2006-02-23

Dress Western! It's a Tucson Tradition!

It's Rodeo in Tucson.

This is the oldest Rodeo in the country and it�s a really big deal around here. The kids get two days off from school and there are cowboys and horse shit everywhere, even in my crack-whore neighborhood. Some guy has been living in his fifth wheel, across the street, for the last 2 days. There�s a horse trailer but no horses and ummmm�.
I don�t think I want to know where the horses are because not only does he have a horse trailer with no horses and a fifth wheel for shelter that he's decided to take up in the middle of a crack war 'hood, the pickup truck towing the horse trailer is awesome.
How so?
Well, it's so awesome that it sort of makes me wish I had a pick-up truck so that I COULD MAKE MY OWN COVERED WAGON, TOO.
That's right. The truck towing the empty horse trailer has a home-made camper shell.
A Little House on the Prairie, pioneer-style, home-made camper shell.
It�s two by fours with a tarp and parked behind the fifth wheel, in front of the empty horse trailer it looks�
Well� okay, in context it looks normal. In my shithole neighborhood, it looks like armed robbery waiting to happen.
Although I trust that Mr. Go West Young Man is plenty armed to protect his caravan.

Anyway.
It�s Rodeo and that�s important here.
So important that it has an impact on the way we �get� to dress at work for the next two days. Now, because I am a gigantic and unapologetic ass-kisser when it comes to work, I have to admit that I try to participate in all of the Team Spirit stuff that goes down in here.
I sit in a corner where there are three VPs and my manager is directly across from me� even if I wanted to blow this shit off, I couldn�t do it without being as glaringly obvious as some of the belt buckles that are in town right now.

And that we get to wear to work.
That�s right.
It�s Rodeo, so the word from HR is, �Dress Western! It�s a Tucson Tradition!�
I'm not even kidding.

My whole office is decked out in Wranglers, heavy striped shirts with mother-of-pearl buttons, cowboy hats, boots, and belt buckles.
"Dress Western! It's a Tucson Tradition!"
Now, I dressed as Western as I could. Given my Midwestern roots and my love off all things Juicy Couture, this was a bit of a challenge, to say the least. I am clearly participating but I am NOTHING next to some of the jingle-jangling spurs and bolero ties that I have been hearing all day.
One dude actually wore chaps over his (thank god) Wranglers.
The entire HR staff is from Texas, so you can imagine what�s going on over there � some kind of turquoise festival of brass and Stetson, and I think one lady even tied her Blackberry to a lasso because it was in keeping with the spirit of the day.
I have been here for three years and it�s been like this every time � two days of �Dress Western! It�s a Tucson Tradition!� and I will never, ever get used to seeing my Vice President in a cowboy hat, or my manager thudding around in cowboy boots.

And they are all doing it again tomorrow.

Me?
No.
I�m going to take on another stereotype because not only is it Rodeo, but it�s also Tucson Open and so watch for me on TV because I am going.
I won�t be dressed Western but you can bet your sweet ass I�ll look like a golf fan and be hanging out with other people who are wearing their golf shirts tucked neatly into their Mom Khakis.

I bet you�re jealous that I get to dress thematically so often.
It actually happens a lot more than you would think it does.
Huh.
I think I�ll have to chart these special dress-up days and maybe provide a calendar for your future use.
That way, when you see me leaving in the morning and I am wearing an extraordinary amount of turquoise, or if I am spied in an outfit that is covered in company logos, you�ll have a head�s up on what�s going on and maybe be able to hold off on laughing at me until I am out of earshot.

arizonasarah at 4:05 p.m.

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