Sometimes, we’ll find that people will put a lot more energy into enforcing a rule than figuring out whether that rule actually makes sense in a given case.
And as we can see from example after example, you’d be hard pressed to find a rule that brings this attitude out in people quite as much as a dress code .
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In some cases , we can see that even places that aren’t subject to dress codes also aren’t immune to this type of behavior. After all, what’s considered inappropriate varies from person to person and some people are more aggressive about enforcing what they want to see than others.
But even with that in mind, one case of dress code-based rigidity comes across as ridiculous enough that it’s a wonder anyone had a problem in the first place.
To best understand the story we’re about to go over, it’s important to note that it stars a woman (not pictured) who has undergone a double mastectomy.
And as she explained in a Reddit post , this makes swimming in traditional swimsuits difficult for her because the extra space inside of them tends to fill with water, thus causing a lot of drag.
Since more skin-tight competitive swimsuits usually show more of her scarring than she’s comfortable with, she instead prefers to swim in running shorts and a dark tank top.
However, this substitution recently caused some problems for her when she swam at the indoor pool near her house.
She said that an employee at the pool approached her and told her he had received a complaint about her wearing a shirt without a sports bra underneath, which that pool has a specific policy against.
Apparently, this policy came into effect after a woman wore a white see-through T-shirt with no bra underneath it during family swim hours.
In response, the woman explained her condition and said her top wasn’t see-through and even if it was, all anyone would see is scars.
In her words, “I explained how I was much more covered up than anyone else in the pool and in fact was wearing exactly what he was minus the whistle – he was in shorts and a tank top.”
And while the man understood and clearly felt bad about making this an issue, he also said there wasn’t anything he could do. That’s because the pool’s management required the dress code and he wasn’t empowered to make an exception.
Once the woman read the printout he provided her and confirmed the rule stated what he said it did, she thought of a plan.
A week later, she found a sports bra in a bin of her old clothes and brought it with her to the pool. Only once she got there, she decided to wear it on her head instead.
Although she had to adjust it a lot, her fellow swimmers got a kick out of what she was doing and she attracted the attention of a manager.
The manager wanted her to take it off her head and wear it normally, but the woman said it wouldn’t stay in place if she did and told her that she was only doing it to follow the rule to the letter.
In response, the manager told her to secure it with skin safe glue.
In the woman’s words, “Yeah, no. I’m not going to glue unnecessary garments to my body and I told her as much.”
So she told the manager that unless she could tell her exactly what rule she was breaking, she was going to finish her workout. With that, the manager gave up and walked away.
The following morning, she received an email from this manager stating that while the aquatic center wouldn’t be changing their policies, she would be granted a special exemption from then on.
Talk about using your head!
h/t: Reddit | graywoman7