Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for January 22, 2023

Two words: Half Windsor

The great thing about working in a lab is that the labcoat says “I am a professional with highly specialized, required skills”, and also “don’t get your hopes up about my social skills”.

I’ve kept all my narrow ties from the sixties, waiting for them to come back into style. Now I don’t wear ties any more.

What business does he run?

And his brain power is operating at 1/2 a fetterman.

Instead of a choker, how about the neck kerchief with a slide fastener so everyone can appear to be brave, reverent, trustworthy and loyal. Emphasis on appear.

I found the ad … it starts out with, “What to do with your After Six tuxedo between weddings.” Some good suggestions!

Back it up a couple more decades and tell everyone you’re going for hipster.

I guess I missed the window to sell my old neckties on Ebay.

I worked with a guy who was a part-time minister. Whenever he showed up at work in a suit, it meant he was officiating at a funeral that afternoon.

The Ol’ Corporate Leash.

I thought ties were so retro they were cool again.

Very interesting banter…Skippies glossed the idea of r e s p e c t Thank you Aretha

Mike’s business has become successful enough they can have a cafeteria?

Personally, I hate the idea of ties going completely out. It’s the only colorful part of a traditional male office attire.

Mike should wear the Horrific Neckie.

I had this conversation with my wife (who once lived in Chicago):

“Chicago is nice, but it’s very cold in the winter.”

“That’s true. If we lived there, you might have to get some pants that aren’t cargo shorts.”

I was going to say he has a point. Then I remembered that Congress also dresses nice and how little respect certain people show others. Also, I’m not going to give up wearing t-shirts and sweats when I work remotely. Not happening.

Look, I know they’re fictional, but I’m glad Mike and Kim found each other.

Hats & personas should not be glued to our heads. I love all my hats; & am a dancer, therapist, artist, hiker, writer. All work. And you know what, I’ve been doing massage therapy for 41 years. Way past my expiration date! Why? My hats aren’t glued to my head. Go Mike!

I have some four-in-hands. wood working rasps with four grits.

Being powerful is like being a gentleman, if you have to tell someone you are, you aren’t. (Apologies to Margaret Thatcher for the modification)

Too Hipster? Perhaps step back even further – A silk day ascot and (tobacco) pipe. Maybe a flat driving cap and Tweed jacket with elbow patches. But then, If you wore it once, perhaps you shouldn’t wear it again.

The original tie was good for keeping dust out of your tunic on the unpaved roads. The business tie was good for just slightly impeding the flow of blood to the brain. :)

style never goes out of style

Now tell me what purpose high heels serve (besides boosting business for podiatrists and orthopedic surgeons)

Interesting timing for me as I’ve gone back to wearing a tie to the office at least a few days a week. Honestly, I did it trying to gain at least a small measure of pre-March 2020 workplace “normalcy” (recognizing the limits of that concept). I’d become a bit untethered by the end of last summer and choosing to wear a tie was one office-related thing I could control. I am, however, a devotee of having the top shirt button undone and the tie loose. Plus, as one who feels continually disheveled, a tie makes me feel a bit less of a slob.

On the other hand, while I get where Mike is coming from, a tie clip was always a bridge too far for me.

We could all do better!

One of my favorite things when I was shooting wedding photos was wearing a jet-black Armani tux (which I got at an estate sale for $50 — plus another $75 for alterations, by a very skilled Hong Kong refugee). If I dress well, I operate with more confidence, and total strangers tend to take me more seriously.

If society needs me to dress up in a costume in order to function, then I’m going to be Batman.

I uzed to be impressed by people in ties. Then I got to be an adult and realized how uncomfortable they were for long periods and I became less impressed. Then the pandemic happened, I got away with not wearing a tie for a long time, and decided not to do it anymore. Then I went back to the office and found that the only guys wearing ties were the same guys whoze stupidity is constantly making more work for the people not wearing ties. I have no more respect for tie-wearers and I think that is a very reazonable opinion.

It is why you dress decently when you go to Church, you know God couldn’t care less but it shows respect.

So Trent is still around? Ew.

“Performative slobwear” is a great phrase.

For the last couple of decades of my office-going life, I would sometimes wear a tie on cold days just to keep my neck warm. It shocked people — I’d get asked if I had a job interview coming up after work. That was kind of fun.

I worked in an office making digital maps my entire career and never had to wear a tie! It’s just uncomfortable and a waste of time to put it on every morning. It makes you look stuffy and older than your age. Casual Friday meant exchanging the polo shirt for a T-shirt.

No one listed the fact that Mike’s tie is red and blue. For god’s sake, he’s trying to reunite us even with mtg, kevin the graveler, mattress gaetz and the rest of tRump island. too soon. too soon. clean the hen house first, then paint the walls. 2024 will be epic.

Peter Jennings always gave his tie a nudge offcenter.

Thanks to the pandemic and working from home “outta sight”,we may never lose the “informal look”.

But the phrase “slobwear” struck a bell with me.Down with slobwear.

Nice tieclip.

Oh, boo hoo. Mike, the crotchety!

A good friend describes that as “strangle rags” that restrict blood flow to the brain, reducing our ability to think clearly, which is ironic because our employers paid us to think.

With its Sunday-only schedule, the continuity on Doonesbury is so scattershot these days that I have no idea what business Mike is running, or that he does run one.