> All this talk of casual wear has me quite astonished, I must say. Here in Britain, it's practically de rigeur to be business formal at any interview. The only real exceptions are things like dustman (Trash collector) where the interview goes along the lines of, "Can you lift a dustbin?"

I wasn't talking about interviews, though. Interviews are business formal, everywhere, all the time.

The only interview I ever had which I didn't get dressed up for was the ferry job. And normally I would have dressed up for this interview too, if the interview hadn't been scheduled for 15 minutes after the sailing ship I was working on arrived back from a coastal voyage. I explained to them that I had not had a shower or washed my hair for two weeks, I had not slept at all on the previous night, I would be walking directly from the ship to the ferry terminal next door, and that my only clothing options were unwashed shorts and a t-shirt covered in tar stains, or a uniform in approximately similar condition.

I couldn't reschedule the interview, because I was leaving again the same afternoon on the same ship for another voyage. I only had about three hours in between, in which to go home, wash and dry all my clothes, and then turn around and sign back on board.

They said this was OK, in the circumstances. Considering the way I looked, and the fact that I was so tired I was slurring my speech and my eyes kept crossing, I guess they didn't have very high standards to start with. I told them that if they were going to give me the job, they'd have to inform me when I got back from the second trip, and I could start the day after that. So they did, and I did.