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Subscribe to RSSWith political campaign season well underway, it's no surprise that the most in-demand Halloween masks of the season are President Obama and Governor Romney. The TODAY anchors reveal another surprise hot-seller of the season.
Is Honey Boo Boo from the reality TV series
Halloween has stopped disguising itself as just a kids' holiday. The National Retail Federation says Americans will spend nearly $8 billion this year on everything from scary décor to candy — and costumes for the whole family. Nearly half of adults say they plan to dress up, which means there are a lot of people either giddily anticipating or dreading going to work that day.
People in the pro-costume camp say that aside from the fun factor, there actually can be some legitimate career benefits to dressing up like a shambling zombie.
“I’m very into Halloween,” said Dana Pollati. As a digital developer for a publishing company, Pollati said only a few of the roughly 1,000 people in her building wear costumes. Pollati and her husband, who work at the same company, have started what she calls a tradition of over-the-top getups like black-and-white movie zombies and Lego versions of Jersey Shore characters.
The costumes attract a lot of attention, which Pollati said yields unexpected networking benefits. “I’ve met a lot of people that way,” she said, since colleagues and even higher-ups are eager to introduce her to workers from other departments she otherwise wouldn’t be likely to meet.
In some offices, people say they appreciate the camaraderie of dressing up as, for instance, a reality-show star. “I think for the team as a whole... it's a good culture thing,” said Corey Beale, a sales manager at software company Hubspot. He said the company’s annual costume contest is a good chance for workers to exercise their creativity in a different way.
Two years ago, Beale said he dressed as “The Situation” from the reality show Jersey Shore, with gelled hair, an oversized necklace and a dark spray tan. “It felt really strange being dressed like that on the bus” and getting strange looks from other commuters, he said. “I felt really awkward.”
Beale said his trip into work was probably less awkward than that of a (male) colleague who came into work dressed as Snooki, with a trucker hat and voluminous black wig, plus a fat suit that incorporated a bikini.
While an employee wearing a fat suit in drag may all be in good fun at one office, it can be a real-life horror story for human resources at another, said Amy N. Letke, founder and CEO of consulting company Integrity HR.
“It’s always concerning because we live in a time when every employer has to be thinking about a respectful workplace,” she said. “It gets out of hand so fast.” One person’s idea of funny may be offensive to their colleague in the next cubicle, especially if the costume touches on race, religion or politics.
There's also the minefield of revealing costumes. Letke said that even in a festive atmosphere, people need to keep factors like hemlines and necklines in mind. “The sexy costumes are the things that just can create huge problems” because an eyebrow-raising Catwoman outfit can torpedo the wearer's professional credibility.
“These things don’t just last for one day,” she said. “The impression can last for a long time.”
Costumes that elicit an "oh-no-they-didn't" moment from co-workers aren't limited to the overly risqué numbers, either. Tilmon Brown, a former imaging company salesperson, remembers a Halloween when a co-worker came dressed as a feminine hygiene product.
“He put on a pair of gray long johns and then he took a cardboard tube and cut arms in it ...and then he took the top and filled the top with cotton and had a string hanging out the back,” Brown said. "There was no doubt as to what he was," especially since the colleague painted “Tampax” on the cardboard.
“I think he thought everybody thought it would be hilarious ...After he walked in, he realized it wasn't a good idea but at that point he was too far in,” Brown said. The man was so sure his costume would be a hit that he didn’t bring a change of clothes, so after a few hours of fielding complaints from offended employees, management sent him home to change.
“A company opens themselves up for whatever when they have a company-sponsored costume event unless you lay down some rules,” Brown said.
If you don't tell them what the rules are, they’re never going to know," Letke said.
Trevor Villet, creative director at marketing company PlanIt, is one example of a person who took his employer's permissive attitude toward costumes to the extreme.
"Two years ago, I was a turd," he said. "I was head to toe, complete with corn — it was actually styrofoam — and pipe cleaner flies."
Villet, who had come in a relatively run-of-the-mill costume as the singer George Michael the previous year, estimated it took him about a week to assemble his gross-out creation, which involved long underwear, brown fabric dye and a lot of brown fleece.
His managers didn't reprimand him, Villet said, but the response from colleagues and other professionals who also had offices in the building was another story.
"I bought one of these fart machines and I hid it in the fabric, and just carried it with me," In the morning, Villet rode what he described as a "packed" elevator to his office, accompanied by a woman who worked with him. "I sort of nonchalantly hit the button and let it go,” embarrassing the colleague who had to exit the elevator with him. "I love putting people in awkward situations," he said.
