Ah yes, dress codes. One thing about the Bush-shite Cambull Gang is their consistency. Here we are marching back to the 1950's. The neoconazi utopia is abuilding! Now only if women and non-whites would learn their place and everyone would work for a dollar an hour, wouldn't it be wonderful.

It also seems that the unacceptable footwear are shoes that are healthier for your feet. So, tip over on those stilleto heels and break your ankle. Maybe we'll see directives on what kind of cast is acceptable in the office.

This all seems to go back to the Professional Beauty Quotient that Naomi Wolf outlined in The Beauty Myth. Can't go too sexy, can't go too casual, can't go too creative with a woman's business attire. In a world filled with low-rider pants and flimsy see-through shirts, it is nearly impossible to find something to wear to work that is affordable, attractive and comfortable. Helpful emails like this one only add to the feeling that no matter what a girl does, she has "nothing to wear". Notice too, how the shoes deemed acceptable are not only granny-styled, but more sedate in colour too? Oh, and look how pointy everything is. ooh, comfy. I suppose women should all just do that office lady thing of keeping the proper footwear under the desk and commute in their nice padded sneakers. Ughly. Interesting that this was sent out by the manager of a Crown Cousel office. By all accounts of the caseload those folks are dealing with, you'd think they'd be concerned with something other than what kind of shoes the women are wearing. My dream in life is to have a job where I can wear comfortable shoes to work, because half the time it feels like I'm (hobbling around on heels) wearing a disguise.

How much of tax payers' money was spent by Boyle? Could we transfer her to the payroll of a private school where she can ad nauseum advise on the length of skirts and the the number of buttons in cardigans? We don't have money for single moms on welfare, but we sure know how are crown counsel staff should be shod.

Sorry for the typo. Please replace "are" by "our" in the last line. Too much haste in clicking send, since my iration increases.

Why not let these governament lawyers wear comfortable shoes as they don't do much anyway. Start monitoring thier out put.

Obviously, men don't have to have this code because we only have two pairs of shoes, c'mon.

after a (cough) close inspection of the shoes that are "ok" and "not ok" i think i found the difference. it seems that the "not ok" shoes are far more revealing than the "ok" shoes. hmmmm..... i guess that Boyle is worried that EXPOSING to much toe might cause some office offence. we don`t want our office girls running around with thier toes hanging out for all to see now do we? how are the "boys" going to get any work done? Boyle should get out of her workmates closets and concentrate on doing her job...what ever that is.

This is part and parcel of the Talebanization we see across neocon societies. Is anyone else old enough to remember Organization Man. Back to the '50s indeed!

Well it's not like they don't still have choice, give me a break. Ron's right too, men have about three styles to choose from so that is irrelevant. And one CAN commute by bike and change at work (it's usually raining anyway, you have to); I do and have for three years. Big deal!

Hhmmm! I take it the jury's still out on track shoes, cowboy boots and bunny slippers? How about a nice classic pump in hot pink with five-inch stilleto heels? Would that still be OK, or is colour also a factor? Gosh, I sure don't envy Ms. Boyle the tough task she's taken upon herself! This is a real Pandora's Box.

How much of the tax payers money was spent by Boyle - none. Setting and communicating best practices and expectations is within a manager's job description. What about the women at the "shoe rebellion" party who were in contact with the media (probably on the tax payer's time) and all the other government employees throughout the lower mainland who joined in to circulate this e-mail? If they don't understand this is an inappropriate use of the government's e-mail system, time and resources or that circulating material outside of the government is a breach of confidentiality, it's no wonder they have to be told how to dress.

Here's my proposal for appropriate government office wear:

To accentuate that permanent sleep-state this government has entered: Fuzzy slippers, preferably canary yellow for pie-eyed optimism, with infantile cookie-monster googly eyes. And a pink polyester 'satin' quilted bathrobe. Old-fashioned hair-curlers.

For that low man on the totem pole look: A tasteful metal-spiked black corinthian leather dog collar with chain leash and muzzle. Chastity belt for anyone who isn't biblically approved.

For the voter snow-job look: hydrogen peroxide squeegees implanted into the gums to give teeth that dazzling used-car salesman gleam. Botox injections for the conscience.

How stupid can they get? Would be much more appropriated that Crown Council office get involved with the monumental job of drug (cocaine, heroine, alcohol) related accidents/incidents in the work place and deal with other very serious problems. I could care less if the workers walked bare feet or if they were dressed at all. Talking about too much time in their hands!

