
[Hey all you bloggers… sis is being silent on what she wants for a gift. Any suggestions welcome. bwilmart@gmail.com]
I love the outfit. Very cute and professional and age-appropriate. I also think she might prefer to be on the floor, but you would know better (having done that job yourself at that age).
That’s nice that the recovery and sales are separate jobs. Even though I don’t think I’d want a recovery job, the setup is better than asking the same people to sell, fold, replenish, return to the floor, etc. 🙂
BTW, this reminds me…last time I was in a Macy’s, the fitting room doors were rather…revealing. You know how in a dressing room you look at the slats, they’re slanted downward and you can see out? Well, in these fitting rooms, it was the reverse. Anyone outside could see IN. Since then I’ve seen other places – fairly nice places, too – with the same setup. I was pretty shocked (and irritated). It’s one thing if I’m going to a communal dressing room at a discount shop where I *know* it’ll be that way and can plan. But “nice” stores? I realize they’ve got shoplifting issues, but what with cell phones, cameras, and the odd clingy boyfriend in fitting rooms, there must be better ways.
*ahem* Bunny trails? Who, me? 😀
This discussion, plus looking at the photos in the Painfully Hip blog of the offerings at the Olive eBay shop of highly styled vintage (all of which I would wear if I had the figure and someplace where it wouldn’t cause a gawker traffic accident) made me think of record stores.
It used to be that if you wanted to conform as far as getting a regular, albeit small, paycheck you could come as you were and work at a record store. This applied to people I knew from a guy his friends lovingly referred to as Fleabag to a woman who always looked to me like a princess on her day off.
With the closing of record stores, where is the new venue now?
Here are the photos, not exactly “all black” and “no wear” jeans, eh.
http://www.painfullyhip.com/2007/10/08/warning-back-away-from-your-paypal-account/
Congrats to her on the job offers!
I think I would go with the second offer as well. Sounds like so much more flexibility!
ooh – didn’t mean to scoop Beth – I read it on her blog, natch –
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!