ByElizabeth Hours Updated
Comments 231 Comments

Tuesday’s Workwear Report: Body-Print Trompe-l’œil Knit Mini Dress

This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

A woman wearing a blue print dress and black heels

Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.

This dress from Balmain brings “body con” to the next level. It’s perfect for those days when you’d prefer to be naked but clothes are an inconvenient necessity.

Add your most professional water bottle and you’re ready for whatever challenges the workday might throw at you. 

The dress is $3,290 at Bergdorf Goodman and comes in sizes 2-10.

Sales of note for 4/21/25:

  • Nordstrom – 5,263 new markdowns for women!
  • Ann Taylor – 25% off tops & sweaters + extra 40% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50%-70% off everything + extra 20% off
  • Boden – 10% off new womenswear styles
  • Brooks Brothers – Friends & Family Sale: 30% off sitewide
  • The Fold – 25% off selected lines
  • Eloquii – $29+ select styles + extra 40% off all sale
  • Everlane – Spring sale, up to 70% off
  • J.Crew – Spring Event: 40% off sitewide + extra 50% off sale styles + 50% swim & coverups
  • J.Crew Factory – 40%-70% off everything + extra 70% off clearance
  • Kule – Lots of sweaters up to 50% off
  • M.M.LaFleur – Earth Day Sale: Take 25% off eco-conscious fabrics. Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
  • Madewell – Extra 30% off sale + 50% off sale jeans
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 50% off last chance styles; new favorites added
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – 30% off entire purchase w/Talbots card

231 Comments

    1. The real joke is that the dress is not a joke. Why do so many designers just hate women?

      1. That’s the best part of each year’s April 1st post here: real clothes for real people!!!

        2. I would never, ever wear it, let alone pay $3k for the privilege, but the more I look at it, the more the print is kind of cool. if it weren’t quite so explicit, I might even like it.

      3. This is socialite territory. Ridiculous, but looks cool on a model adjacent bodies for the right party. Art Basel perhaps?

        2. Yeah, totally. I actually kind of like it, but I’m not anywhere close to a spend-$3k-on-a-dress kind of income and it’s way too short for me.

    2. It’s very bah humbug of me, but I find this whole dumb outfit thing just so tired and boring after how many years of this now?

      1. It is in fact very bah humbug of you. Consider you don’t have to share every thought that pops into your head! No need to unnecessarily yuck others’ yums.

          1. Same! I always forget about April Fools Day in my real life, and then am surprised and delighted by the truly bonkers pick.

          3. Me too! I haven’t been on this site lately, but once I realized it was for one I rushed over to see what today’s pic was, and it did not disappoint.

            I can’t imagine how miserable and humorless one has to be to complain about one pic out of 365 days of to post a day not being to one’s liking.

    3. Humpf. I was all set to buy it, but the exposed zipper is a deal-breaker, of course!

  2. I am trying to figure out whether to try to get an appt to the Mayo Clinic for my 12 year old son. We live in the South where allergy season is tough. He has severe allergies – to dust, grass, trees, pollen and other things. He takes daily allergy meds (nasal spray and pill), is on year 2 of weekly allergy shots, and right now also has a sinus infection (which we think he may have had for a while because we didn’t realize right away he was sick). In addition to antibiotics, he also just started taking Sudafed. He is miserably congested. He normally doesn’t feel great at all especially during allergy season so it is hard to tell when it is anything more. He also has a deviated septum but can’t have surgery until he is a few years older. He was crying last night because nothing is working and his teachers have been giving him a hard time because he sniffles very loudly constantly (it sounds more like a snort) – the sniffles are never ending and so loud. One teacher sent him out of class for it. We are at our wits end. Things like using Vicks don’t make a difference. He has an air purifier in his room and I feel like we are doing all the things. My husband said this is just his life but I just feel so bad. :(

    1. Poor guy. He shouldn’t be sent out of class for a medical issue, I hope you gave the teacher hell for that. When I had this problem my doctor told me to stop taking decongestants like Sudafed! They can have a rebound effect and actually make the congestion worse if you take them long-term. It took me a while but I tried a bunch of different RX allergy meds until I found one that worked. Also, doing a nasal rinse/neti pot can help clear the gunk out.

      1. Thank you! We just started Sudafed thinking it will just be a short term thing since he is really bad right now. I do have concerns about it. Kid says the neti pot only works for like 5 minutes and he has been on various daily meds since kindergarten so we have tried a lot. And tried different doctors. I feel like this is hopeless.

        1. Have you tried the Navage nasal rinse instead of the neti pot? I found it got a LOT more gunk out of my nose than a neti pot ever did with a lot less of the ‘I’m being waterboarded’ feeling.
          Otherwise the advice our allergist gave is the following (apologies if you’re already doing this) – only hard surfaces in the bedroom aside from bedding (no rugs/curtains), make sure the air filter is hepa certified and cleaned frequently, daily vacuuming of his room (if possible), shower as soon as he comes in the house to remove pollen and change clothing, all clothing washed on hot with washing sode/borax/vinegar and unscented detergent to kill off any additional allergens, sheets washed weekly, pillowcases daily, and cover sheets/blankets as often as you can (we usually do 2x/month), towels also washed at least 2x week, more if you can.

