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Subject:Re: Dress Code From:Matt Abe <MATTA -at- COUNTY -dot- LMT -dot- MN -dot- ORG> Date:Thu, 17 Jun 1993 07:58:10 CST
September Radecki <sradecki -at- THETIS -dot- SHERPA -dot- COM> writes:
> Believe it or not, this is reality. I worked for three years as a
> vendor at the San Jose IBM site. I worked with engineers on a daily
> basis, documenting various products. If I showed up to work
> dressed in a suit, they reacted as if I were a manager or
> something. I could *not* get information. Basically, we came to
> the conclusion that they were intimidated when we dressed more
> nicely than they did.
As technical writers, we should understand this completely.
This phenomenon is well-documented in John Malloy's "Dress for
Success," the premise of which is basically the technical writer's
creed: "Tailor your message to the audience."
See you at the pool,
Matt Abe
[41st Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication]
[Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 15-18, 1994]
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Matthew Abe
Manager, Engineering Services
LaserMaster Corporation
7156 Shady Oak Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
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