A Little Help Please. Kilts at Work Research

[Riverkilt]

If you wear your kilt to work sometimes, would you be kind enough to let me know whether you've ever had an incident where a client/customer was offended by your being kilted on the job?

Or, where you thought you might have had a problem establishing rapport with a client or prospect or customer because you were kilted.

Would also help if you could let me know the type of work you do kilted.

Either a post here or PM is fine.

Reason. I had a talk with my CEO last week and apparently his remaining concern is that my wearing kilts at work "may" prevent me from establishing rapport or connecting with some clients due to their perceptions or prejudices.

He's asked me to think about that subject for a few days and we are to talk again in a week or so.

While I'm doing my own thinking and some research, I thought it might be helpful to have some feedback about the actual experiences of those of you kilted at work.

Thanks for any help.

Ron

[Kiltferone]

I don't know if this counts. I do not own a kilt yet (on order) but my boss has already told me it is okay to wear at work. I manage a retail store with all kinds of customers coming in and he is not worried about it. Good luck with your ongoing quest to be kilted at work.

[JimB]

Having been re-directed to read the site rules again.....now I can say that I wear a kilt to work infrequently (twice a month). I once asked if my wearing a kilt on a day when we were to have many visitors would be a problem. I was told that the group was "kilt worthy"....whatever that means, but I took it to mean that kilts are ok with outside folks as well as our staff.

It's not the clothes but how a person acts and carries himself. In other words practice good kiltsmanship and nobody should be offended.

[ccga3359]

It sounds like there was a perceived idea that someone may have a problem with your kilt. No official complaints? As you know Ron the world is full of narrow minded individuals, there are also people who would be offended by a kilt. To be honest I may very well have been intimidated by someone in a kilt. My first non-scottish sighting was a goth in black. My initial reaction was intimidation followed by intrique. How easy and quickly is it for you to establish yourself as an equal to a prospective client?

[johnnym]

I work in a legal office and wear a kilt to work once or twice a week. I have very little contact with clients. I was a little apprehensive about wearing a kilt at first, but my lead attorney has never mentioned or commented on the wearing of one. All of the kilts I wear at the office are tartan (my preference over solid colors) and I wear them with a dress shirt and tie. We have a dress code, but it does not mention kilts or other ethnic clothing. I probably dress to a higher standard than most other employees by my own choice. I am a professional and dress accordingly. I always insure that the kilts I do wear are clean, pressed and present a well-dressed image.

[cavscout]

First, I'd suggest contacting a few of your clients from the past 1+ years that you've already worked with. Get their feedback. To me, I think that would be
a valuable bit of information to show him that clients are not put off by the kilt.

As far as my job, I don't really work with outside customers in person but those who have come to the office and seen me in a kilt have not been negative. I work with commercial construction sales representatives. My inside customers (co-workers) give me ribbing on occasion, but it's a non-issue. It helps that the owner of the company approves, so no one else's opinion matters.

[cessna152towser]

I first wore a kilt to work in January 2003 when I injured a leg and was hobbling around on crutches. Not wanting to be off work I wrapped a kilt around my waist and went into the office. At that time I was manager of a town hall. I received lots of compliments from the staff and public and several people expressed the sentiment that they would like to see more men wearing kilts around the office. After my leg healed I continued to wear the kilt to the office one or two days a week. There was never any difficulty about my kilt wearing either with the elected councillors nor with senior management from council headquarters. I accepted an early retirement deal in mid-2004 (nothing to do with being kilted) and set up my own business providing specialist legal services to the public sector. My work includes sitting as a magistrates clerk/assessor in the District Court two or three days per month for which I almost always wear a black kilt. I have received several compliments on the kilt. My court deals mainly with road traffic cases and we regularly have to deal with drivers who have travelled from England for cases which arose from incidents when they had been in Scotland on business or on holiday. Often they are stressed as they are at risk of losing their driving licences and I have found that the kilt can be a great icebreaker which makes me more approachable and the court process less intimidating.

[cloves]

I'm female..so i'm not sure i can offer any insight. However I will say...that kilting at work has been incredibly positive. Kilting doesn't alienate my customers at all, in fact quite the opposite. I find it really opens doors for conversation to take place, which I find very rewarding. Both socially, and financially.....because the customers I talk and open up to are the ones that usually buy stuff.
Take that for what it's worth...kilting at work for me is a really good thing.

[Rigged]

I've taught First Aid and CPR as a Red Cross volunteer for years, kilted. I received not a single complaint. We all recieved a memo a year or so ago about dressing professionally and appropriately, but I was still allowed to wear the kilt while instructing.

My current employer requires that I wear a uniform while on duty, but allows me to wear a kilt during company functions when I'm not on the payroll. I've gotten some interesting questions from co-workers and a few negative reactions (initially, but not lately), but my boss and his boss have seen me kilted and haven't said anything about it.

On my screensaver at work I show the full range of styles and the history of kilts with photos from war years, formal and informal kilt photos, photos of guys working in the modern kilt variations, fictional depictions from movies and television (Braveheart, Highlander, Monarch of the Glenn, James Bond, etc.) to put my kilt-wearing in context. I think that's helped people who were otherwise confused to make sense of the kilt thing.

[McMurdo]

Ron
I wear my kilt to work on a daily basis, I am in the financial printing business. Recently the director of my site had her twenty year party, so I wore my Graham of Mantieth kilt, no problems in fact it quickly became the talk of the party. Even more recently one of the Vice Presidents of the company came up for a meeting with us all I was wearing my Isle of Skye, again no problems at all.
As a recovering alcoholic it has been my experience that when one is in early recovery, as your clients are they don't really care about what others are wearing, your bosses assertion that your clothes "may" prevent you from establishing rapport or connecting with some clients due to their perceptions or prejudices, is in my mind an unthinking one at best. How long have you been kilted at work before this unfortunate set of circumstances? Two years or more? Have there been any complaints regarding your wardrobe from any of your clients? I think not.
Now that I see what the reasons are I think they are utter hogwash, unfortunately you have to convince your boss that your wardrobe does not factor into your effectiveness to your clients, my wardrobe effects my work in only one way as I am sure your wardrobe effects you, it gives me great pleasure to wear a kilt, and that pleasure and freedom effects my mood, thus making me a better and more effective employee.
Best of luck with this new development I hope it works out in your favor.