        2. I was having constant stuffy noses year round for several years, which I attributed mostly to dog hair and dust that created kind of a feedback loop in which my nose was constantly irritated and then constantly stuffy because it was constantly irritated, etc. and the nose blowing/nasal medications/sneezing attacks kept it irritated. I was also getting sinus infections. I got a massive sinus infection last fall and tried her saline spray at a friend’s suggestion. It helped some, but didn’t resolve it. However, I kept using it after the infection resolved and with consistent, twice daily use for maybe 3-4 weeks, started to feel noticeably better. And now after 8 months, I haven’t had a stuffy nose or insane sneeze attack since. If I miss a few days (like on vacation), I will gradually feel stuffiness coming back. It definitely wasn’t an immediate fix for me (spray, gunk is gone, never returns), but seems to have made a huge difference over time.

      2. That’s incorrect about sudafed. Rebound congestion is caused by decongestant nasal sprays like Afrin, but not generally by oral decongestants. Sudafed isn’t great to take long term because it has other side effects, like increasing heart rate and blood pressure, but that’s probably less of an issue for a kid taking it for a relatively short time when symptoms are worst.

        I’ve also struggled with this for most of my life and I don’t even have pollen allergies, just non-allergic rhinitis, so consider that could be part of his issue as well. I’ve had the most luck with things like air purifiers, ipratropium bromide nasal spray, and moving out of the south. Masks during covid helped a ton too, though there’s probably too much of a stigma for him to be able to get away with wearing one now.

        I also agree that it’s absolutely unacceptable for teachers to be scolding him and sending him out of class for a medical issue. You need to be standing up for him on this.

        1. If the teacher (erroneously in this case?) thought he was sick and contagious, it was absolutely appropriate for her to send him to the nurse’s office. People sending contagious kids to school are why my family is constantly sick.

    2. Where in the South are you? Atlanta has a ton of great allergists for kids and a great Children’s Hospital, and Emory University medical school and system. I believe you that your son has really really really bad allergies but have you exhausted local options? I’ve never heard of Mayo helping with allergies but I’m sure they know about it. Good luck

      1. I echo this. The Mayo is great – don’t get me wrong – but you are likely to need multiple visits and lots of follow ups over the years and having to trek to the Mayo each time would be hard, I would imagine. Not sure where you are, but finding excellent care within driving distance would be preferable, I would think.

        1. Ok yes, that is a good point. I didn’t think about it but you are right that this would require so many visits if we do Mayo and that isn’t realistic.

      2. We are in South Louisiana. He has had this since he was a baby and we have been to many different allergy doctors and ENTs. The allergy doctor we are seeing right now is highly recommended. I am going to ask her about Mayo Clinic too at our next visit when he finishes his antibiotics.

        1. If you’re in south Louisiana you should be looking at Houston. Huge med center and similar allergy profiles.

    3. Charlotte has a LOT of allergy and ENT and sinus doctors because we are an allergy vortex. It’s a chronic condition and it’s really hard even with local doctors. Sinus rinsing with the saline packets may help; I use the squeeze bottle vs a neti pot and like the effects and have gotten used to the process.

    4. I’m so sorry. I’ve had similar issues to your son and have tried everything as a kid then adult. My parents had my tonsils removed when I was little, then had deviated septum surgery in my teens. The deviated septum returned in my 20s and I had it repaired in my 30s, and one of the drs I saw said he doesn’t operate on kids for that reason so I agree with waiting. I was made fun of by teachers and students for my breathing and snorting that I couldn’t control and it was awful.

      I’ve found ENTs to be more understanding of comprehensive breathing issues than allergists, though an ENT will also prescribe allergy meds like the immunotherapy pills I’m on now. I have had to doctor shop though – in Chicago I felt like I’d seen half the ENTs in town who claim to specialize in nasal issues and sometimes got cold receptions after they saw MyChart because I’d been to so many specialists. I’m in the south now and it took a few doctors here to land on the right one and right cocktail of meds.

      Fluticasone (over the counter or prescription) + azelastine spray is the right cocktail for me. I’ve taken ipratorium in the past, that may be something to consider. This time of year I have to add a claritin as well. I’m also on year 4 of an immunotherapy med that I take under my tongue and it’s been a complete game changer, but again it took a few ENTs to land on the med then be willing to prescribe it.

      1. Thank you for this!! I am so sorry you have dealt with this too but appreciate your insight.

      2. One more question –
        Since it sounds like you know what I mean about the sniffling that sounds like is a snort, is there anything that we can do about that specifically?

        1. I can control when I do it, but when I’m trying to clear thick draining mucus that’s running down the back of my throat, it is definitely a snorting noise. What sometimes helps is acidic carbonated beverages which seem to encourage it to break up without having to force it down.

          1. Co-sign. I feel like I have a medicinal Diet Pepsi perpetually attached to my hand. Otherwise, cough drops if I can’t be drinking (but too much sugar constantly next to teeth is BAD). It helps with the gunk and keeps it from getting too viscous (so this is why Sudafed is bad for me — I need to keep the gunk flowing and drying it out takes me a step backwards).

          2. This is interesting – do you think Sprite would work? He doesn’t like Coke. I will make sure he is blowing his nose a lot too. Appreciate everyone’s comments!!

          3. OP – to the Sprite q, yes. I like Fresca the best.

            Mucinex (generic is Guaifenesin) is also extremely helpful for thinning out the gunk.

            Advice to blow my nose was useless. It’s not coming out that way. It’s just going straight down the windpipe.

          4. I’d go with something Diet just to avoid all of that sugar. I just need to keep the gunk moving. But the sugar — OMG would not be good for the teeth. Having to pee constantly is bad enough.

