Uniforms For the Help Desk?

An anonymous reader writes "I am an IT worker in a mid sized company with approximately 500 employees. There are 30 people on the IT staff, 6 of whom are on the help desk. Our help desk does have significant visibility in the company, and most people know us by face (some by name). Recently the idea has been floated up the management chain to have these help desk workers wear IT department branded shirts. The idea is to promote visibility and unity. Wearing of these shirts would be mandatory Monday through Thursday. The shirts would not be identical (there would be several styles offered). We would be the only department with specific garments outside of the normal business casual dress code. Is management out of line with the industry in promoting this sort of policy change? Is the singling out of 6 employees as 'the IT guys' a step in the right direction, or does it detract from the professionalism that we are trying to display as a department?"

Would you like fries with that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol. Yeah, to hell with that.

I know style they Should be

[Herkum01]

Call them red shirts, and remind them what happens to red shirts in Star Trek, because as the saying goes, image is everything!

Well...

[Guil Rarey]

is the color blaze orange with concentric circles on the back?

Other Roles Would Be Good Too

[psbrogna]

While we're on the subject, I'd like sales people to be readily recognizable as well. Perhaps a red S emblazoned on their forehead with a red-hot branding iron.

Are they offering propeller beanies as well?

[John Hasler]

n/t

Superhero costumes to hide true identities

[Rene S. Hollan]

Given how IT staff get harassed to fix everything, and blamed for everything broken, I would suggest an idea floated during my days as a university student.

See, we had these "Programmers On Duty", or PODs, many of whom were volunteers, who would look at your program, and attempt to help you find what was wrong. This was pretty much a thankless job, and anything you broke, and they couldn't fix, was considered their fault. (This was the late 70s era of punched cards, and computer printouts, with actual terminals a rare and coveted tool -- the POD had an office with, you guessed it, a terminal -- a CRT to boot, so one would not have to keep trying to use the back of discarded printouts in the DECwriters. The attraction of POD duty was access to that terminal, in hopes it would be a slow day.)

A bunch of us thought that PODs should be issued distinctive uniforms as well: superhero-style costumes actually. Ostensibly this was to distinguish them as members of a rare breed: people who could debug programs quickly. In fact, the intent was to shield their identity lest the be pestered to provide help while off duty.

Oblig.

[Weaselmancer]

"You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear."

Re:Other Roles Would Be Good Too

[rainmaestro]

For the accountants, a nice big "A" emblazoned on the breast. Perhaps in a lovely scarlet color.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[larry bagina]

The assless chaps and leather vest are nice but I think the ball gag would interfere with conversations.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[Rei]

How about something like this [thinkgeek.com]? Even if they embroidered "IT" onto it, that'd still be great ;)

(Waves hand) "This is not the operating system you are looking for."

Or for a similar style, perhaps this [thinkgeek.com].

Just seems appropriate for the IT staff. ;)

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[UnxMully]

yeah, maybe someone should ask why management isn't wearing department specific garments that say "management" on them.

What do you think a tie actually is?

A garrotte in training?

Re:Superhero costumes to hide true identities

[tempest69]

Yea, and when /insert supervillan here/ attacks. The extra time spent killing the POD's would provide time for the others to escape.
brilliant

Storm

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[sjames]

It's to keep you from abusing a lamp cord when you decide the time has come.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[Red Flayer]

Good point. I would have to see the uniforms before passing judgment. Without further information, I would say that in general, uniforms marginalize individuals and make them feel like a smaller cog in the machine.

I've seen the uniforms. I have no problem with wearing one of them, as long as it isn't the red one.

BOSS: Ensign Flayer, you and Scotty head over to the VP of Marketing's office to troubleshoot his docking station.
ME: FUCK

Re:I like uniforms

[Anonymous Coward]

a shirt that doesn't clash

shoes that "go"

No one will ever mistake me for a metrosexual.

I have bad news for you: one of these things doesn't belong...

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[adamstew]

or "Beardo the Bearded"

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[palegray.net]

I wholeheartedly agree that the uniforms should be seen first. I've got an inside source who has sent me photos of the current uniform concept [thinkgeek.com].

Re:Professionalism

[ion++]

Maybe a uniform design like a red jacket with a shining insignia on the left chest and a black top that covers the shoulders and a little down. + black pants. Naturally all made in spandex.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Plus, it is as lot more fun to say "assless."

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[alta]

You have this all wrong.

Yes, TG does have the uniform, however this is the correct one...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/388b/ [thinkgeek.com]

And since they've already said that not all of the shirts have to be the same...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/ad98/ [thinkgeek.com]
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/itdepartment/5cb5/ [thinkgeek.com]
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/59fe/ [thinkgeek.com]

Hell, just go visit the category pages...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/ [thinkgeek.com]
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/itdepartment/ [thinkgeek.com]

And for christmas this year, someone got me
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/31fb/ [thinkgeek.com]

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[Tracy Reed]

I thought it was to hold the foreskin back.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[dangitman]

Sure, but "assless chaps" is funnier than "chaps". It also implies the chaps are worn without pants

I thought it implied that the guy has no ass.

Uniforms in IT??

[Anonymous Coward]

Ive worn uniforms in many IT Jobs as System Integrator as even as Senior Network Analyst, it is good for support staff who have to get under desks and get dirty around comms cabinets, it gave me a feeling of pride and also its a good excuse to increase what little power IT departments usuall have in an organization, now im working for a Government body its uniforms all the way....

You could always buy your staff the "No I will not fix your computer t-shirts.."

Thank goodness ...

[PPH]

... they've said nothing about pants. Making me wear pants to work would just be too much, IMO.

armbands?

[Aurisor]

You might want to float the idea of having armbands. They're unobtrusive, sharp, and have been shown in the past to foster a sense of shared identity.

Might want to give a little thought to putting a logo of some sort on it too...maybe one of those Indian good luck symbols...you know, something simple that looks good in black and white.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[FiloEleven]

Ooh! What they need is a variety of uniforms depending on the task currently at hand! Working on a server outage? Put on the fireman outfit. Users not obeying your policies? Policeman. Laying cable or moving computers around? Cleaner. Spyware removal? Nurse. Coding? Scientist.

The Judge uniform should of course be used in all meetings, because any psychological trick to get management to actually listen to the IT department should be exploited to the fullest.

The IT Dept should be able to choose its uniforms

[ExRex]

Original Series, NextGen, DSN or Voyager. Seems reasonable to me.

Re:Tell it to the plastic clown

[Cederic]

Wtf? Put a clean shirt on every day. Especially if you're crawling under desks.

Someone between my legs, I want them clean and smelling real good..

Have fun with it!

[CudaFS]

I work in a IT dept of two people for a small town. The IT head wanted us to come up with a logo to "Brand" our dept. So we worked on the style and substance and came up with a nice 3 color logo. I tossed in some binary because it looked good in red and stands out in the logo. 01010010 01010100 010000110 01001101.(yes, the boss knows what it means) When any user or "Tie Wearer" asks what it means we just tell them its some random binary numbers.

British Maid Outfit preferred by IT professionals

[strangeattraction]

Most IT professionals have adopted the British Maid outfit for the help desk, Norge repairman butt crack pants for the techs and Bondage Mistress for the CIO.