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When I got my first real job my father gave me a piece of advice:

"Don't fall into the trap of Dress Down Fridays. I didn't take you to see Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for your ninth birthday just for the fun of it and I certainly didn't buy you the two disc special edition dvd because I thought it would be a good Christmas present, because it isn't. How does Charlie win the day? He doesn't fall into the trap of keeping the everlasting gobstopper for himself, even though he was quite within his rights to do so. They may ask you to dress down in your new job, when, in fact, they want you to dress up. If you want to get anywhere in this world, my boy, don't fall into the trap of Dress Down Friday."

I was at the very bottom of my career ladder and promotion was on my mind, and so, on my first Friday I walked into my office wearing a tuxedo and top hat. I was fired immediately on the grounds of insanity.


Phillip, West Yorkshire.