For work, we had a yearly gathering of the 75 of us in this hemisphere who have my same title. I had told my manager and his manager that I intended to participate in internal-only calls and meetings as Kate, and that I was coming to this event dressed as Kate. We are a very casual dress company, but a female co-worker had advised me to dress business professional, which is what she does, in spite of all the jeans and T-shirts.
So, I brought 4 skirts, and 4 nice tops, and attended all functions completely as Kate.
And, it was a total non-event. Several people who knew the old me, gave me VERY encouraging words, and several people who didn't know the old me really didn't do anything besides treat me like another woman on the team. (Well, there are only 3 women on this team, so we all sort of stand out.) In one case, a co-worker, who did know the old me, came into a room to find me. There were only two of us in the room, when the co-worker came in. He looked around, right past me, and walked out again. Later, he told me he thought I was just a new woman on the team he hadn't met.
Late in the week, I told people, who knew the old me, that the first day of meetings was the best day at work in the more than 23 years I have been there.
While virtually all of my clothes are women's clothes, I do not have nearly enough "business professional" women's clothes to do my job every day. My Best Day At Work in 23 years is going to have some very expensive ramifications in my shopping budget...
Kate
