Oh, HELL, yeah!

And if you haven’t tried this, you SHOULD! It’s fun!

那必须的！

如果你没试过，听我的，千万试试！太有意思！

One time long ago when I was “between jobs” as they say, I dressed immaculately in a three-piece suit for a morning interview for a managerial position. (Although I was definitely the winner of the “best-dressed” competition that morning, I wasn’t hired for a very simple reason: somebody else was more qualified. Such is life.)

很久之前，我曾有一段事业空档期，我早晨穿着一套一丝不苟的三件套西装，参加一个经理岗位的面试。（虽然那天我肯定是赢下了“最佳着装奖”，但并没有被录取，理由很简单：有人更适合。这就是生活。）

My wife had decided to “dress up” as well, to meet me for lunch after my interview. Not having a better place nearby, we chose to go to a favorite restaurant of ours we had been to literally dozens of times, both lunch and dinner.

妻子也决定“盛装打扮”一番，想在我面试结束后共进午餐。附近并没什么合适的地方，所以我们决定去那家最喜欢、去了得有几十次的餐厅。

In the southern USA city where I lived at the time, most people dress casually most of the time: T-shirts, shorts and sandals are practical and useful in the heat. You can’t tell the difference between a CEO of a major company and one of his employees without looking carefully at cars, watches, jewelry, shoes, etc.—and sometimes not even then.

当时我所在的那个美国南部城市，大多数人一般都穿得很随意：T恤、短裤和拖鞋在炎热的天气里非常实用。你根本分不清谁是公司总裁、谁是他的员工，除非你仔细地观察他们的车、手表、珠宝、鞋子等等——有时甚至靠这些都不行。

When we arrived for lunch, we had the most EXQUISITE service I had ever had at that place. Drinks were topped off or replaced before they were emptied, the waiter stood attentively close to our table in particular and more. We had a great lunch, so I left a nice tip, too.

到了以后，我们享受到了从来没体验过的极致服务。酒在喝完之前就会被续上或者换一整杯新的，服务员很体贴地特意站在离我们非常近的地方。我们享受了一次非常好的午餐体验，所以我小费给得也不少。

(Which of these people is a CEO? The scowling one, probably.)

（这些人里谁是总裁？估计是愁眉不展那位吧）

The next time we went back there, the service seemed… lackluster somehow. Slow, inattentive… one might even say reluctant. As we left, it hit me. OUR CASUAL CLOTHING! The people had associated our clothing styles, casual versus formal, with our perceived wealth and status. They didn’t seem to register our familiar faces in the fancy clothing, either.

后来我们再去的时候，服务就有点…不知怎的，乏善可陈。慢慢悠悠、毫不在乎…甚至可以说是不太情愿。直到我们要走的时候，我才突然明白，我俩穿得太随意！人们通过我们穿着打扮随意或是正式，联想到我们的财富和地位。他们好像也并不会因为上次盛装而记下我们的模样。

My wife and I talked about it, and we tried it again on another day, “dressing up” for dinner at another place… and got the same outstanding service, at a place that hadn’t been all that special before.

我跟妻子商量了一下，后来有天专门“盛装打扮”去了另一个地方…结果得到了相同的极佳待遇，而这家饭店以前从未有过什么特殊的地方。

Now, anytime we want to go out somewhere for a special event, or just for the experience of being treated as one of the “Gods,” I take out my three-piece suit, cuff-links and all, she dolls up in one of her best, and we hit the town.

现在，无论什么时候我们要出席特殊场合，或者就是单纯地想体验一下被尊为“上帝”的感觉，我就会祭出我的三件套、袖扣之类，而她也会精心打扮，然后向城里出发。

Try it!

大家都试试吧！