Armor Against A$$holes
Sorry, the profanity is unfortunate. I am always impressed with comedians who are funny and don’t need to swear. Particularly Tim Conway and Harvey Korman. Those sketches where they can’t keep a straight face are my favorite.
It’s just that the acronym works better this way. Armor Against Jerks just didn’t resonate.
The armor I’m referring to is professional dress at work. I have noticed a few benefits to dressing better at work.
Patients are less argumentative with me
Managers leave me alone
Coworkers harass me less often
Better therapy outcomes
I know what you’re thinking. It shouldn’t matter what we look like. But people do judge us on our appearance. Sometimes that’s wrong, and sometimes it’s legitimate.
Dressing better makes work easier for me, and leads to better patient buy in, and people being stronger and having less pain.
Lowest common denominator
I used to dress down as much as possible. “What’s the most I can get away with?” Jeans, flannel, holes, unshaven, sneakers? Hey, it’s feels good to be more relaxed.
Problem is, work duties are easier when people harass me less often. So yes, physically comfort wise, the sweats would feel better, but work is easier in slacks and dress shirt.
The company I currently work for is considering scrubs as being universal dress code. There’s nothing wrong with scrubs, especially if I was going to ruin work clothes with bodily fluids.
Scrubs also confer some kind of medical professional standards, they just tend to make me look like Doogie Howser.
Ammo for A$$holes
Sometimes the ammo for such individuals is to kill them with kindness. Sometimes these people have a right to be pissed off. They have to show up early, fill out reams of paperwork that’s redundant (including their pronouns), sit in the waiting area for 30 minutes, get charged $150-500 per visit to possibly be ignored or lectured that their pain isn’t real, or that they need to make “lifestyle changes”, while the person lecturing them is clearly overweight and out of shape…
Sometimes if I go out of my way to win them over with listening and attention, we find that they really weren’t a jerk in the first place. They are just frustrated with the sick care industry.
Sometimes that backfires, and I get stuck with a person who wants constant attention (kidding).
Human behavior is about expectations of behavior, like children
When I was a failed teacher, I learned alot about behavior. Much of it has to do with expectations of behavior. How low is the bar of expectations? Adults are the same as children, sometimes worse.
If I show up like a dirtbag, why not treat me like one? I set the bar of expectations.
Don’t get me wrong. When I’m off the clock, I frequently look like this;
Or worse, a bar musician.
I like the connection you make to dressing well as armor against jerks. I think it works that way because it shows that you have a respect for yourself, which resonates with others.
On a somewhat related note, I was looking at archival photos from Major League Baseball, and what is striking is that the fans are all dressed to the nines. I wonder what the decorum was back then...Today, fans are not the most fashionable (to put it lightly), and their behavior can often be as sloppy (to put it lightly).