Mike Causey

July, Not June, is Busting Out All Over

When you arrive at work each day do you sometimes think you\'ve entered a fashion twilight zone? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says what\'s left of the offic...

Federal News Network Staff

July 22, 2008 4:00 am

2 min read

In many parts of the U.S., the two middle weeks in July are the hottest time of the year. Last weekend The Washington Post reported that July 21st is typically the hottest day in D.C. That’s good enough for me. Hot enough too.

In fact, the hottest day in Washington was July 20, 1930 when it hit 106 degrees. Record highs for other states, including, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Idaho, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, New York and Ohio were recorded in mid-July.

But some folks don’t need news flashes to tell them when it’s been hot for a long time. All they have to do is look around their office, at what people are mostly not wearing.

“I saw that piece in the Post about July 21 being the hottest day,” said one reader. “I was surprised that they had pinned it down, but not surprised that it is hot and has been hot for awhile. How do I know these things. I work at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. We do some of the best work in the world…but some of our people come to work looking like fugitives from a chain gang. It seems to get worse each and every year. Call in the Fashion Police, please.” Sore Eyes

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Two Internal Revenue Service feds, one in Texas the other in a Maryland suburb of D.C., had similar comments. The Texan said some of her colleagues “come in looking like clowns. They let it all hang out and believe me…in most examples…it is a pretty horrible sight.”

The Maryland revenuer said “it shouldn’t shock me but it does shock me. Every summer it seems to get worse… By mid-July it is the Rocky Horror Show sans humor or purpose. Oh the humanity!” Jerry

A Defense civilian employee said, “many of our people work in an envirorment that doesn’t lend itself to even casual business attire…and that’s fine…but a lot of people could do a lot better. It embarrasses me because they have government ID badges identifying them as federal civil servants. Some days the workers look worse than tourists on the Mall, and that is the ultimate cheap shot.”

So how’s it going at your place?

Surveys have shown that some of the most dapper dressers in government have law-enforcement missions: DEA, Secret Service, Customs, etc. Fine…

But it’s a lot more fun to find out where people undress for success – who seem to enjoy shocking their colleagues.

Let us know your Rocky Horror Show story. We’ll pass them along.

Hot Enough For You?

So what are the hot spots for your state? Click here.

Nearly Useless Factoid

A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, reports Reuters. I guess it’s hard to take a dwarf planet seriously, much less one with its former name: “Easterbunny.”

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com