I never wore ties much, never liked them much, but when I started going overseas and working with
major scientific research institutions, and meeting with the top dogs, and staff and fairly often political
folks (the odd US ambassador or foreign equiv) it became necessary to wear a suit and tie. I am sure I could
have gotten away with it, but in my estimation, meeting new people and needing to be taken seriously
right off the bat, the suit and tie were necessary. After ten years of it, for 2-4 weeks pretty much every
day, about 2-3 times per year, I got pretty comfortable with a suit and tie. It helped a lot for me to
get properly sized shirts, since I have a big neck, and the standard shirt will not likely even button and if
it does, will be nearly strangling me. Getting a nice big neck sized shirt helped a lot.
I haven't even looked at a suit or tie since the last funeral I had to attend, and have no intention of wearing
one otherwise. But, I no longer hate them. Jeans is my uniform these days. A golf shirt with a collar is
dressing up. A collared, ironed shirt is for a special occasion.
Bill