Man told he can't wear shorts to office, abides by the dress code for women instead
When a heatwave hits Britain, choosing an office-appropriate outfit that doesn't make you sweat buckets is a huge predicament. When one call centre worker was sent home for wearing shorts to work, he hit back in an act of brave defiance.
20-year-old Joey Barge from Buckinghamshire, UK, got into trouble at work after wearing shorts in the office during this week's heatwave.
He posted a photo of his navy shorts, asking his Twitter followers: "If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so?"
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Moments later, Barge posted an important update, stating he'd just been sent home from work.
"I got sent home and told to change into appropriate clothing but it said females could wear dresses so hey ho!" Barge told the Mail Online.
Outraged at the injustice of not being allowed to wear shorts in the workplace, Barge fought back. He donned a dress, which was in line with his employer's workplace attire policy for female employees.
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He returned to the office defiant, fully expecting to be sent home again.
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But, it looks like his employers took heed of his protest.
"They said it was a bit too colourful and asked if I wanted to go home and change because they were letting us wear shorts because of my 'protest' -- but I said I was happy to stay," Barge continued.
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Could change be on the horizon for the much-maligned shorts-wearers of the working world? Let's hope so.
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