        2. Different person, but is he blowing his nose enough? I get sniffy when I don’t have Kleenex, but otherwise, I just have to wipe my nose every 30 seconds or so when things are really bad, my nose just runs that nonstop. But if I wipe/blow, I mostly don’t sniff or snort.

          1. This. He shouldn’t be sniffling or snorting. He should be blowing his nose.

          2. My issue if I have a sinus infection on top of uncontrolled allergies is that the nose blowing wears holes essentially in my skin and then my nose is also bleeding out of unsightly open wounds that hurt horrendously if I keep nose blowing. An aesthetician said the Mucinex may have been making my skin worse so now I use NAC, but now I also have a better ENT and allergist.

        3. I’d make sure he is blowing his nose often enough. My son does the snorting thing and it drives me absolutely bananas. It’s because he’d rather snort the mucus back into his throat vs. blow for some reason and it sounds horrible – like the most obnoxious ‘I’m going to hock a lugie’ sound ever. I can see the teacher getting very annoyed over hearing that a dozen times in a class vs. the kid blowing their nose.

          2. Yes, I am going to talk to him about blowing his nose more. I definitely agree about how annoying it is and I do understand the teachers POV too.

      3. Also could you share the name of the immunotherapy med that you take under your tongue? We have tried so many different medications but have not heard of that one.

        1. Not the poster to whom you are replying, but isn’t this essentially the oral equivalent of allergy shots? Desensitizing the patient by exposing them to gradually increasing amounts of the allergen.

        2. Currently I’m taking Odactra which is aimed at dust allergies but there are several different immunotherapy options. When I had allergy testing a few years ago dust was the worst offender so that’s what’s being targeted, but my ENT explained that when you calm down one allergy center it usually improves multiple which has been my experience.

          It is expensive out of pocket but my ENT has been proactive in finding copay cards and specialty pharmacies which brings it down to $85/mo currently. When I first started taking it, it was $25 because it was a new drug and the price has gradually gone up.

          I’ll also add that not all ENTs and allergists are comfortable prescribing it because it’s relatively new in the US (though I understand has been used for a long time in Europe). I first had it in Chicago where my 4th ENT had the idea to try it. When I moved to NC, the first ENT I saw refused to prescribe immunotherapy and recommended me to the ENT I’m with now. I have a friend in the area trying to get similar treatment now and playing the ENT run around.

    5. I would not do Mayo Clinic for this but I would shop around for doctors that can help — there should be some combo of meds that do it. You may also want to consider acupuncture — at worst it’s harmless, at best it could help.

    6. Do you live in the Mississippi River delta? Look into allergic fungal sinusitis. I had it and it’s miserable – terrible congestion, nasal polyps, etc. It is treatable with surgery! Even if he doesn’t have it, you should ask his ENT about FESS surgery. It changed my life.

    7. Mayo Clinic is fabulous for diagnostic testing. Unless you think an underlying diagnosis has been missed, I’d research local ENTs and allergists. It is wild how much more some clinics have to offer than others. I live in a SEUS city and people here typically drive an hour to a research university hospital for allergy care because the local clinics are so behind the times. My sense is that pediatric specialties are even more hit or miss.

    8. agree with considering Houston over somewhere else. But I would also strongly suggest seeing an ENT.

      1. Chronic allergy and sinus person here. The ENT did a scan of my head and saw how clogged the sinuses were. They did an aggressive numbed vacuuming which helped immensely and sinus rinsing with a saline and steroid mix in the bottle and that made things 75% better. I’m still gunky and need to blow my nose with aggression, but I manage and am not miserable and can actually sleep.

    9. All my emphathy for your son. As an adult, I utilize NeilMed Sinus rinses and frequent showers on the non-medication side. As a kid my ENT removed my adenoids and did some aggressive sinus vacuuming/flushing, etc while I was under anesthesia which was literally night and day difference. I appreciate the effort my Mom went through to continue pushing after I went through every med and nasal spray under sun.

    10. As a lifelong allergy sufferer, may I suggest a temporary but very effective solution?

      Wear an N95 mask!

      Pre-pandemic, I did not realize how effective N95 masks were in keeping out pollen. Now, I do wear my 3M Aura mask whenever pollen levels are super high, and even when I’m digging/cleaning up my garden. It makes a huge difference in symptoms.

      If it is an option at all, there are also personal and portable HEPA air purifiers that your son could put on his desk at school. I don’t have a recommendation but maybe worth looking into. If you follow a few Covid-cautious and/or air quality experts on X, they may have some recommendations.

      Also second the advice of daily showers and hair washing, changing clothes when in the house, changing bedding as often as possible.

      And as someone with misophonia, please talk to your son about his sniffling habits.

      1. Good advice, anon. at 11:41. For a mask, I haven’t found an N95 that fits kids well. My allergy-suffering kid is doing better this season with wearing a Happy Mask, though. Not sure if the Happy Mask is what’s doing the trick or some other slight modifications.

        For air purifiers, if the doc recommends air filtration, given how much the allergies are impacting the classroom, I’d see if I can get the school to run an adequate number of air purifiers in the class and close the windows during seasonal allergy days. At my public school, this could probably be accommodated under a 504 plan.

        1. As an adult with a small face I like the small size KN95 masks from WellBefore. They are the only masks I can actually get to seal.

    11. I would also look into different antihistamines.

      I switch back and forth between desloratadine and levocetirizine throughout the year. Whenever I feel the meds aren’t working, I switch to the other one for a week to try.
      I have also tried loratadine and cetirizine, with limited success.
      Sometimes, one histamine works better than the other – I do not know why, but it’s an easy thing to try.

