iamshack

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 23, 2015 -> 04:07 AM) Commission for them. On the other side, I accepted a $500 rebate for financing with Ford, then two days later moved the loan to USAA at 1/3rd the interest rate never paying any interest to Ford. I understand why they do it, Tex. My question was how the hell is that legal?

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Feb 21, 2015 -> 07:24 PM) I've been reading a lot about starting negotiations at the invoice price of the car. I'm sure every car or dealer is different, but how close to invoice price will they sell cars for? I also have read a couple things about dealers pulling a fast one with financing by agreeing to terms then calling the next day that the terms will need to be changed because the bank didn't approve. I've even been told that they even have customers sign waivers that prevents customers from backing out if the terms change effectively screwing them into paying more. I figure I either won't finance through dealers or wait to take the care until the paperwork is official from their bank. Well, one thing they also will deal is get you to agree to certain financing terms that are worse than what a bank actually qualified you for, and then keep the difference. How that is legal, I have no idea.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 21, 2015 -> 03:52 PM) Two phones? Personal preference for that? I can't stand carrying an extra phone during my on call rotation. Yeah, I get uncomfortable keeping the crap my friends send to my personal phone on my work phone...not worth the risk.

Finally had to take the hit on getting a new iPhone. The 5 was dead, and then to add insult to injury, I left it in a rental car. Already had a 6+ for work...was having a tough time choosing between the 6 and the 6+....figured if I am already carrying the 6+ around most of the time I may as well just get the same size again. I have 14 days to change my mind, so I guess we will see what happens.

