Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Work Clothes

Firstly, before I get into the post, just wanted to let everyone know that I know I've been active, but really, don't expect a post every day. I'm not a machine, and I don't have my own computer, and it's hot and summer and blah blah blah. Excuses, excuses, I know. Plus, I'm saving up my creative juices for something big soon. I hope.

Anyway, I was discussing my work attire and the fact that I am in construction, sort of, with someone who knows who he is, and got to thinking about it, and decided to share.

Basically, when I'm working, I don't dress sexy. I know that's hard to deal with, but I dress for safety and comfort, not sex, because generally, I try not to let my personal and professional lives mix. I've been more or less successful with that over the years, but usually, when I'm working, I'm business. Now, when I'm working doing something like running a light board, which requires practically no work at all, I dress more casually, in a skirt sometimes, especially if there's a social event after the show.

But when I'm actually working, moving things or building or doing stuff like that, I wear pants and boots, not sexy boots but steel-toed, because I've dropped too many heavy things on my feet. I mostly dress in black even if I'm not going to have to be backstage, because you never know, plus the dirt doesn't show. I wear jeans, not even tight ones, and t-shirts often. I tie my hair back and sometimes wear a bandanna. Yes, I know, I am still sexy, but I'm not dressing to impress. However, with regard to the boots, I think I look dead sexy in when I'm wearing them without my other work clothes. I've worn them as elements of costume on several occasions, and while they may not be thigh-high vinyl, they do look quite different when I'm wearing them with a black miniskirt and tank top, for instance. A whole new spin on my work boots.

I don't wear a tool belt; I don't find them useful enough and they generally make my pants fall down, which is nice for everyone else but a distraction. I did once have a pants calamity at work, before I realized that even without a tool belt putting heavy things in pockets causes problems. Fortunately, I was wearing panties at the time, and I was quick on the uptake so they didn't wind up around my ankles, but several people got a good look at me in a state of semi-undress. Which isn't really that odd, in theatre. They shrugged it off.

Which brings me to the other part of theatre clothing, which is that if you're working in the theatre, you wind up seeing people naked. And if you're professional about it, you can't notice. Sure, you do notice, but you don't act like it. So while I'm sure that, in my career (if you can call it that, since it was all for laughs) as an actor, I've had to change in front of people who've seen me, if not naked, at least nearly naked, I don't think I've slept with any of them. Not because they're gay, but because you don't notice. After a while, you just learn to compartmentalize. So yes, I've seen good friends naked. I've seen people who were much more important than I was naked. I've seen semi-famous people naked. And I could give you a run-down, but I won't, because that would be crass and probably would result in someone realizing who I am and then I would be blackballed. You don't notice.

Plus there was that whole "acting naked, sex on stage" thing I talked about earlier, but that's different. Backstage, the etiquette is very clear, and I believe in it heartily. Not to say that I didn't use some things I've seen to fuel fantasies down the pike (and that's particularly if the guy was hot but gay, which means all I'm ever going to get is a fantasy). But I didn't see anything.

Now, back to me in work clothes. I've never done a striptease in my work clothes and then dumped a bucket of water on myself. Sorry if that's your secret fantasy. I have had sex in my work clothes, and not because I came home in them to sex (that's happened a lot). Like I said, I try very hard to compartmentalize, but I have fucked a coworker on a few occasions. It doesn't happen so much any more, and when it has, it's been when I wasn't in my "work" clothes. And they weren't "coworkers" so much as fellow workers at the same organization. I have fucked a person with whom I worked regularly.

We were both technicians at a theater over the summer (back when I was dumb enough to work Summerstock) and it was a very stressful situation, and the housing was coed, and at the opening night party thrown by a bunch of rich benefactors that all the staff had to go to, we both got roaring drunk and made out on the dance floor, and then wound up in a guest room at the place hosting the shindig fucking like rabbits. I honestly recall very little of that evening. It was almost like rage sex, only the rage was against the shitty circumstances, not each other.

Well, it was awkward for a few days, until we both got into another situation where there was stress relief in the form of liquor and pot, and we both had an hour to kill and decided to kill it by fucking. Which, amazingly enough, managed to kill the awkward, since we made the decision mostly sober and only later got blasted. Don't work Summerstock (this message brought to you by the Lexi Committee to Keep People From Having to Go Crazy).

After that, it seemed perfectly natural to hook up to work off the tension, and we wound up fucking in both our rooms (our housemates were amused but pissed because we both had single rooms when by rights we should have had roommates, or at least I should have) and in various locations around the job site. Really, there's a lot of time spent waiting in theatre, and what better way to wait than by having a quickie?

A month before the end of things, we had a bit of a fight over something stupid, and then he went out and fucked some chippy who worked in the office, and I decided that I was done with that. Which was too bad, because I could have waited for the end of the contract and then never seen him again, but still been able to relieve all the pressure by fucking him.

I could have found someone else on the staff; it wouldn't be that hard. Summerstock is like that; a lot of show romances (by that, I mean hook-ups which only happen because two people are in the same show). But I decided to be professional, and wound up horny as hell for the rest of the summer. That was the longest period of my life, I think, where I had virtually no outlet. I almost went back to the guy, asked if he wanted to just be fuck-buddies, no strings attached, but basically that's what we had been, so the pride was a factor. I did get some loving from some random hookups, but I had to plan for those and have time, which fortunately at that point I wound up having.

So yeah, that kind of soured me to fucking a coworker. Not that it's not fun and exciting, but it's a little lazy and likely to be awkward, and I like to keep professional relationships happy, because you never know when you might need to work.

To answer the unspoken question, yes, a few of my work outfits have cumstains. The wonderful thing about black fabric that doesn't look good is that a sharpie can take care of small stains and people won't notice because they won't be looking hard. Learned that from a friend of mine in the same field who said she started out trying to use paint, but found that sharpies work much better. And since there are always sharpies around, it's like the opposite of those bleach pens. Plus, all my work clothes are stained from other things, so it's not like anyone would notice a cum stain or two.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's realy hard not to let personal and professional lives mix. I totally understand, and its easy to loose control. I've never slept with a co-worker becuase I haven't realy had a proper day job for a while (just helping mum in the office). But I can imagine that it can get complicated becuase you can't get away if it goes sour.

Anonymous said...

But, I'd still like to see the work boots with nothing else. Yeah, I know you don't wear a toolbit. Indulge us. Maybe add a hard hat for good measure.

Naughty Lexi said...

Never worn a hard hat in my life. Really, I haven't. You'd think they'd be used in the theater all the time because of the danger of stuff falling off ladders and off the light bars and such, but even though I came within 6 inches of having a nice hole in my head from a socket wrench dropped from a hydrolic lift, I've never worn one and I don't know anyone who has. But if I had one, you can bet I'd incorporate it and a sexy toolbelt into my totally fake yet very sexy construction chick get-up.

K & J said...

I work as an assistant to a college professor at the school I go to. I wear a lot of skirts, halters, dresses, heels & heeled sandals. Outside of work I dress very similar so for me I always look the same. Though it does save me the cost of having a work and out of work outfits. Kara XO