Name: Karl
Occupation: Audio Engineer/Musician (Music Industry)
From: Seattle, Wa.
Tell us about yourself:
I'm 25 years old and have been working with this company for just about 4 years. I also have a solo experimental music project that takes up my free time as well as maintaing my project studio.
How do you typically dress at work:
My attire usually consists of black jeans, black boots, black t-shirt or button down shirt, and a necklace. My hair is dyed black and I have had it long but it is currently short. I work with several people who have long hair.
What problems do you face as a Corporate Goth:
I don't really find any problems. I use to work during the days but now I work at night and my attire has not changed. Sometimes during the day shift I would wear a black suit to work but only because I felt like it that day. I would sometimes get strange looks from other departments but for the most part, I am treated as an equal in the department I work in.

(Entry number 97 entered 28-May-1999.)

Name: Sandra, Twilight, Spooky, Twinkle-toes, whichever fits the mood and situation! *grins*
Occupation: Events/Promotions Coordinator (Marketing)
From: LI, New York
Tell us about yourself:
Hee, he. Tough one. I'm into way too many things to keep up with them all! I used to be a shy, little quiet sit-in-the-corner-freak. Then I discovered that befriending the "normal" ignorant enemy and being accepted by them is a MUCH stronger weapon than being rejected by them. Needless to say, I've turned into an OUTGOING, friendly freak. :-) People constantly annoy me but there are those prescious few that kept my faith alive...
I love: music, art, dance, literature, surprising jocks with my knowledge of sports (especially ice hockey! I've been playing that for 5 years).
Shocking people with knowledge and character, then with fashion and lunacy, is my #1 thing.
How do you typically dress at work:
I currently work for an advertising agency, so they are not too rigid about the dress code, except when dealing with clients. But I've always done the all-black thing. However, I also love to wear colors (since the beauty of blackness wouldn't exist without something BRIGHT to compare it to!), so I throw into my suits-and-skirts wardrobe a dash of solid blue, purple, red, burgundy, silver, well, you get the idea...
I LOVE jewelry (when I can I'll make my own or I'll hunt around garage sales and thrift stores for the best deals on unique silver thing-a-magigs). I wear the ankhs and stuff as a beacon to other corporate goths (hasn't worked yet--there aren't any around here!).
I do not (gasp!) have any tatoos, or piercings besides the two standard earring ones, because to be honest, deforming the body for the sake of fashion is not appealing to me! However, I love the way they look on some people -- I guess I'm just too much of a wuss to get any.
I've worked in the coporate world for a few years now, and I just graduated college. In school, I would wear whatever I felt like, from crazy to romantic. But I have to say that my gothy-like friends and I were the ENVY of the business department REGARDLESS OF OUR CLOTHING because, to their comformist and stuck-up dismay, we got better grades and did more work than they ever did! So our clothes still make us stand out as more well-rounded people, not just as freaks.
What problems do you face as a Corporate Goth:
None, really, since nobody really knows of my split-personlity disorder (Corporate Slave by day, Goth Looney by night, hee he). However, I DO get nasty looks from the oh-so prescious yuppie scum that refuse to acknowledge people who DON'T comform and wear the latest fashions or who carry the latest beepers and cell phones. It's better that way, the assholes eliminate themselves!
But the people that take the time to know me and appreaciate my skills as a co-worker slowly learn about my lifestyle, and they don't seem to mind. I am perfectly happy so far with separating the reality of responsibility and professionalism and the awsome insanity and chilvalry of Goth-clubbing and outings and such.

PS: By the way, I find that Goths are more human beings than most self-declared ones. Don't you agree?
Hey, whoever you are, thanks for reading my specs. *grins mischiveously*
Have a good one!

(Entry number 98 entered 28-May-1999.)

Name: Andrew
URL: http://www.geocities.com/athens/ithaca/1440/disturb.htm
Occupation: Tech Writer / Trainer / Mainframe & Server Technician (Computer Technician)
From: Chicago
Tell us about yourself:
I'm 36, married, two kids. I've been in the computer field for the last ten years or so, having done clerical work prior to that as I don't have a degree and had to work my way into the field the hard way. Currently I write documentation for a second-level helpdesk, ride herd on mainframe and server systems, do some training on the side, and am learning to code in Visual Basic. Sleep? What's that?

How do you typically dress at work:
I work at a large computer-industry corporation, that ditched the blue-suit uniform for men many years ago and went business casual. Basically, I get away with quite a bit partially by dressing better than the dress code demands, and partially by having established a rep as the office eccentric :). My normal weekday outfit consists of a black dress shirt, varying between standard, banded-collar, and placket-front, usually from a halfway decent brand (Stafford is my favorite), a pair of black dress slacks, and black dress shoes. I have three piercings in my right ear, from the lobe heading up, and usually wear studs in two and a hoop in the third, although sometimes I switch the hoop for a dangly pentacle or very small bat on a chain. I wear a large pentacle ring on my right hand, and have for many years, being a Pagan. My hair is undyed, mostly grey, and in a ponytail down to my waist, which I explain as a religious issue -- American corporations generally will leave you alone if you bring up freedom of religion. On weekends, I swap the dress shoes for black sneakers, the dress slacks for black jeans, and swap out a stud or two for real earrings, but generally don't make much of a difference from the weekdays. I wear no makeup, being allergic to most of the stuff, so that's not an issue.

What problems do you face as a Corporate Goth:
Not many. Once in a great while somebody new comes wandering into the department and does a double-take, but my co-workers just introduce me as the official department eccentric :) and life goes on from there. At the time of this posting, it's been a couple of months since my one-year review, at which I was told "You da man!" (literally) by my supervisor. A tip: I've found that a strong resume' forgives a bit of appearance at the outset. Strong skills and hard work forgives a huge amount once on the job. I put in extra hours, take on side projects and generally outperform my job specifications. I've shown up in a lace-up pirate shirt (black cotton) and black nail polish on a weekday, and all that was said was "Going out tonight?"



(Entry number 99 entered 30-May-1999.)