Casual Friday in the 1960’s

I’ll bet you didn’t know that “Casual Friday” had a bumpy beginning.

You see, all those men on Wall Street really wanted to dress down one day a week, but the first try was a miserable failure.

“Shorts acceptable” in the dress code for Friday was misinterpreted all over the world.  This is one of the few pictures that exists from that day.  Most were destroyed when Wall Street crashed in 1987.

You see, on that first Friday, Mr. Artbacker wore his boxers, and because he was the CEO, every other man not in shorts immediately dropped trou hoping that emulating him would get them that corner office. 

Instead, customers were horrified, wives cried and Henley from Accounting became even more creepy (he’s the one in glasses and tighty-whities). 

A quick stop at Human Resources showed Mr. Artbacker where he misinterpreted the dress code, and in embarrassment, he canceled Casual Friday altogether.  It wouldn’t return until the 1980’s, after Mr. Artbacker’s four-pack-a-day habit caught up with him.

So, when you’re getting out your khaki’s to join in Casual Friday, remember the men who went into that cold, dark experiment and failed miserably.

Oh, and Henley now works for the Playboy Corporation, where creepy is acceptable.