      1. This. Within our family, one kid does great on cetirizine but it has like no effect on the other so he needs desloratadine.

      1. I think this is difficult because everywhere has different types of plants and seasons. However if you get to a point where you’ve explored lots of medical options and they don’t work, it does seem fair to at least explore moving .

    14. just a note that if you’re a costco member they have the cheapest prices on pseudoephedrine – it’s like $2.50 for a box of 40. have to ask at the pharmacy though. kids as young as 6 can take. i wouldn’t take daily.

      afrin is amazing but only for 3 days – but it can at least open things up for a short while so things can dry out and drain.

      other things maybe to try:
      – st olbas oil? like vicks but supercharged, i like to put it on my neck
      – vicks shower steamers can help open things up
      – bruder eye mask might help with sinus drainage

      does he get a lot of ear infections with the snort? my youngest does this and has had so many problems with hearing because of glue ear (fluid in his middle ear but no infection – otitis media with effusion).

    15. Lifelong allergy/asthma sufferer here.

      You’ve gotten some good advice.

      1) You need a local-ish doctor, if your son is having regular symptoms. Trust me, flying when you have a sinus infection is not recommended. There must be a good allergist/pulmonologist/ENT near you. Find that person.
      2) You need to do everything to remove triggers. Folks have already given suggestions, but–sterile room to sleep in, no outside clothes in the bedroom, showers after being outside, masks, indoor recess, etc. Allergies are triggers by exogenous factors, and then eventually, the body is producing so much histamine that it’s going crazy reacting to anything–this is hypersensitivity, and it starts once the body is in a “keyed up” state.
      3) You need to get on a “blocking cocktail” that works. This can mean layer anthistamines (so you take Zyzal and Claritin at different times of day). An allergist can provide suggestions. Singulair (montelukast) which is technically an anti-leukotriene, is also indicated for very bad allergies.
      4) You need to solve the sinus infections, and a pulmonologist can help with ultrasounds, antibiotics, and de-gunkers (like mucinex). But none of that will help unless your son is getting the gunk out–no snorting. The snot needs to go the other way–cough it up or blow his nose. He should take a steamy shower each night before bed to loosen things. Make sure you see a doctor who is committed to working on the sinuses. That’s what’s making your kid feel miserable and run down–he has a long term infection he’s fighting.
      5) Last–consider his environment. There may be something specific in your house or his school that is setting him off. Maybe a moldy lead behind a wall, or something like that. And other posters have mentioned this–I would seriously consider uprooting my family if my child was this sick. Allergies can be much better with less of the trigger in your environment, so, say, moving to the desert, or near the sea, if being in Southern Louisiana is unworkable for your son.

      1. A word of warning about Singulair: my son also had bad allergies when he was little, and the doctor recommended this. He was, not kidding, completely psychotic and impossible to deal with for several months. Turns out, that is a known side effect of Singulair in little kids. We changed doctors after that because what the actual eff. I can’t tell you how horrible it was.

      2. We have all hardwood and tile in our house. Much easier to keep dust bunnies at bay. A few rugs but they are all washable and washed weekly for the bedroom rugs.

    16. I was the kid who got sick every spring and every fall and it took them ten years to figure out that my allergies were just that bad.

      Caveat that this a some weird-ass straight out of left field non-responsive answer, the one year of my now many years that I had no seasonal allergies whatsoever is the year I had eradicated dairy from my diet. Hard to do. I love cheese. These days, I try to greatly minimize it going into allergy season and even that helps.

      1. Yes I co-sign this. It made a huge difference for my northeast seasonal allergies and I only wish I had started DF as a kid.

    17. Haven’t read all the responses but we find a big difference with our kids when we are strict on the sleeping environment being clean. So no sitting/playing on your bed with outside clothes on. No shoes in the house. Daily shower and hair wash. Fresh pillow cases. Hepa filter air purifier in bedroom and main living room. We spend about a third of our lives in our bedrooms when sleeping overnight so the extent to which you can keep the bedroom allergen free will really help. Maybe even have him change clothes in the bathroom and put the dirty laundry hamper there?

      I’m doing the allergy shots for birch pollen. It’s a year of weeklies and monthly for 3-5 years and I’ve been told it’s often into the 3rd year before getting much relief.

    18. Another allergy sufferer here. Have you tried Nasalcrom spray? Not Nasacort – that’s a different drug. It was recommended to me by an urgent care doc several years ago when I had my annual allergy-related sinus infection, and it’s been a huge help. Nasalcrom is a mast cell stabilizer, so it works upstream of the allergic reaction to prevent the histamines from flooding your nasal passages in the first place. The downside is you need to use it 2-3 times/day since they don’t have a long-acting formula. YMMV – apparently it doesn’t work for everyone.

    19. Late in the day but thank you to everyone who posted!! Appreciate all of the ideas so much – some we have tried already, some I have never heard of, but I am so grateful for these ideas!

    20. I realize I am late to the party, but everything you have described in your son is my childhood. Neither of my parents suffered from allergies and just didn’t understand. This is not said to you – as clearly you recognize this is a lifestyle issue. A couple of things that I suggest in addition (I also live in the south). Multiple daily showers, but especially before bed. Don’t sleep in the pollen in your hair. Basically it’s rubbing on your face for hours. BlueAir purifiers. I bought several in the pandemic and OMG they have changed my life. Get the allergy filter. I have them in every room in our house. I’ve had the nose survey 4 times. Twice when I was under 18. I agree with waiting. While painful, I agree. I’m happy to send you a burner email if you want to talk.