A stunt like Villet's would probably be scarier than any ghost or ghoul to someone like Mary Baier, a former manager at at community bank who now has her own financial services practice. “My whole thing on the Halloween dressing up was that it was not professional,” she said. As one of the few outliers in a heavily pro-costume workplace, Baier said many of her co-workers called her a “nerd” and teased her.
Going to the boss wasn’t an option, either. “My department head would say, ‘Get with it, we need to let our customers see our hair let down,' ” she said. “I guess I was called a party pooper.”
Things got so bad, Baier said, that she resorted to taking vacation days on Halloween just to avoid the needling. “I hated it so much.”
Letke said it hurts morale when a worker feels implicitly or explicitly mandated to wear a costume against their wishes. “Peer pressure is so intense,” Letke said. “Some people may be very self-conscious about what kind of costume they wear because it has a lasting impact."
Do you wear a costume to work on Halloween? Tell us about it on Facebook.
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Only if you work in a place where there is live entertainment, such as a place that sells alcohol. No other exceptions!
Does that stick hurt when you sit down?
Hurts so bad he's conFUSSED!
They announced (again) that we can dress up in the office for Halloween. But I've noticed that very few of the people who dress up make it to the next Halloween. They let people dress up so that they can pretend to be a hip and 'with it' company, but they're still just a bunch of old fogies here.
This article just proves that people have lost their sense of humor all together. It is so sad that so many people have sticks shoved so far up their butts that it needs to be surgically removed. This just shows not just the lack of sense of humor people have but also the cattyness that goes on in the office and yet people and HR depts refuse to see that the first person to complain is usally the person who starts some sort of drama in the office and they are the one person who needs to just get a grip and learn to have some fun. Just cause you have a miserable home life doesn't mean you have to take it to work...please leave your nosey, catty, jealousy and what ever mental issuses at home and learn how to take a joke and get a life..Halloween is one day out of the year that people just need to get over themselves!
Some people need to grow up and act like an adult. It's not about being nosey, catty, or jealous. It's about being professional. I have no problem having fun at work but I sure as hell don't need to dress up like a pirate or vampire to do it.
Perhaps companies should start docking employees their pay when they use Halloween (or other special events like Super Bowl) as an excuse to jack around all day rather than doing the work they're being paid for.
Yet another reason why the U.S.A. continues to slip behind the rest of the world in productivity.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20572828/ns/business-world_business/t/un-us-workers-are-worlds-most-productive/#.UIVtNcWHJik
Ransom, you might want to check that productivity statement again.
I personally don't like to dress up for halloween at work, but what's the problem with the people who do? Let 'em have their fun.
It's one day a year.
Same here - but folks need to remember that they're at work and that professionalism is still required. MANY costumes that would be fine at parties are flat out wrong at work. The 'way too sexy', the turd and the tampax are perfect examples of what not to wear to work.
@BikerChick - the next 2 comments totally proved your point (gday and stoddard)
FormerMarineSgt,
Agreed.
Sorry, but I just prefer to act professional at work. I'm glad some people enjoy dressing up at work, I just was never one of them. Plus I'm unwilling spend hundreds of dollars on halloween. I think I'll be out $20-$25 that I spend on candy. If the kids want to go, they have to come up with costumes they can create, instead of those store bought things.(they're 14-18)
Well I agree that it can be allowed but should still be professional. I doubt it will ever be allowed at my palce of work. Molten metal is dangerous enough, so I'm okay with a no-costume policy at this job.
Mary Baier's co-workers need to get a different adjective than "nerd". More nerds dress up in costume at any time of the year, than the average person. EG - Comic Con, LARP, Ren Faire, etc.
Mary, you tell them they're the nerds! :D
(love, a nerd)
Mary Baier's co-workers also need to back off. How dare they try to shame her for not dressing up?
What a bunch of jackasses.
Agreed, that is actually workplace harassment and those doing the name calling or peer pressure should be hearing from HR instead of the poor woman taking a day off to avoid it.
P.S. I'm for dressing up for Halloween, it's fun! However, if managers were smart, which not all are, they would send out a memo about what is not allowed. If they don't, you may have an employee who goes too far.
We have a preschool where I work, so I'm going as Snow White!
I think it’s great if you work for a company that allows you to wear costumes to work on Halloween. Unfortunately, any costume you wear is going offend someone somewhere. This country has become so over the top politically correct that it is almost no fun to continue living anymore.
it is almost no fun to continue living anymore.
Hi Wilieturner, I hope you don't mean that literally. Keep on keeping on and have a little fun in the process. Happy Halloween!
But I am glad my company alllows it
Maybe I will go as a dirty sock! That won't offend anyone,will it? LOL!
I don't mind the dressing up, but you really need rules, and they were right that people remember the bad choices, and will look at you differently for a long time.
