A favorite choir song of mine is entitled “Table of Plenty.”

“Come to the feast of heaven and earth…God will provide for all that we need,” the lyricist promises, bringing to mind the parable from the Gospel of Matthew about an abundant wedding feast. When the invited guests did not show, the king’s servants took pains to invite guests from the community at large, welcoming most but rejecting the one not properly attired (Mt 22:1-14).

Rereading this Scripture, I began to rue my recent lack of adherence to any formal dress code at work and one recent morning decided to see if “Dressing for Success” brightened my outlook and increased my productivity.

Let me set the scene: since I am the lone sales support person in our office, I often find myself working alone while the others are at customer meetings. The usual business-casual guidelines are often ignored on such days and I might be found clad in jeans and my favorite black “Alcatraz Swim Team” t-shirt.  But that day, since the newspaper was sending me to cover a church choral festival after work, I decided to Dress for Success and emulate the parable from Matthew.

I had purchased a white top and a long blue tropical print skirt the preceding evening. That morning I clipped the tags and picked up the tiny paper “Inspected by #4” slip from the floor.  As the morning progressed, I noticed I was experiencing a wardrobe malfunction. Inspector #4 must have blinked and let this garment pass by unnoticed, for the underpaid, oppressed factory seamstress had sewn the buttons on the waistband slightly out of alignment, causing the skirt to hang a bit crookedly. 

I pondered my fate and mused, “Hmm, not a problem. I am alone here today, so I can take off the skirt and utilize my little portable office sewing kit to move the buttons myself.”

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