  3. The other day I noticed a man in my office gym wearing a wicking fabric polo, sporty material trousers, and athletic/work type shoes in our business casual office. He was so comfortable, he could even work do a light workout in the outfit and still be totally work appropriate. What is the women’s equivalent of this outfit? After work, I go to pick the kids at school and usually walk laps around the playground while they play for 30minutes. My work clothes and shoes cant hang through that. I’d love to create my own sporty-but work appropriate uniform.

    1. Look at Athleta – they have cuts of pants that look like straight legs/trousers but in athletic fabric.

    3. Athleta and Lululemon have clothes like this.

      I’m so tempted to go this route during the summer when things are more casual!

    4. How casual is your business casual? I used to wear linen pants and a plain t-shirt, a jersey dress, or a t-shirt dress to my business casual office, with a casual “third piece” jacket. To go for a walk I’d remove my jacket and put on running shoes.

    5. Old Navy has some pants like this too. I think they are called sleektech and they are a dupe for the Athleta ones.

    6. Not as sporty looking, but I feel breezy in linen pants and a tank. Sandals are okay in my office but mesh flats like Rothys work too.

    7. My husband wears this stuff. It’s incredible actually, he has shirts that look like regular button downs but are actually made of athletic material. He can run them thru the washer and they look perfect. It’s a feat of science, I think.

      I don’t have any great recs for you beyond those already mentioned, just wanted to point out that the men are very lucky in this regard.

        2. Not the poster above, but my husband buys Peter Millar and Mizen + Main for his work clothes. Both have options that range from athleisure to nearly business formal with stretch. He is also a dude that doesn’t skip leg day and these clothes solve a lot of problems.

          1. I’m a woman who has thighs at every size and never skips a leg day … the struggle with pants is real.

      2. My husband is so annoyed that these tech/golf/fishing clothes seem to be crowding nice cotton pants and shirts out of the business casual market. The synthetic fabrics just don’t look or feel the same, and they have a very particular “I’d rather be golfing” vibe. Which is fine if you’re in a job like sales in certain industries where that’s what you need to signal, but that’s not the case for everyone.

  5. This dress would be perfect for my office! some recent picks have been off-base but I’m glad to see us getting back to more standard workwear.

    1. High neck, lovely spring color, skirt longer than fingertips, perfection. Very demure.

    2. Ellen and her characters would love this! I hope they show up today, approximately

      1. The manageing partner might be so distracted by the design on the front of the dress that he stops stareing at her tuchus!

  6. A few months ago, I unsubscribed to WaPo due to the cartoonist fallout. I subscribe to the NYT and my state’s major paper. My work gets the WSJ. I need to replace WaPo with… something! Ideas?

    1. I like the Guardian, and recently subscribed to Wired because I think the tech perspective on politics is very helpful these days. If you want more investigative, ProPublica.

      1. WaPo’s interactive/digitally enhanced articles that also had figures, drawings, interactive video. I do not like watching video news but as I scrolled down and read it would have pop up creative / multimedia content I could watch or view on mute.

        Willing to switch to an outlet without that, but that is the type of article I am still getting advertised to view and I would like to get another source to supplement my current reading!

        1. I absolutely hated those interactive cartoony articles! It infuriated me every time and I wondered if they really had an audience for that. Different strokes I guess.

        2. I realize this is not quite the same, but do you like the New Yorker’s cartoons? They are funny, witty, and topical and they put new ones online every day.

  7. I’ve come across an opportunity where I’d be working for a PE backed company. Interview is tomorrow. The recruiter said it’s super hard work (ERP implementation in 5 months) and interim. Director title but only two reports, with a promise I can build out a small team. I’d need to work really hard of course. It’s interim 6-9 months but they have said they want to convert to permanent if it works out. Any thoughts? The rate is £650-£700 per day which seems low to me, given that it’s per day and I doubt they’d be paying for any weekend work. I tried pushing back on the rate, but they said they don’t want to pay too much as they want to convert to permanent (so…just hire me perm at that rate…). I have a 5, 10 and 12 year old at home and am a single mom, but I need this job. I can get good childcare but would be working to pay for childcare. It’s remote work which is awesome so I can be around while a nanny is with the kids; but it would be loooong hours. Thoughts?

    1. Is a daily rate normal in your field? I work in something similar but in the US and have never heard of a daily rate. I would definitely be nervous about number of hours. They should pay you for weekend days if you’re working if they don’t want to treat you like a salaried employee.

      1. Yes it is for interim work, but it’s my first time doing interim so I’m not sure what exactly the norms are in terms of work life balance.

      1. Seriously. I’d pass on this in a hot minute. I work for a consulting firm and they’d be wildly underpaying you for the scope of work (and there will 1000% be ‘scope creep’ in terms of expected working hours).

    3. If you need the job, you need the job, but it does not sound like they will be flexible with parenting needs so be upfront

    4. I have similar age kids, and you couldn’t pay me enough to do this job, even though I could (in theory) have my partner pick up my slack on childcare for long hours and weekends. Would the pay rate cover childcare and then leave enough to still make the long hours “worth it”? Would you want to convert to the permanent job? or are you thinking it would be a good stepping stone? or are you out of work right now and just need some income? I’m trying to understand why this sounds appealing in your situation.

      1. Out of work so that’s why I’m entertaining this. I do want to prioritise my children, including paying for food to go on the table.

