They can't do this!

Tell your Boss to go fuck himself, then find yourself a job with showers and a longer ride to work.

I've had to tell people who work for me that they smell, and believe me, its a job you put off until people start complaining.

Now that is the truth.

Here's a solution:

Start handing round a sponsorship form explaining that it is for a charity that is a) very personally meaningful to you or b) (even better) to your boss and that you are doing a sponsored bike ride at the end of the summer, so you need to get into training.

Hassle free cycling - jobs a good'un.

Thanks for all the support guys. just to clarify i work for a jewellers in hatton garden, where appearance and suchlike is very important (client facing role)

we have a relatively small staffroom, but there is still plenty of space to hang a spare suit etc. the problem seems to be that i have to change when i get to work so arriving on the shop floor around 10 minutes after i arrive. the issue is that the managers don't get in early enough to allow me to change to be on the shop floor ready to work by half 9. i'd be quite happy to arrive earlier, and i am there but there is no where to change and my suit is locked inside.

15 mins on a bike is not going to get you ponging especially if you shower before you leave and wear clean cycling clothes. i would use a roll-on deodorant rather than an aerosol when you get to work, nobody likes the pong of cheap lynx 'boudoir' (or whatever it's called) sprayed everywhere.
in the summer the temperature in the trains and the density of bodies on the busier lines would not be legal if you were transporting livestock, i'm surprised londoners have put up with it for so long.

Point out that public transport promotes the spread of potential pandemic diseases, ergo he should ban people from using the tube.

And then punch him in the goolies.

Are the PC brigade in?

moron

Another option is to find a gym nearby that you can join and use their showers. If you are in Hatton Garden then Finsbury leisure centre on Ironmonger row might be a good place.

^gym ticket? for showering? ... after a 15min bike ride? it seems clearly not the issue with hygiene but the 10min fixup time he needs to get presentable in the shop (greedy bastards). i'd try focus on that and suggest i'd work 10min longer in the evening to make up for it and/or sensibly work out a way to start the 'shift' together with them. though this means change a precisely timed and time proven routine and that clearly is veeeeeery difficult for some people. (like unable to compute). do you smoke? smokers take brakes every so often and nonsmokers ... well not, discuss that, if it's possible.

Find out if being 10mins late to the shop floor is the real reason, if so, talk about solutions (managers earlier in, giving you keys, etc).

If they argue against your cycle to work, start off by waxing lyrical about the many benefits (happier mind, fitter/healthier staff member, no transport delays), if they still harp on then point out that they're legally harassing you and it's none of their business.

Magpie, I dont know if we work in the same building, but I had a note on my keyboard this morning which read as follows:

"We need to talk about your desk... <>"

Having said that, I do have a 3 foot pile of dirty washing sitting at my feet.

I intend to deal with this in the "I dont give a fuck" mantra.

Oh... sorry... thread reading fail.

... start off by waxing lyrical about ...
haha yes, with a voice as smooth as silk.

I work in Architecture and quite often now planners will ask the client to provide showers and safe bike locking facilitys before they will pass something. This is down to the big sustainability push at the moment.

My employers have mentioned the cloaths arround my desk and I have tried to tidy them away a little. My companey is also going for the green company of the year award. When something is mentioned to me about the cycling shoes and cloaths arround my desk I simply mention that I have the lowerst carbon footprint in the practice (as worked out by all staff here on line) and therefor am helping them acheve the possible publicity of the green companey thing. Then they think it is a good thing.

I agree with the above. Your boss can have an issue with you being 10min later on the shop floor as he is paying you from 9.30. BUT, he should also make allowences for you to be on the shop floor eirlier by eirther being there eirlier himself or giving you a key.

I would think it unlikely that they would give magpie a key as it is a jewellers, and to be frank I would not want a key as it carries with it responsibility for (concievably) hundreds of thousands of pounds of stock.

I'd back Mashton's suggestion of joining a local gym and changing there- with a bit of luck you'll find somewhere that you can use a locker overnight for the whistle and flute.

I guess they can stop you from having your clothes stored at work but they cant stop you from cycling to work! Maybe he just want everyone suited up before they come through the doors to the office. It's all a bit wank I reccon!

£1000s of stock you say?
Turn up early, undress outside...

Offer to make up the 10min over your lunch. He will change his mind then.

just turn up wearing this.

sorted

I have showers and a locker and my boss loves me.

Point out that public transport promotes the spread of potential pandemic diseases, ergo he should ban people from using the tube.

And then punch him in the goolies.

So true, since I stopped using dirty shitty public transport to get to work a couple of years ago, the level of colds/flu I get has gone down by like 90%, I now realise that most of the shit I caught, was probably from being packed in like a sardine on those dirty horrible trains.

Ride in your suit.

^get a lycra suit! and a goretex tie to go with it.

Buy that Rapha suit Teddy posted recently, and ride to work in that.

Ride in your suit.

+1 if you are only riding for 15 minutes then it can't be that sweaty.