So I wore the navy suit this past few days on a trip to California and was very pleased on how well it fit and the characteristics of the fabric. Popped on the charcoal one. Next up will be some more shirts, ties, and pocket squares.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 08:18 PM) Whether you're talking about suits, shirts or regular wardrobe, fitting is absolutely crucial. Never wear clothes bigger than your size as that just looks sloppy. I am 5'9" and 170. A slim fit 15.5 x 33 shirt from Brooks Brother fits me perfectly. Even when I am wearing a regular Express or CK shirt, I get many compliments from female friends because they like how well my clothes fit on me. Fitting is definitely a small change you can make to look more clean without throwing big bucks on your wardrobe. Another classic rule of thumb I think Shack touched on is owning a navy blazer, they are extremely versatile, especially for those who travel for work and have to pack light. When wearing navy, I always go for brown accessories not dark, it's definitely puts a more trendy touch to it. Also, try to color match your shoes, belt, and wristband of your watch. I don't like to spend too much on any items of clothing, as I like to experimental different styles and colors and pair with different accessories. If you're the trendy type of guy, cuff links and pocket squares are your friends. They are easy to wear as there aren't too many rules around it, and when your wear them, people would definitely take notice. Definitely looking to get into this soon.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 06:59 PM) The material still doesn't look or feel the same. Yeah, I mean there are reasons for differences in prices...the bottom line is a cheaper suit that is well tailored can look better than a more expensive suit that is not. I have a few Banana Republic suits that look nice because I have had them tailored, but they are no match for the really nice handmade suit I have.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 02:00 PM) I feel ya. I'm down 15 lbs on a trek to get down about 40. When i'm done i'm going to need a whole new wardrobe. Not looking forward to that. Actually, if you lose that weight, you may enjoy wearing nice things more. I eat relatively well and I work out 3-4 times a week for most of the year. Part of the benefit of staying in that kind of shape is showing it off by wearing well-fitting clothes. If you google "How much should I spend on a suit," most publications/blogs will say it doesn't necessarily matter...what matters most is that the suit fits you like a glove. This is true, except with the caveat that the better quality suit, the better the chances of it fitting like a glove. For off the rack suits, the way the suit is constructed often is correlated with how much the tailor can alter it. It doesn't necessarily have to be very expensive for it to fit you well, but it helps if it is made to some minimum level of quality/materials. I know that when I got in better shape I really got a boost of confidence and that confidence was further increased by dressing well. Like I mentioned earlier, wearing a nice suit or even a really nicely fitting shirt can be your "armour." I feel like staying in good shape and dressing well is an investment in my career, to be honest. I'm sure most people don't think about clothes this way, but I've found it to be very true for me.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 12:48 PM) s*** I dont know, I'll have to check the itemized bill. Probably just a bit south of $200. That's not too bad, honestly. I pay more for OTR most of the time.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 10:26 AM) They are totally custom made from the sizing (they come to your house) of every bit of your body including how thick your watch is, down to the fabric cut, placing of pockets, color of the seams etc. At this point the factors (in LA) has all of my measurements and I can completely design what I want and they will even send me a rough make and I can give them tweaks. All of my suits have little touches depending on what my target market is for that suit. Summer ones are lighter material with more colorful touches while work suits tend to be muted with very small custom tweaks. It can get very detailed, for example some of my new suit coats have a custom sized iphone 6 pocket kind of hidden in the inside since I dont like to put a giant phone in my pocket. That is very cool...what do they charge you generally for shirts?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 12:05 PM) I am pretty young but I have been trying to improve in this department. I have two full suits that are both off the rack but tailored to my fit. I have a navy pin-striped Michael Kors suit and a black Calvin Klein. I guess I am happy with them until I start bringing in more money but I need help in the shoe game. Is there any mid tier shoe brands that I should direct my attention to? Spending ~600 on Ferragamos isn't really in the picture at this point. Cole Haan's aren't bad, and you can get them fairly affordable if you pick them up at Nordstrom during their semi-annual sales. Allen Edmonds are really nice too and you can get them on sale quite often as well. One of the big keys is simply putting shoe trees in them. You can pick some up on amazon for $20 and make a pair of $150 dollar shoes last a lot longer by simply keeping shoe trees in them.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) Shoes- A whole other ball of wax. There are really two schools of thought in dress shoes: 1. Buy some really nice pairs and find a shoe shop or cobbler that can repair and resole these for years. Very common ones I see are Ferragamos, Crockett and Jones, Gucci etc. Most of the well dressed men I know swear by Ferragamos. Keep in mind these are going to run you about 600 bucks MIN. Most informed shoe salesman will narrow this all down from you and it gets quite confusing. How many seams do you like, do you like a toe cap etc. You will walk out spending a grand on shoes that hopefully will last you 15 years at least. You WILL have to care for these, you WILL have to wear protectors in the winter and you WILL resole this shoes with an expensive repair shop. These are timeless, classic and look like money. 2. Go to DSW, buy whats in fashion, wear one season, discard, buy again. You can get Kenneth Coles, etc for 60-100 bucks, they look great, they wear easily, but you can keep them looking nice if you get a shoe shine frequently and do not drag your feet too much when you walk. This can fit almost anyone, they look nice enough with an expensive suit and only the gayest or snobbiest man out there will know you arent wearing 1,000 italian leather loafers. You should really have 3 pairs of "nice shoes". 1. Classic black leather-work, weddings etc. Get em shined and they will treat you right 2. Brown suit-quality or khaki quality dress shoes. DONT buy square toes fellas, this isnt 2001. Get a nice brown leather shoe (not docs) slightly different from your black shoes and you can pop em on with your blue suit, gray suit or kahkis 3. Casual-dress shoes. Something you can wear with nice jeans and sport coat or sweater as well as sockless with nice shorts for a dressy-casual event. something akin to this varvatos shoe: https://www.google.com/shopping/product/554...gMYqqyATWmICQDg Great advice! I dumped about $1800 into shoes last year, including a black cap toe, a burnished dark brown loafer, a pair of chestnut oxfords, and a pair of burnished burgundy loafers. 3 of the 4 are very high quality, with the exception of the chestnut oxfords, which are Cole Haan's that I wear more casually/regularly. I very much agree with what you say about investing in high quality shoes and caring for them, as well as getting them repaired when needed. Next on my list is a pair of very high-quality burnished honey oxfords.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 10:07 AM) I get all my suits and shirts custom made because I wear suits often and I like the look and style of getting something made for me. I am not the type of guy that likes to get one suit off the rack at Men's Warehouse. My first run was a navy, a dark gray and a black sportcoat with light gray pants. Those are probably the three staples of any suit inventory you should have. After that you can start to play around with when you wear the suits, what season, occasions etc, then start to add things like accent shirts etc. If you are ok with buying shirts off the rack this can save you some dough. I could really go into detail of which suits for what occasion etc, as well as patterns per season if anyone really wants to. I think one of the more important pieces of a wardrobe is also your "dress casual" selections like very nice jeans and some sweater/shirt options as well as grown up shoes. If you are interested in custom wear there are probably tons around you that you can check out. I started with Astor&Black (pretty large well known brand) but they kind of went under so I switched to Elevee http://www.eleveefashion.com/ I dabble in trunk club for some of the dressy-casual stuff like jeans, sweaters etc. Very cool, Rock. I was hoping you would contribute to this thread. So let me ask you this...your shirts and suits...are these made-to-measure or truly bespoke? I've never gotten anything mtm or bespoke - have always gone Off the rack and then had it tailored. The idea of choosing my own fabrics and having something made particularly for me is intriguing, however.

So the rule of thumb is your first suit should be navy, and if you really, really don't like navy, charcoal. Your second suit should be the color you didn't choose between navy and charcoal for your first suit. Your third suit should be a conservative pattern. I've found that I've often ignored these rules as I have purchased suits throughout my life; often times I have gone with patterns first, because I've found navy and charcoal to be dull choices. Going back to basics now. Already own a navy pattern and a gray (is it gray or grey? Jeesh, I don't even know), but have decided to step up my game and went with a navy first. Contemplating a charcoal now. It just seems sooooooo dull to me...every ambulance chaser/car salesman wears a charcoal suit. I think I am going to trust the rules and take the plunge, however.