        1. So, we’re actually in kind of a similar situation, and I get it. I’m also out of work and interested in fractional exec type roles, but I’m finding that the networking and advertising to GET those roles is not my jam.

          I didn’t mean to imply that you would not be prioritizing your kids by taking this job, just that with kids those ages, *I* don’t have the bandwidth to also manage something so intense at work. I did it (post-merger integration), I was completely burnt out and miserable, my husband and kids were unhappy, and it would take a life-changing amount of money for me to willingly do it again.

          If you need a job, you need a job, but know your worth. They are asking for a lot, they should pay you a lot to give it to them. I would treat this as consulting, bill hourly, and aim for a rate that is at least 2x your hourly rate as a salaried employee. When we brought in consultants, I used 1.8*fully loaded US salary as the benchmark.

          1. Thank you. Re-reading my previous reply, it sounds rude which was not my intention. Thanks, especially for the nudge to charge appropriately for my skills and experience.

    5. I don’t know what your job situation is but nothing about this job seems right.

      I am not in ERP implementation but I have worked with large scale enterprise software implementations (health system EMRs, health plan claims systems, etc). A director level salary is $150k++. If you are talking per diem work (no benefits), I’d not even consider it for less than $1200 per diem. If you expect the hours to be intense, $1500.

      Those are dollars not pounds so I’m assuming you are not in the US and I would therefore adjust based on regional norms.

      I would also ask about travel- the team roads for implementations in my field are road warriors.

      1. Depending on the size of the company, 5 months for an ERP implementation sounds wildly optimistic, too. You have dependencies on so many other teams who have BAU to run…

        1. As someone who does ERP implementations for a living, five months is very tight unless the scope is bare bones and the process owners are 100% aligned. I’m not convinced this will turn into a full time position if they can’t give you a clear picture of your responsibilities long term.

          1. Totally agree! And in my role it wouldn’t even be controllable by me. However the data is a mess (isn’t it always) so I expect they’ll want to burn someone to get it all cleaned up so they can go live. I’ve done implementations before, and it’s such a slog even with a great team and well managed process.

    7. For consulting or contract work my hourly rate is 2.5 times my hourly pay as a salaried employee, and I bill for every hour worked.

    9. If you need the job you need the job. You’ll make it work. Just remember to keep carving out time to get your resume out there for other jobs, don’t let them eat all your time and energy (because they will).

    10. Thanks these are concerns I 100% share. I’m out of work so I need the job. I think I’ll go back and say I can do it for 6 months and have them define the scope more clearly.

      I’ve been trying to find work as a fractional/interim CFO and nobody seems to want to hire me remotely. So I’m kind of limited, and this is the only thing that showed up for me so far.

      1. What about aiming lower and more stable? Interim or fractional c-suite roles are few and far between but roles under those in finance are much easier to come by and may be a much better situation than what you’re contemplating.

        1. It’s one under c suite which is already a step back. I feel like I’ve worked SO hard for decades to reach the level I’m at, and I love the work I do. In 5-10 years I’d like to scale back up to full time regular work again, so that’s a path I want to remain open to me. Also I need to pay bills! It’s a good idea though to look for more stable work perhaps in smaller companies or advising on bank financing etc which is less stressful as it’s not usually PE.

      2. I would go back and say “I will work on month to month basis at a rate of $X per month” and make sure X is worth your time. Idk, $20k? If it goes over 5 months, they still owe you.

    11. If you need the role, take the role. But do what you can to set boundaries and continue job searching. They will take every second you give them. (Which it sounds like you know.)

    12. With the daily rate, are they going to treat you like an employee (with annual leave, sick leave, etc) or are they trying to treat you like a contractor? Actual employment benefits are very valuable in the UK, so I’d want clarity on that.

      1. Exactly this. I’ll find out at the interview I think. Part of me wants the offer and I’ll find out at that stage, but I don’t want to waste anyone’s time. (Even if I just do it for a month or two, that would be enough for me to put basic processes in place and start to build out a team, so I can pass the baton on to someone else; that is what I’m telling myself, so if I start to burn out I can have that as an option). Can you tell I’ve been in PE before and burned out? 😣

    1. In the USA I would start by contacting the HSDA with the same question, or if not USA check https://huntington-disease.org/findyournationalorganization/

      One of the few things that Facebook is still good for is rare disease support groups. For Huntington’s, I don’t know which group is “the good one” (the one with good moderators who keep out the scammers and keep things science based); sometimes a local in-person support group has its own group or listserv or forum that’s worth knowing about too. I’m sorry you have a need for these resources and hope you are able to connect with them.

    3. For clinical trials, look at https://huntingtonstudygroup.org/ or clinicaltrials.gov (assuming our current feds have not taken that site down, which may be an invalid assumption). Hugs, it’s a rough diagnosis but things have come a long way in the last 20 years.

  9. This dress makes her thigh gap look smaller than it actually is. So unflattering.

  11. I’m thinking of making a job change where it would be lower salary (like 5% lower) but way lower stress and no travel. Seems like a no-brainer but I worry about losing any income in the current economy. On a related question, how much notice is standard these days – Gov’t (state not fed) agency, high-level legal.

    1. Rather than merely worrying about losing income, look at the literal, actual numbers and the choice in front of you regarding them:

      How much money does 5% come to each month? Where will you make a change in your spending or your savings, or both, to accommodate that 5%?

      Is that a change you’re willing to make in exchange for less stress and no travel?

      1. I would absolutely make that change. But question: is it moving from a state legal job to a private job? Its a rough time to move intra-government right now

    2. just numbers wise, how much do you travel now, and do you throw money at issues arising from that? Would the financial savings from traveling less balance out maybe half of that pay cut?