Nothing "slutty nurse" "slutty pumpkin", etc. Nothing that bears too much skin. Nothing like the Tampax, turd guy, or Trojan (you know, pull a nylon stocking over your head, and write "Trojan" on it). Like they said, nothing about race, politics, or religion (slutty Pope comes to mind...with several alter boys probably).
I still think the turd was kind of funny, but just not at work.
That's guy's costume couldv'e said "Same Sh..t, Differant day!" hehe!
we have a lot of people dress up for halloween at my company (I wear at least some sort of a costume every year). Some departments will even coordinate and do a group costume. We also have a costume contest every year. People are pretty good about not wearing skimpy or gross costumes. I think the most risque I've seen is a 'one night stand'- a guy dressed up as a table with a lamp shade on his head.
Costumes at work would not be a problem at all but there are three problems. First, we have become way too politically correct. This relates to the second problem: people have become umbrageous (easily offended). Third, people seem to have lost common sense. In this day and age, you don't need a costume to be a zombie!
My department always hosts a function on Halloween - that really doesn't have anything to do with Halloween, but we do incorporate a costume contest into it. However the people at my place of work, without fail to my knowledge, have kept their costumes fun and creative, while still keeping them appropriate. No massive cleavage, nothing anywhere near a tampon or a turd (who in their right mind would EVER think this was appropriate in 95% of work places today??)! There is a little bit of pressure to dress us - especially in my department since we're hosting the function - but if you choose to dress up, great! if you choose not to, who cares?
Everyone has their own comfort level. Dressing up at work may be outside the comfort level of A LOT of people who may otherwise dress up for a party or to go trick-or-treating with their kids - I'm one of those people.
But as long as the costume doesn't interfere with the person's work, and some COMMON SENSE is used when choosing a WORK-APPROPRIATE costume, I say, "Go for it!"
I don't mind costumes, but there is always the office hoochie who wears a skirt up to her a$$, that ruins it for everyone. I mean really? You seriously think that's appropriate? Just an excuse for some to show some skin in their pathetic attempt at making themselves feel good. You know who you are....ha ha
I agree there is always someone that wears the inappropriate outfit. Same with shoes and work clothes. If you would wear it to a club it is most likely not appropriate for work.
Hmmm Jealous of her cause maybe she looks better then you?
What difference does it make to you? Quit whining! You're ruining it for everyone. Let the hoochie alone. You're not going to change her and you'll just get the fun taken away from everyone!
It seems a lot of women use Halloween as an excuse to dress "slutty", even worse is the trend of putting 10 yos in similar costumes. With a little thought and creativity you can come up with fun, silly and scary costumes that don't make you look like a prostitute, really- whats that got to do with halloween?
Just enjoy the sight of the office hootchie for one day.
You can't do anything without offending people these days. I don't think it's unprofessional to dress up at work for Halloween. As long as their are guidelines, it's fine. Yes, a tampon would be inappropriate, but there again... guidelines. Also common sense.
About the guy who dresses as a feminine hygiene product?!?!?! I couldn't tell if that pun was intentional or not.
I am in HR and it is a thankless job.
Here are my job duties...
1. Keep the company from getting sued.
2. Hire people
3. Fire people
4. Get the best deal on benefits
OK...It is not HR's fault all you whiners complain about freaking EVERYTHING!!!! It is also not HR's fault that you all sue at the drop of a hat!
Don't hate the HR, hate your co-workers that spoil it for everyone. Spoilers are the worst!!!! I love dressing up! I think the honey boo boo things is a scream! I also thought that the tampon thing was funny, but a bunch of spoilers complained and ruined it for everyone.
QUIT COMPLAINING!!!! QUIT SUING OVER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!!!!
That way we can have our holiday back.
Hey MR. HR man, how about putting in a policy that says you still have to be mindful of being professional at work even in costume? That simple thing would solve your HR problems....
It's hard to beleive that as an HR person that you don't think about things like that.
That's all I do think about. I would have to though, if you guys weren't a bunch of whining babies.
....who would possibly want to dress for Halloween at work these days.....the pc bs is just too much to bother with and we live in a sad time where people are too afraid to even mention to a co-worker of the opposite sex that they look nice that particular day...fugetaboutit......
It never ceases to amaze me how many whiners there are in every office that hide behind the moniker of "professionalism."
The world isn't politically correct. Deal with it. People are going to have different opinions than you; people are going to offend you. If you can't get over it you'll never be more than an office drone anyway.
If someone wants to wear a slutty or inappropriate (and credibility-damaging) outfit, then let them. It's their own funeral. Stop being so nosy. It's not HR's job to police everything.
