Who am I kidding?

Garbage bag juice, you don't want that on your gear.

..

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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There are many ways to dress well without wearing coat and tie.

All the things that you might have recently learned or taught yourself about quality of materials and make, fit, and coaxing out combinations that look swell are equally applicable to casual clothes.

For the most part, I agree, but I'm not sure I would encourage nicer materials for one who might be handling garbage.

That really sucks. I also had garbage juice ruin a pair of light swede converse all stars when I was young and had forgot to throw the trash after I changed from work garb, brand new out the box!

I've found over time I learned by mistake a lot of the pitfalls you need to be aware of when wearing nicer clothes. Even things like forgetting to ash out a smoke and the wind blowing it into you, or wine drips, cooking spatters etc. You will eventually start observing your surroundings, like chairs or benches before sitting. I've found in time it becomes more of an instinct and you will learn from your mistakes. You will be more hesitant and careful next time, I wouldn't give up the clothes.

Originally Posted by gladhands

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For the most part, I agree, but I'm not sure I would encourage nicer materials for one who might be handling garbage.
Hope you have a poorly dressed maid, otherwise this is kinda douchey.

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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There are many ways to dress well without wearing coat and tie.

All the things that you might have recently learned or taught yourself about quality of materials and make, fit, and coaxing out combinations that look swell are equally applicable to casual clothes. Nicer shirts, nicer pants, nicer shoes, nicer accesories, nicer outerwear: those are projects in and of themselves if you have not spent any of your earlier life attending to how you look.

- B

+1 Verbatim. Beautifully stated.

as a sanitation engineering manager i feel your pain - ruined a 3 piece suit today at work

Originally Posted by Mr. Mystery

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That really sucks. I also had garbage juice ruin a pair of light swede converse all stars when I was young and had forgot to throw the trash after I changed from work garb, brand new out the box!

I've found over time I learned by mistake a lot of the pitfalls you need to be aware of when wearing nicer clothes. Even things like forgetting to ash out a smoke and the wind blowing it into you, or wine drips, cooking spatters etc. You will eventually start observing your surroundings, like chairs or benches before sitting. I've found in time it becomes more of an instinct and you will learn from your mistakes. You will be more hesitant and careful next time, I wouldn't give up the clothes.

+1 good post and I agree.

Like somebody else mention in this thread, **** really does happen. I was running late one day, I grab the very first shirt I saw. It was a recently purchase white RRL selvedge ocbd. I was basically power walking, then I bump into somebody and basically his cup of coffee ruin my shirt. Just like that, a really nice $150 shirt got ruin. The thing was, I end up buying that same shirt on b/s that night.

I feel your pain - I work with antiques, and we're expected to wear (depending on which of the two branches of the company I'm at that day) either a business suit with tie at the up-market branch, or at least a dress shirt and "nice" jeans at the more down-market one, or if we're not seeing customers. I've gone through a lot of good clothes just by carrying stuff around and ripping trousers, scratching shoes, staining everything - there are a lot of situations where the "porters" - the transport guys with proper work clothes - can't be waited for. Worst story: House-call at an elderly, slightly crazy lady's incredibly huge, once very stylish, and run-down and dirty flat; she wanted me to take a couple of big and rather pricey paintings away for auction, not wanting to wait for the transport guys who were coming for the furniture etc. later. I wrote a receipt, explained how the auction process worked, etc., unhooked the paintings - and a couple of bird's nests, complete with rotten eggs, tumbled down over my head, suit, tie, shirt, everything...turns out she had a number of sexually frustrated tame birds that had built nests and laid eggs all over the place, and the huge, deep, gilded frames were perfect ledges for nests. The stench was just unfuckingbelievable. The only thing I could salvage was the shirt, which could be boiled clean. The tie actually looked like it had had acid or something like it poured over it - don't rotting eggs turn into sulphur or something?

Originally Posted by Digmenow

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I mean, really.

Yesterday, I wore a Brooks Brothers shirt and tie, nice Italian odd slacks which had been pretty heavily altered for a better fit and a pair of brown Allen Edmonds Park Avenues to work (retail store manager). There was no one to take out the trash so the task fell to me and of course, one of the bags had sprung a leak and unbeknownst to me, deposited some form of liquid stain on everything I was wearing. Shirt, tie, pants and shoes.

I immediately went to the restroom and attempted to soak the soiled parts of the shirt but failed abjectly. The tie? Toast. The jury is out on the pants until I get them to the dry cleaner and the spotted shoe might just survive to be worn another day. I was forced to walk through the store in my white tee shirt since the dress shirt was now thoroughly soaked. I reached the office and upon entering, discovered that my boss had arrived for a visit and was occupying a chair, regarding my attire with mild amusement/amazement.

I was forced to put on the company issued manager shirt, which is a solid black cotton tee with the company logo emblazoned across the chest. No lie. conservative business dress, for me used to consist of a pair of khaki pants and a BD denim chambray LS shirt with the company logo above the breast pocket. That degenerated into a series of polyester 3 button placket polos in various colors and has now bottomed out with this ridiculous black tee shirt.

We are, of course, allowed to wear a dress shirt with or without a tie.

So why am I here on styleforum? The original cost of ANY one item I was wearing (admittedly thrifted but more on that below) would have paid for my boss' entire outfit. I don't meet important clients who wear suits. I'm not going into court to try a case. I might meet the owner/CEO once a year. The addition of a necktie probably makes me one of the top ten best dressed in the company. What's the point of going to a job every day in clothes where there is a good likelihood that they will be ruined in an instant?

In actual dollars/probable retail, the ruined clothing cost was as follows:
Tie: $2 / $65 to $75
Shirt: $5 / $65 to $95
Pants: $6 + $15 alterations / $100?
Shoes: $10 / $200 at Nordstrom rack or $300ish full retail

So in reality, I've lost just over twenty bucks and probably less depending on final cleanup but that doesn't matter. The time spent finding these items counts for something and there's an intrinsic value to me. Dammit. I was wearing nearly $400 to $600 worth of clothing (not including the BB SC that I was not wearing at the time).

I ask again. Why?

I feel your pain. I really do. I'm sorry about what happened to you.

On the bright side, you may have just discovered a talent for creative non-fiction...

The solution is to learn to take your tie off, roll up your sleeves and hold the garbage bag well away from your body and to the side. I really doubt the bag would be heavier than 20kg so it should be doable for a grown man.

Bring an apron to work with you.

Originally Posted by TheWraith

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Bring an apron to work with you.

Hah! Why didn't I think of that?

Meanwhile, thanks for all of the replies. Some real horror stories from some of you guys.

Me? Well, I ironed up another shirt, put on another tie and went to work again. Sadder but wiser and a bit more cautious. I'll not give up this easily. I find that after years of not wearing a tie daily, it feels good to do it again now that I have a bit of a better idea of what I'm doing.

Regarding that "official black tee", to borrow a quote...

"Illegitimi non carborundum!"