Finally watched Gone Girl last night. I think if you didn't see it right away it was probably sort of ruined for you.

I get off 9 federal holidays a year or something...today is one of them...yippee skippy, been working all damn weekend anyways.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 06:56 PM) I don't want to get specific but certain races were tipping far under the recognized minimum of 15%. Our servers have to tip out 3% of their sales to the bussers, food runners and bartenders so when a table tips $2.20 on a $127.80 bill we actually had instances of our servers paying to serve this trash. My year to date tip average was 19.8% going into yesterday. Yesterday I came out at 14.7%. I was lucky enough to have some great tables and my manager put gratuity on a party when that's against policy to save me so I made out okay but it was a horrible shift all around. Guys getting seriously racist, girls crying and a lot of people losing the desire to finish the shift in an acceptable manner as a result. It was just one day and our regular clientele is great but the crowd we had yesterday was unbelievable. Jeesh, one would think the guys would be at least pretending as though they were good tippers last night...

Ok fellas, I know this ins't everyone's cup of tea, but with all you young guys looking to enter the workforce or turn the ladies' heads, I think it's high time we need a thread dedicated to clothing, style, and man's efforts to look his best. I suggest we cover topics such as: -What is suitable to wear for a job interview -What is suitable corporate attire, whether that is a suit 4-5 times a week, a shirt and tie, or business casual -What does a single man wear to impress a woman -What does a married man wear to cause other women to be jealous of his wife -What does a man wear and do to generally look his best I'll start...my job is generally a business casual affair, however, I've always taken pride in my appearance and dressed for the job I want, not the job I have. As my career has developed, and my salary has increased, I have stepped up my wardrobe a bit, first improving the quality of my staples (which was a huge undertaking), and then adding some trendy pieces every now again. At the moment, I'm trying to find a few really incredible, but conservative suits, and building around those color schemes. Shoes are also a very important piece of the puzzle. I generally started out with most of my pieces from Banana Republic. They offer fairly decent quality shirts, and offer a wide-range of solid pants and sweaters. Their suiting isn't bad for the price either. One can find these pieces at 40% off pretty constantly, with the exception of their blazers and suiting. I usually would buy Cole Haan shoes from Nordstroms or the like, but have become disappointed with their quality. About 18 months ago, much to the chagrin of my bank account, I discovered Tom Ford. Been addicted every since...I must say, while it is incredibly expensive, I have found that the concept that fine menswear serves as a man's "armor" to be very accurate. I'm confident at work when I am in meetings with top executives, and it has allowed my career to develop along an arc which is very much ahead of where most men are at in my company at my age. Anyways, I think we should share thoughts on where to buy nice shirts, ties, suits, shoes, grooming products, etc. Many of you guys are new to the workforce and would benefit from being able to ask the advice of some of the older gentleman that read this forum. I look forward to reading everyone's thoughts.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 11:38 AM) Only the second. I don't remember any problems last time but I've had some of the worst bathroom experiences of my life today and it's not typical of a hangover sick if you catch my drift. I've had serious cramping too. Thank god I had nothing planned today. How much did you drink? It also may not be an allergy...may have been bad lobster or food poisoning or something.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 11:31 AM) I am not sure if I am hungover or allergic to lobster but I am having a rough morning. I hope it's the former because I love lobster. Well was it the first time you've had lobster?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 08:50 AM) Reservations at 730, wasn't going to be seated until 930 last night. Good job, cooper's hawk. First time we tried to go out on Valentine's day in at least six years, last time for a while. Ack....yeah, amateur hour. We went for breakfast yesterday morning and made a nice dinner at home last night. Much, much less annoying.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 05:59 PM) Seems like he is pulling a Ron Santo. So desperate for the Hall of Fame, he is sticking around thinking he can help his chances, while in fact he may be hurting them. I don't think he gives two s***s about the hof...I think he's just enjoying himself, especially since he probably can't play as much golf anymore.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 05:22 PM) The book is well known to have been highly "sensationalized." It's been a criticism since its release, long before the movie was even a thought. I've heard the same criticisms of Flash Boys.

I really could care less about this...not sure why he felt the need to do it, but I don't really get the outrage.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 05:48 AM) The reality is paying back your student loans should be a lower priority than just about any other debt. If you have credit cards, a car loan, etc, those are the things that you should be paying off first. Not only are the interest rates usually lower for your student loans, but they are also a tax benefit. Unfortunately that is capped at a certain income level. I made the mistake one year of deferring (forbearance) for about 6 months when I moved out here and took a new job so I could get a handle on what my expenses would all be, etc. Boy was that a mistake...seems like I was paying off that interest forever.