I worked in a huge office for awhile, and it never ceased to amaze me how they'd send home some women for "inappropriate" outfits and not others. Guess where the complaints against them were coming from? Other, usually older, women.
Have some fun on the holidays, and pay attention to the work on your own desk instead of what the person in the next cubicle over is wearing.
But here's the problem, my friend...in a lot of work environments, once these little trends start, it snowballs into an entire day's worth of no productivity for entire departments. The company I work for has about 6 of these a year including Halloween, a Super Bowl party on the Friday before, December holidays, and 3 different slack-off days under the guise of philanthropy. That's a crap load of money spent paying people to not do their jobs.
No, HERE is the problem, my not-friend: People like you who claim friendship when you clearly mean none at all. Hypocrites who do one thing and say another. People who smile at your face as they ready the knife for your back.
We know your type. We've had to deal with people like you - who bitch moan and complain about other people's productivity and here you are - on a work day - and YOU'VE BEEN POSTING ON CNN. Your own quote: "That's a crap load of money spent paying people to not do their jobs."
Is your job posting on CNN message boards? Yeah, I thought not.
HYPOCRITE.
I see your argument...but most companies aren't as "over the top" as yours. And Halloween doesn't "snowball" into philanthropic holidays. Most companies allow for some type of dress-up, and maybe a holiday party. Those are the companies I am speaking of.
The people complaining are just as big of a problem as the ones who are "celebrating." When they're complaining about their neighbors costume or this that and the other....they aren't doing what they were paid to do, either. And don't say it's the people's fault who dress up.
Bottom line, it's a shame personal responsibility has been thrown out the window and HR is expected to police everything like a school-yard aid. That's a lot of wasted money as well. You could've chosen what type of company with which you wanted to seek employment by doing a bit of research.
Hey Sam, how can you be so sure that I'm at work while I'm posting this? You leap to a lot of conclusions just to rip into someone who you don't know, have never met, and can probably perform rings around you in the workplace because I make certain to be a highly-valued asset to my company (without all the drama you cite) rather than someone who views a job as a paid excuse to socialize. I've survived 15 years of downsizes, reorgs, RIFs, and other corporate shenanigans because I do my job. I only b!tch when someone else's lack of productivity affects mine.
So now please pull your head out, take a breath, and stop jumping to conclusions just so you can rant.
“My whole thing on the Halloween dressing up was that it was not professional,” she said.
So then she went on - of course in a VERY UNPROFESSIONAL WAY - to let everyone know that THEY were being unprofessional - went WAY out of her way to bring everyone else down because she had a stick up her butt.
Lady - I have a suggestion for you right out of a Halloween Costume dream of a movie, Desperately Seeking Susan: "Take a valium like a normal person!"
"Letke said it hurts morale when a worker feels implicitly or explicitly mandated to wear a costume against their wishes."
Oh, please. Do you want to know what it REALLY is? A LACK OF IMAGINATION. There are several things a person could do that is innocuous, NOT over the top, innocent, prim, and professional. It's one frigging day out of the year.
Another way of looking at it is - the woman with such a problem with it? She's NOT a team player, obviously. She can't do what's necessary for the TEAM to succeed - it has to be about HER, the snooty witch. In fact, she should just come as she is - THE SNOOTY WITCH. People would recognize her from a mile away, I'm sure.
.
Not sure what happened with that one. My apologies fellow posters ^^
Ransom is probably the type that surfs all day on the internet, carefully bidding on (and paying attention to) eBay auctions, his twitter and facebook account, and updating his resume on LinkedIn, and then whines because his teammates didn't pick up his slack while he was playing.
Once again Sam, leaping to conclusions....Today is a well deserved day off after pulling my so-called "teammates" hineys out of a fire for over 65 hours last week. But please, continue to rant and rave about someone you don't know.
There is a four-letter word for Political Correctness. You guessed it - TACT. Few people have it these these days and those who do, do it well. And remember, Tact gets you out of what Diplomacy would have kept you out of.
Just remember what Winston Churchill said about being tactful, "Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”
That is a freaking awesome quote.
I hadn't heard that one before. Love it!
I messed up the first line. It's actually: Diplomacy gets you out of what Tact would have kept you out of. (Got that reversed the first time.)
Winston was a smart man, wasn't he?
Sure...go ahead and dress like a hoochie mama...and PLEASE let it be on the same day there are meetings with the management. Yea, I'm all for that. Ain't my career on the line. ;-)
Seriously folks...if you're gonna dress up for Halloween, keep it clean. If you want to see boobs and butts, rent a porn movie or buy the monthly edition of playboy or playgirl...and KEEP IT AT HOME. Good grief.