Well said.

"Nobody says you have to dress like Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn to visit museums, cathedrals and historic neighborhoods."

Perhaps someone should.

Americans are also now policing people who dare to dress nicely. Apparently, slobbery loves company.

I see a lot of Aussies in Japan, and they're every bit as bad.

I was in a government office taking care of some visa paperwork in the Thai countryside last month and I wore a tie and dress shirt and the officer that was helping me was very polite and took care of everything for me very quickly.

Looking around I saw many Europeans dressed in t-shirts and jeans with not a tie in site.

These expats often complain about the Thai government but I now see that they are out-of-touch with basic politeness. In Thailand even more than in the western world dressing well counts.

Many people love to bash Molloy's book on clothes - and he got many things wrong - but he was correct in formally understanding the effect of clothes on business. IBM in the old days knew what they were doing....

We did a trip to Spain in high school.  The others wanted to go to a club. I'm not much of a club guy, but I had to get us in because I was the only person not wearing sneakers, jeans, or a t-shirt, so I ended up standing in front and being appraised.  With some reluctance they let my classmates in.  Even in a somewhat skanky club, we were still the worst dressed of the lot.

Not that many of the Europeans who were over here and went to college with me were particularly well dressed, in all fairness.  But maybe one could say, they saw what (little) was expected of them and tried to fit in, whereas some of us going over there do not extend the same courtesy.

Last edited by Marc Grayson (2007-11-14 09:24:14)