A scheduled part of the tour was to visit a secured area. We were all a bit shocked when the supervisor who greeted us at the security door and cleared us to enter the area was dressed quite inappropriately for ANY kind of business setting.
People do judge books by their covers.
It may not be right or fair, and how you perform may not be affected by it. But your image in the mind's eye of your supervisor, your users and your coworkers is made up in part by how you dress. A lot of our readers spend their workdays out of sight in a cubicle or in a locked operations center with little outside contact. Companies have relaxed dress codes or have virtually eliminated them for these jobs. Even in the front office, casual Friday has become a standard, and the old blue suit, white shirt days are a distant memory.