Image consultant William Thourlby, “Passport to power”

What dress is expected may differ within the same company based on the job you hold, with distinctive looks for secretaries, sales representatives, assembly line workers, managers, vice presidents, or presidents. There may even be differences among divisions within the same company if divisions’ heads are personally allowed to set the standards for their employees.

There may also be differences on acceptable dress depending upon the profession a person is in, or whether the person is self-employed or working for a small company or a major corporation. Someone who writes screenplays for a television series and is self employed might dress casually at home and when writing scripts but wears typical business attire when meeting with studio executives. A writer on staff at a small independent company might wear very casual dress all the time at work, whereas another staff writer, employed at a major network, might dress daily in corporate business attire.

Dress may differ depending upon what section of the country an employee works in and whether it is in the city or more rural area. Smaller cities may be more casual than larger cities. A suit may still be required in a smaller city but it might not have to be a dark conservative suit or the latest fashion statement.

As image consultant Susan Bixler notes in her book: «The best business wardrobes begin with a plan. It is better to sort clothes in 4 piles- useless; marginal; worn regularly andcomfortable; sportswear or formal wear.

Compare the statements from the two columns of the following table and discuss the points. To what extend you could agree, to what – you couldn’t?

№	Business dress Do’s	№	Business dress Don’ts
1.	Whatever the dress code for your company, follow it.	1.	For both sexes white shoes are taboo before Memorial day and after Labor day.
2.	Within the dress code for your company figure out the colors and styles that are most flattering to you.	2.	Do not wait for someone else to pint out that your shoes need to be polished.
3.	If you wear jewelry, it should be subtle and low key, not flamboyant, very large, or too noticeable.	3.	Never wear the same suit or dress two days in a row (подряд)
4.	Every part of your outfit, from your shoes to your tie or the barrette in your hair should go together and be kept in tiptop shape: polished shoes, a pocketbook that does not look worn, fashionable shirts, well pressed suits or dresses, ties without stains.	4.	Never wear white socks with a dark suit.
5.	For men: make sure your non-button down shirt collars have stays in them.	5.	Never wear a tie with food stains unless it blends in with a dark paisley pattern.
6.	For men: make sure you take into account the standard dress code as it relates to the change in seasons - in general in the East and Middle west white and tan between Memorial day and Labor day only.	6.	Never wear riding boots (сапогu для верховой езды) to work ( unless you are one of the top executives of the company with such a noteworthy job-performance record that no one would mind if you even brought the horse)

Make the same table which would relate to your work environment.

Chapter 2: Being on time.

Problem setting:

1. Here are a few collocations concerning lateness. Make up your own preface to the chapter “being on time”. To have a problem with lateness, to confront the habit of lateness, to overcome lateness, to improve business manners, to be late occasionally, to be late persistently, arrive at office, to figure out what caused lateness, to break one’s lateness habit. Your preface has to contain a few sentences.

2. Study possible reasons for lateness (it will facilitate change) and decide which ones are a one-time occurrence and which ones are a routine that a worker should rather break?

3. Complete the list of the reasons given here in the line “other:”

Mechanical reasons:	Transportation problems:	Psychological reasons:
Alarm clock did not go off Alarm clock set for the wrong time Dawdling in the bathroom Spending too much time for breakfast	Car broke down Poor driving conditions Trains delayed Back up at toll booth	Need to be yelled at Need to be noticed Angry at the boss Afraid something is going to happen that day Procrastinating because of a wish to avoid something about the job Worrying about what is going on at home, so reluctant to leave for work
Other:……………………………… ……………………………………….. ……………………………………….	Other:……………………… ………………………………. ………………………………	Other: ……………………………… ……………………………………….. ……………………………………….

4. Will you deal with the lateness in two different ways if its nature is different (habit or occurrence)?