Skirting the Issue

Richard and I were in an office meeting several years ago with four female colleagues. Jamesha was the lady in the delightful outfit with a colorful African-print skirt. The other three women were all wearing miniskirts.

The reason I noticed this last part is because the three women could not sit still during the meeting. For the hour when the six of us were making reports and giving status updates, the three women incessantly shifted and adjusted their miniskirts -- they were as fidgety as little boys on a long summer bus ride. It didn't matter that the lot of us were parked around a conference table and nothing eye-catching was revealed: the short-skirted ladies were clearly uncomfortable in their attire, pulling and tugging under the table to cover up as much flesh as possible. It was sad and comic and distracting all at once.

The happy exception was Jamesha: this confident and capable woman was a dignified individual who hadn't resorted to cheap (take that term how you will) wardrobe tricks to get attention and so "advance" her career.

Another time when the "career-minded" women were permitting themselves to engage in low-brow humor to show that they could do anything a man could do, Jamesha brought the issue to a close with the observation, "That must be some of that single girl humor." Delightful.

If you're too willing to sell too much, the meager remainder will leave you squirming to make up the difference.