Appearances - do they matter?

Well polished shoes used to be the norm for many people years ago. My mum cleaned our school shoes every night, until we were old enough to do our own.

Not many folk seem to bother nowadays, and I know shoes are made of different materials, and trainers very common.

DIL has never bothered cleaning the GC’s shoes, well, DS hasn’t bothered either.

One Monday morning, after the GC had stayed overnight on the previous Friday, we had a frantic phone call from DIL asking if we had GS’s school shoes. Yes, they were on our shoe rack, he had gone home in his trainers and the shoes had not been missed until school time.

I asked DH why that would never have happened to our own children. He said “ Well, you would have cleaned our children’s shoes at the weekend, and would have noticed they were missing”.

Just how we differ on things, what is important to one is not to another.

Re doctors white coats - they’re very unhygienic. All health are staff have been required to be “bare below the elbow” to enable adequate handwashing. And no ties or jewellery - they can touch patients and spread infection.
Scrubs for all healthcare staff should be mandatory- can be easily laundered.

Cleaning trainers! my GS asked for a shoe cleaning kit last Christmas so I thought that was an easy ask and not over-expensive. When I looked up the link on you-know-what, I discovered that the price was over £30, and intended for the kind of designer trainers that cost a small fortune. He was wearing this solid gold footwear for our family get-together and they were certainly out of the ordinary!

I use wet wipe on trainers, and in the machine if they're too bad.

Whingingmom I agree with you 100%.

Children at school too should wear easily washed clothing which rules out blazers! And sleeves thta can be pushed up for hand washing. Which rules out blazers. Expensive nonsense!

I'll second that!
Totally ridiculous in this heat, too.

I don’t understand the “well polished” shoes argument either - shoes should be comfortable and practical, fit for purpose. As long as shoes and clothing are clean and comfortable and appropriate for the weather/job then anyone should wear what they choose. If you like full make up and well polished shoes or whether you wear overalls or scrubs, jogging bottoms and trainers or whatever, that’s your choice - enjoy it!!!

Even when uniform is issued, which is meant to eliminate 'what to wear' some people can look dirty and scruffy. There seems to be a lack of self pride. It's been great on lock down to be able to sit around in joggers but when I have a Zoom meeting I will do my hair, put on my make-up and try to look professional. I know that some of the young professionals no longer wear suits (especially in the tech industry) but I still think we should take pride in our appearance.

The dirty, scruffy look often takes more time, effort and money than the smart look.

When my kids were teenagers I used to say I don't mind what you wear, as long as it's clean.
The boys used to go mad when I put their fashionable white trainers through the washing machine, apparently they were supposed to be dirty... ?

For work I have to dress smart casual as I deal with the pubic. In lockdown I don't give a stuff about what I look like , grubbing in the soil with my baby plants is so lovely so I just wear old leggings and anything I can find on top. If anyone like me that's because of me not what I look like. If not going out or in my garden I may keep jamas on all day. When I retire I will burn anything that looks remotely smart casual. Anyway how the h.. can anyone be both smart and casual at the same time.