Office Halloween Costume from HR’s Perspective

You know the Marlboro Man will come home with a full bag of treats!

Office Halloween costumes

Some things never change in the workplace. Getting drunk at the company holiday party, the summer picnic, and inappropriate office Halloween costumes. Both are HR classics. Just like Santa is busiest on Christmas Eve, HR is usually busiest on two days. Halloween and the day after the Company Holiday party. If a company doesn’t have a the occasional problem, I am out of a job. For this reason, please keep my life interesting and keep the inappropriate costumes coming.

Don’t get me wrong; I am all for team building, and costumes can do that effectively. I love it when a department dresses up in a theme because it shows they banded together. This team worked together and came to a decision together. It can be as simple as the Men in Black theme. The entire team comes dressed in black suits and a white shirt with a black tie.  It can be as elaborate as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I struggle internally when an entire department comes to work dressed in a “Pimps and Hoes” theme. I don’t have kids.

Kids in the workplace is a tell

I won’t admit it publicly, but it is fun to see the little crumb snatchers come to their parent’s work in their kiddy costumes. Call me the Grinch who Stole Halloween, but to HR, it is a tell that parents like their workplace when they bring the little kiddies to work.  If they hated the place, they would treat the office like the home of a sexual offender.

Every year, the HR department has a betting pool on Office Halloween costumes. This year is no different. This year, my money is on whatever costume Hot Jenny in our accounting department will throw down.  Usually, there is too much cleavage, too much leg, and heels that are too high. She has won me a lot of money in the last couple of years. Like every year, inappropriate Office Halloween costumes that will cause pause, whispers, and raised eyebrows:

This year’s predictions

• Snookie 3:4
• Ghadafi: 2:1
• Anything Jenny in Accounting wears:  7:4
• Jenny in Accounting as Snookie  7:2
• Sexy Occupy Wall Street Protester 1:15
• Amanda Knox 2:3  (I work in Seattle)
• Lance Armstrong on steroids 3:2  (Lot of bikers here)
• There is always the dumb ass that comes to work sporting the inappropriate costume. You know them, you have seen them. I won’t admit it publicly. I can even appreciate them behind closed doors when they are done well. A few come to mind:

The usual suspects

I worked at an insurance company, and someone came dressed as a hurricane survivor. Although done well, it was an inappropriate office Halloween costume. Our guy was an adjuster and just came from the field.  He looked more like a businessman who had gone through a windstorm. Hair moussed back, and tie flying behind him via a coat hanger inserted into the tie to help keep its shape. Palm leaves stuck into his suit. . . . . you get the idea.

The old Pizza Box around the guy’s waist trick. Yes, it’s a classic, but that pizza box still had last week’s pepperoni in it and isn’t very sanitary.

Modern Elvira sporting cleavage with a capital “C” and the slit up the dress. She might be able to get some work done. The productivity of the folks around her will be like her costume: minimal.

Lastly, there is always someone who comes to work in their grubbiest, most unprofessional clothing. They treat this day as if it is “Casual Day.”  This is the worst form of abuse, in my opinion. It isn’t a costume. It is just being lazy. Most of all, it gives everyone the impression that this person is a slob outside of work.

The real you

Halloween Costumes come in all shapes and forms. Just like drunken behavior, costumes can reflect the real person. There are mean drunks and friendly drunks. Costumes can also reflect one’s respect for one’s company, customers, and co-workers.

Me. The house lights were turned off at 5 to show no one was home. My office Halloween costume is business casual, as usual. Homage to the iPod is great, but if ANYONE makes fun of Steve Jobs with their office Halloween Costume inappropriately, you are dead to me.
See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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