    3. Business travel kills me and my budget. There are always expenses that can’t be reimbursed or I forget to ask for reimbursement. I’ll treat myself to a midweek mimosa at the airport on my way back from a stressful meeting. Or I’ll lose the receipt for the water bottle I picked up at the airport. There’s pet care/house care that I have to pay for because I’m not around, extra dry cleaning that I probably would’ve used dryel at home, the list goes on. And that’s not counting the “unpaid” (I know your probably salaried) hours you spend packing, unpacking, waiting at the airport, the stress of business travel, the strain on your immune system.

      Idk, a 5% cut to avoid all of that seems like a bargain to me.

      1. Lets not forget about the inevitable weight gain/loss of sleep/stress involved with business travel. I lost 7lbs in the first two months of the pandemic due to no longer traveling and eating terrible food/work drinks/

      2. This may be personal. I come out way ahead when I’m traveling for business because everything I need is covered. Colleagues do have issues with dog boarding and extra childcare costing $$$, so I realize my experience isn’t universal.

        But when you vacuum every last Uber ride, coffee at Starbucks, and alcoholic drink at a bar out of my spending, there’s not much left! If it weren’t for the exhaustion and the occasional bouts of sickness, I would take all business trips I was offered.

    4. Where would you cut the actual $ from your budget? Is any of that offset by spending you’d reduce because you’re not traveling (whether more obvious like extra pet care, or less so like ordering more takeout on weeks you travel)?

      Personally, 5% would be worth it to me given the above, but do the math.

      Notice, most people give 2 weeks (maybe 3) in the private sector for mid-career attorney positions.

    7. If you can, compare the overall comp package versus just the salary. Is there a difference in retirement contributions, medical coverage (esp. deductibles and OOP max, if that’s an issue for you), long term incentives? That 5% may be equalized through other measures.

      1. This, if I leave fed gov’t (aka when I get RIF’d) and go back to city gov’t I’ll make 10k less, but I will make it up in much, much cheaper health care, fully covered transit, and smaller mandatory pension contributions. But, also the pension payout would be smaller and there’s no match in the 403b while I currently get a 5% match in my TSP. And, the time off is slightly less but takes longer to accrue more

      2. +1 Check your premiums for your desired health care plan and calculate how much your employer will contribute to your 401(k) and your HSA. I bet you it’s not a full 5% cut.

    8. I don’t understand even considering picking 5% salary over career satisfaction if you are not extremely poor.

    9. I just took a job with 1/3 paycut for a 95% reduction in stress and it is absolutely worth it

  12. I just got messaged by an old acquaintance from high school who moved in down the street – I feel like we should invite them over but I want to make sure they’re not crazy MAGA people. What are the most democrat-coded things I can say?

    1. Where do you live? That probably matters a bit.

      You could also check and see who they follow on IG/other social media. Though, some people follow the POTUS accounts regardless of who is in office but if they follow personal accounts or committee accounts that could help.

      1. we live in a republican stronghold city (my hometown, didn’t realize it was quite so bad when we moved here in 2015) and there are a lot of crazy maga people in my wealthy subdivision. but the wife is facebook friends with the most vocal liberal in town so maybe that’s a good sign…

        2. for some examples of what i mean by “crazy maga” – in the local FB group yesterday the local pride group celebrated the trans day of visibility and there were multiple comments about sodom and gomorrah and other rudeness. they’ve tried to shut down businesses that have donated to the pride fest.

          also stupidity like when someone was complaining in december about marketplace insurance costs being so high there was like a 70+ comment thread about how “just hang on until january!” and “trump will fix it” and “you’re worried about trump axing the ACA, you must be watching too much CNN, that’s all fake news”

    2. Crazy MAGA people don’t seem to line up easily one way or the other. How likely are crazy MAGA people to be on your street as a baseline reference? I feel like the crazy MAGA people aren’t a shy lot, so it may be that they are Republicans shaking their heads and hoping it all blows over quickly (and is that OK) or pretty central independents. IDK how you roll. There is a scene in White Lotus where two women freak out that a third is an independent. If you haven’t seen a red hat or bumper sticker yet, I’m guessing they are just people. Why would you think otherwise?

      1. They didn’t freak out because she was an independent.. they freaked out because she basically admitted voting for the cheeto.

        2. Exactly, she’s the kind of independent who is really a R, they just prefer to call themselves independent because they think it makes them seem objective.

    3. Oh FFS, really? Why not just reconnect and see if you like each other. Even if your politics aren’t perfectly aligned it’s nice to know people of different stripes. And I say this as a democrat. Broaden your horizons.

      1. +1

        Staying in our silos is not going to solve the current problem we’re in. Maybe I realize this because I’m a blue dot in a red state, but if I ignored everyone who didn’t think like I do, I wouldn’t interact with many people.

      3. It’s also important to have a good relationship with your neighbors. When you need someone to close the garage after you forgot, grab a package you’re expecting, make tire tracks in your driveway while you’re away over the holidays, etc. it doesn’t matter what their political beliefs are.

        1. Yup, this. No wonder there’s a loneliness epidemic among adults. Yes, of course we need to have some like-minded friends, but don’t write off half the population and expect to have any sort of community around you.

          1. It’s not half the population. 1/3 of eligible voters didn’t even vote.

            You can write off MAGA fascists and still have tons of friends.

