How To Identify the People on the Elevator

I think it was Mom who told me a few months ago that she saw a picture of the newsroom of the Virginia Tech college paper, in which everything was immaculate and all the staffers were dressed up. She was wondering if they always dress that way, and I've concluded that they probably don't. Journalists are not big fans of dress codes. At the New York Times, for example, there isn't one. You can walk in wearing sweatpants if you want, and every so often people do. They say dress for the next job up, but whenever I see the executive editor he always seems to be wearing jeans and a polo shirt. But I guess he doesn't have any higher up to go.

The people in corporate, on the other hand, are suit-and-tie types. And I hear the ad representatives get a clothing allowance so they can wear designer clothes.

Also, that's the flip side to being a journalist and not getting paid much — you have a whole department of people who get paid (a lot more) to worry about money so you don't have to.