Nothing feels quite so rebellious to me as not shaving on a weekday.
Jay Chiat, the founder of Chiat/Day advertising (you know, these guys) used to say that he went into advertising because he wanted to wear sneakers to work. Maybe he just said that because his agency had the Nike account at various times, but he hit on a certain truth. Namely, that men signal a certain sort of defiance by dressing down.
Similarly, not shaving sends a signal. So when I decided not to shave yesterday, I felt that I had somehow bent the rules. Granted, I had no client-facing business yesterday; had I needed to meet a client, I would have spent that extra four minutes in the bathroom. For that matter, lots of ad agency gents will cultivate a day's growth of beard.
On the contrary, I generally don't shave when I have to go into the office on a weekend. So maybe it's not a sign of defiance, per se, but a sign that if you see stubble, you're on my time, not yours.
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