TODAY I KNOW I am going to offend some people in this country who live more by form than substance; those who somehow seem to believe that everything old, no matter how obsolete, should be retained over any new object or thought.
While reading my Friday Daily nation on Christmas night, I was absolutely annoyed by a notice that appeared on the top of Page 3. It was headlined: Dress Code For Baobab Tower and came from a release issued the previous day by the Barbados Government Information Service. Following is the full notice:
“Members of the public are reminded that they must be properly attired and behave in a professional manner when doing business at the Baobab Tower.
“According to a notice from property manager Marvin Beckles, no tight or revealing attire, back-out or belly-out clothing, miniskirts, halter tops, short dresses and short pants will be allowed. Additionally, persons’ underwear should not be exposed.
“Visitors to the building are also asked to note that no curlers, head ties or scarves should be worn. In addition, proper footwear must be worn, as no bare feet or flip flops will be allowed. Also, no sunglasses or motorcycle helmets should be worn while in the building.
“In addition, customers must silence their mobile phones when entering the building, and refrain from loud and excessive conversations while on mobile phones, in the lobbies, or on the elevators.”
The opening statement about being properly attired and behaving in a professional manner when doing business is fair and reasonable as far as I am concerned.
Asking visitors to silence their mobile phones and to refrain from excessive conversations is also reasonable, although observant individuals will accept that in too many Government offices “loud and excessive conversations” are invariably provoked by poor quality service.
I am also absolutely in agreement with the “no sunglasses and motorcycle helmets” rule because in today’s world, we have to treat issues of security seriously and security personnel and electronic monitoring systems should be able to detect the facial features of every person who enters a building.
Worn in the tropics
But I take exception to any person or group of people who might be responsible for the management of a building, in which there are multiple businesses/offices offering a variety of public services, determining that they will not allow anyone to enter if they are wearing something that is “tight or revealing . . . , back-out or belly-out clothing, miniskirts, halter tops, short dresses and short pants”.
That is, in my view, absolute folly. How on God’s green earth will a miniskirt or short dress, a back-out or short pants worn in the tropics impact negatively on the operations of a Government office? This amounts to nothing more than one individual or group of individuals with “power” imposing their preference on others.
Just imagine, a hard-working, industrious young woman on holiday and glad to be out of the business suits and high heel shoes, decides to put on her short pants and goes to drop off a letter at the Corporate Affairs office. Will the guard turn her back just because she is in shorts? You mean that a pair of shorts is now offensive wear?
And when a young woman determines she can’t afford a hairdo at a particular time, but must do business at one of these offices but does not want to expose her “bad hair day”, if she decides to nicely tie it down, you mean that will offend Baobab’s rules?
You mean to tell me Rosemary Alleyne has to untie her head to conduct business there? Will they treat her like the son of the general worker who dropped her off one morning, but could not go in with her to retrieve a parcel she had left at work the previous day, only because he was wearing a short pants?
I am also curious about something else. FedEx, UPS and other courier services include short pants as part of the uniform of their delivery staff. Will the security at Baobab Tower be instructed to turn them back? Or is it that their shorts are different?
I have said before when similar rules were posted on the doors of the judicial centre on Whitepark Road soon after it was opened, that I also thought it was folly. If you are going into the law courts that’s one thing – of course we all accept the rules of attire for the courts – but why should a woman wearing a strap dress while going to register the birth of a child or to collect a certificate from an office be told she can’t enter?
These rules are features of our colonial past that we seem unable to set aside. I wish someone would tell me what security or other risk a pair of slippers pose when worn by someone conducting business at a Government office? How will they disturb the operations of the building?
No justification
Yes, some people will offend us by the way they dress, but why should personal taste in clothing determine if people can benefit from a public service?
I believe that if street character Ninja Man walked into Baobab Tower smelling musty, wearing a dress and badly in need of a bath, announcing he was there to pay his solid waste tax, he should be ushered in like anyone else. Call out the custodial staff to disinfect everything he touches if that offends you, but as long as he is not indecently exposed and is not a threat to anyone, there can be no justification for barring his entry. Certainly not on the basis of his dress.
My view is that when too many of us believe we have “arrived” with our fancy houses, big rides with their intricate climate control systems that we refuse to turn off even when driving around at midnight, and highfaluting professional titles we bandy around even while buying Eclipse biscuits at the supermarket, we forget where we came from in the village, and the hot and musty ZR van and minibus we once depended on daily – and even the Transport Board bus for which we had to sit on a rock and wait for upward of two hours.
Elevator not working
But anyone who endures these “necessities” today and comes into our offices a little frazzled or sweaty is to be abhorred.
We could care less about the phone that rings in our office all day without an answer; the employee who puts you on hold and never returns; the clerk who can’t answer the simplest question because she can’t be bothered to look; the receptionist who finds every call after 4 p.m. an intrusion on her departure preparation time – and the list goes on. At Baobab Tower, a brand new building, we can have a elevator not working for months while the property management department is bothered about who is visiting in a short pants or miniskirt.
As an American professor told me when I was an undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University many years ago: “You don’t have a problem with racism in Barbados, your big problem is classism.” She was intimately familiar with Barbados and well versed in matters of race and gender, so she was qualified to talk.
But hold on folks. I plan to put on my T-shirt, short plants and slippers very soon and go pay a visit to my dear friend who works at Baobab Tower. I will report back on what happens, either from Fontabelle, St Michael, or Dodds, St Philip.
By the way, a happy New Year to you and yours.
