Silicon Valley's startup corporate culture is noted for its downscale fashion and manners: flip-flops, office games and casual decor. If that's the norm, how do you handle casual Fridays? How do you impress others as a nonconformist? By dressing up formally, often with bowties and a tophats:
The trappings of a nonconformist workplace were on display recently at the headquarters of a startup here named Pulse: There was the foosball table, the containers of free M&Ms, the bottle of whiskey on top of the fridge.
And the guys standing around in suits and ties.
It was Friday, after all, and to truly defy conformity at some tech outfits on that day of the week, one must not wear jeans or flip-flops.
Pulse employees were practicing "Formal Friday," dressing in their Sunday best. "It is kind of flipped…because we're super casual the entire week," says Akshay Kothari, co-founder of Pulse, a startup that makes a news-organizing app. "You want to break the monotony."
Watch a video at the link, then go buy a bolo tie for next Friday. Because bolo ties are cool.
Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Spark Fun Electronics
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