The Solution: Grubby T-Shirts

I hit upon a great solution to the being-assumed-a-secretary problem by chance today. And no, it does not involve wearing Gucci suits. It is much cheaper.

I wear strange, rather grubby, T-Shirts.

See, the new dean is most comfortable in a white T-Shirt. And I have lab on Wednesdays. The lab is freezing cold, so wearing a skirt would involve risking a bladder infection. And since I usually end up crawling under tables to sort out electrical troubles, both panty hose and a skirt would pose problems. So for lab I usually have a T-Shirt, my vest-with-a-thousand-pockets, and a sweater to keep me warm. And since I was meeting with the dean after lab, I figured a T-Shirt would be spot on.

Today was a handball day (the Füchse did look like they grew an inch over the past weeks, but they still only scored 5 goals in the first half. Heck, my team can usually manage 5 goals a half....). So I decided to wear a really strange, spooky handball T-Shirt that you have to think about for a second before you get what it says. A colleague (female) noted at lunch that she would not be caught dead in such gear...

But I spent all afternoon in the dean's office and no one thought I was a secretary. Students rather took a step back in my presence and were deferential. So I guess if you are an oldish person in an outrageous T-Shirt, you are so weird that you must be important. And not a secretary.

Lucky me, I have a big pile of strange T-Shirts in my closet. And now an excuse to buy more :)