UAE emirate bans pyjamas at work

Umm... First of all, it's pajamas, not pyjamas. Secondly, I've heard of some businesses actually having a pajama day, but those people aren't seen by the public. However, civil servants? *boggle* What the heck are they doing wearing P.J.'s at work while dealing with the public anyways? What's more, what made so many people there think this was ok? Sounds like mismanagement to me. Perhaps they should just fire the knob-head who told his underlings it was ok to do this in the first place? What's more, they actually had to pass a law about it! This has, "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!", written all over it. C'mon UAE, join the rest of us in reality. You don't fix everything through legislation. Instead you lay out policy for different departments of government. Break policy and you get sacked. Simple, yet effective. Sheesh... Better yet, hire sane supervisors.

DUBAI (AFP) - The local government of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates has introduced a dress code for civil servants after a large number were caught wearing pyjamas at work.

The rule, effective from January 1, requires Emirati government employees to stick to the national dress -- the long white robe known as "kandoura" for men and the black abaya for women, newspapers reported Thursday.

Expatriates working for the local government will have to show up in suits and ties, Gulf News and Al-Khaleej reported.

The decision to impose a mandatory dress code was taken after a large number of employees were caught on duty in their sleeping attire and pyjamas, Gulf News quoted the head of the personnel department in the emirate, Maath al-Mutawaa, as saying.

Government employees will henceforth dress in a way reflecting the progress being seen in the emirate, he added.

The conservative emirate of Ras al-Khaimah at the northern tip of the UAE has recently been opening up to outsiders and launched a series of economic projects in a bid to catch up with more "advanced" members of the UAE, which includes oil-rich Abu Dhabi and Dubai, a business and tourism hub.