      4. She didn’t say she wanted to make sure their politics were perfectly aligned — she said she wanted to make sure they weren’t crazy MAGAs. I think there’s a difference and it’s perfectly reasonable not to want to engage with the latter.

        1. Fair, I don’t know anyone truly crazy MAGA, and would probably avoid them if I did… but I think comment above is correct that if you haven’t seen a yard sign, bumper sticker, or red hat yet, you are probably safe. The crazy MAGA people are not usually in stealth mode.

        2. I agree with this. She’s not saying she doesn’t want to be friends with someone who is GOP. But when we are deporting people to 3rd countries without trial, shutting down entire departments by EO, threatening to impeach judges, and blowing up decades old relationships with allies, it’s not just Bush vs Gore policy differences situation.

        3. Sure, but the way that you figure that out is by meeting up with them. If they’re crazy MAGA then you’ve lost an hour of your time but gained that knowledge.

      5. Seriously. When the right calls out the “intolerant left” this is what they mean. Political litmus tests for new neighbors? Inviting to reconnect…at a protest, as one commenter suggested? Good grief.

        3. Someone who voted for someone who has SAed someone and is friends with Nazis is not a friend choice for me.

      6. I’m a queer human. People who voted for him actively voted to take my rights away. I can’t be friends with someone who cannot see other people’s humanity.

        That’s a line I can’t cross.

    4. mention something about the pandemic, like doing virtual school?
      we should have you guys over after we get our covid booster shots?

      1. My kids and I loathed virtual school and we aren’t getting boosters. This will just inflame the vast bulk of the populace. Zoom school ought to make people stabby and I’d prefer to have it never mentioned again. Unhinge me? Mention that.

        1. I literally paid $50k+ (total, not each!) for private school for two years to avoid virtual school and it’s immediate aftermath for my kids, and it was the best money I ever spent. Virtual school for as long as it existed in some blue bubbles is something Democrats should be embarrassed about for a long time. and I say that as a Democrat.

      1. Agree. I have friends and family who are MAGA and others who are super left. We don’t discuss politics or world events, which suits me perfectly. We talk about everything else that’s relevant in our lives.
        If someone only wants to talk about politics, political climate, world events, etc., then they’re not a good match for me as a friend, even if we had exactly the same opinions on that topic. Presumably others want friends with whom they primarily discuss these things. If that’s you, then I understand why you’re trying to figure it out. If not, I’d find out if they otherwise make good conversation.

    6. Honest question: Why not invite them over and keep the conversation on politically neutral topics? There are so many ways to be poor company without being MAGA, that wouldn’t even be my first test!

      1. So, so creepy to do that in this instance. Just be normal and swing by to invite them over.

    8. Trying to answer your question…

      “Would you and H like to come over next Friday for drinks and dinner? All the political news this year has been stressing me out so I’d love to catch up on life!”

      Or
      “How would next Weds. work for dinner at our place? Who knows what flurry of headlines, executive orders, layoffs, etc. might come next week, and that could impact our workloads. Given the uncertainty, we would probably serve dinner early – 6ish – and wrap up by 8. Would love to reconnect and have a great midweek break from the news!”

      Or put a sign up in your front yard that talks about (cause). Or invite her to meet you at a protest or lunch for a cause.

      1. this is the script you would use for an old acquaintance asking to catch up?? Sorry, I would probably back away. Turning a friendly hello into immediate political discourse means we are unlikely to enjoy each other’s conversation.

        1. +1 I swear to god every single “script” that’s ever given here sounds like what an alien encountering human life for the first time would say.

      1. agreed! Just find out the normal way, OP. If they are obnoxious, politically or otherwise, you don’t have to keep hanging out. Once won’t kill you.

    10. What if they don’t have kids and y’all turn out to be besties and they leave all of their money and property to you?

      Then who would care about their politics?

    11. You could always say what you just said, point-blank ask them if they are crazy MAGA people. But honestly, having a friendly-ish neighbor is valuable even if you have very different opinions about everything.

      As someone who lives in a very very blue town in a blue state, the local rumor mill has occasionally spit out nonsense about how DH and I are conservatives. The “proof” given has been the way we dress (boring preppies), the cars we drive (not EVs), and a lack of objection to a local real estate development. Oh, and supporting advanced open-access academic classes at our local public school.

    12. If they don’t have a flag it’s probably fine. MAGAs I know seem to turn even the most mundane small talk into something ridiculous. It’s not hard to find.

    13. Honestly it just comes out sometimes.

      I’ll say something snarky-ish and jokey like “I picked up crochet to distract myself from the horrors.” Or I’ll convey worry like “I’m not sure what to do with my investments now that the stock market is so volatile.” Or something like that. Usually other people bring it up first, and once I know their position-ish, I can be somewhat more candid. It’s never a conversation starter, just something that comes up organically.

  13. Has anyone seen exercise shorts that have bike shorts inside? I think I’m not finding them because I’m not using the right term. I just want some shorts that are a little more modest when I’m contorting myself during certain exercises. Thanks!

    3. Look for the term 2-in-1 shorts. I feel like Athleta has had these in the past, but it still might be a little early; they’re definitely a seasonal item.

    5. As someone else mentioned, 2-in-1 is the search term you want. They tend to be more available in men’s, so if you have a straight enough figure to wear men’s cuts comfortably, check there.
      You might also look for skorts, which will have more of a compression short type lining.

    6. i just saw some of these at athleta, i know old navy’s men’s section definitely has them also

    1. L’Oreal Elvive Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm…it’s cheap but works fantastically!

Comments are closed.