"heroine related incidents" -- Can I have one of those?

Note to the Tyee Editor!!!!!! Your website is so unreliable, why are you still running on IIS? Why have you not found someone else to host the site? Why did they not backup the metabase and the content when they did the upgrade? Disaster recovery plans are useless if you don't test the backup, I hope you have these people on a short leash. Seek a second and third opinion, do us all a favour.

Scratch that, your website is sooooooo unreliable.

Shoe Rebuff -Do you really think it is a breach of ''confidentiality'' to slag a large-headed boss who has obviously stepped unsteadily back out onto a fashion limb on which she has already had to change her position in a less than flattering way? A manager so engrossed in an obvious and escalating foot phobia, that she would spend her high-end time scanning foot zines and writing multiple e-mail edicts, clarifications and ''I changed my mind''s. Perhaps I missed it and the entire goverment human resources services have closed and all the staff have been ''severed'', but I thought an HR person could probably draw up a more appropiate foot cover code and get it right the first time more smoothly and effectively than someone who should be focused on the administration of a very busy public system. As for your mean-spirited whine about civil servants wasting government time and money e-mailing the that ''keeper'' around, you should be encouraged that civil servants can find something to smile about working under this government of liars who ripped up legally binding contracts for many of those workers. Finally, did the shoe rebelion scare you? All those middle-aged ladies with their toes sticking right out there for the whole world to get confused over. Did they have tea?

I see nothing wrong with rules of decorum in a forum in which the rights of citizens are adjudicated. Shouldn't we all be on an equal footing (no pun intended) before the law?

And who, your nibs, shall adjudicate that?

I noticed this morning, in current Premier Gordon Campbell's riding that there were shoes of all descriptions dangling from power lines. After the current Premier Gordon Campbell retires from politics and seeks another career, perhaps he may join with Boyle. We'll loan some ladders, they could perhaps redistribute those shoes to the homeless on the east end. And maybe current Mayor Larry Campbell could also consider this choice instead of pondering about legalizing marijuana. I have an old soccer shoe. Size 11 (kids). Does anyone want to look for the matching pair? Thank God we don't do glass slippers any more. Otherwise, we'd have a landfill full of pesky pumpkins.

First off, the pumps gotta go. Indecent! Not the shoe, the name 'pumps' -- it's going to give all those whacky foot fetish people some nasty ideas. Next thing, we'll have all these people lining up at the government office wickets to rub themselves like a bunch of untrained doggies against the feet of civil servants. First the feet, then the apocalypse!

barking, you're a bit of an untrained doggie yourself. Stay away from my heels!

So what would happen if someone came in with a doctor's note saying that they HAD TO WEAR BIRKENSTOCK?! Comfortable shoes save money because they prevent unnecessary back pain. What an infringement! What's next? What underwear to wear?

Au contraire, I don't think these regulations are restrictive enough. They don't include deep sea diving gear, pimp hats, bling bling, use of the phrase bling bling, Old Spice, Axe Body Spray, semen stains, pulling your penis out of your pants and your pockets inside out and asking people "wanna see an elephant?", stilts, face paint, wigs, extra heads, or white pants after Labour Day. There ought to be a law!!!!

As usual Ron cracks me up, been a big fan of your movie reviews as well.

Is anyone surprised?! this is just another example of the new era management tactics from Victoria, once again it only affect women

Ya but there are only two guys in the office, and how many guys are into shoes? What was that figure...one in ten

well i think gordon cambell should pick up all the shoes people are not suppose to wear have a garage sale take the money and buy all the children in b.c.a couple pairof good winter boots for the winterand maybe a coupon for a free meal before they are sent off to school hungry how does that sound you have extra money to spend on finding out what shoes people wear to the office blows my mind i do not think there is a dress code for garage sales yet so just wear whatever you can afford cambell

I've seen some of the feet of the people that work at the Main Street office and they're not too pretty. Boyle's main concern is about showing off disgustingly ugly toes.

thanks Geek

My wife is going to be doing a stint at the Crown’s Counsel office, she will get a chuckle out of this. During her interview they warned her that it might be difficult as they deal with “bad people”. She replied that in Malaysia she had to defend murderers against the death penalty. They started squirming when she mentioned that Malaysia had the death penalty and caning. My sister was at the Labour Board and was told by an Socred appointee that he wanted women to wear skirts and not pants.