The One Surprising Time It’s Acceptable To Be Naked At Work

One afternoon in 2012, I was in an office building in midtown Manhattan. Well, not an office per se. It was a co-working space. But it wasn't a cool co-working space. It looked more like a law firm than co-working space.

Anyway.

So I was in this, co-working law firm-ish looking office's conference room. I was starting to feel self conscious. Did I mention I was naked? Well, not totally naked. Pretty close. I had on boxers. But that's not why I was feeling self conscious. What made me self conscious was the fact that I was in the conference room with 50 year old-ish Hasidic Jewish Father of 6 children.

Wait. I think I started this wrong. Let's me try it again.

So, my friend Patrick used to be in the military. He sent me an email about a guy who had a cool company. The company had patented a type of testing. The military used the testing to determine which soldiers would perform well in stressful situations.

The CEO of the company wanted to meet me and discuss how to market his test online. He felt that these types of tests could save certain companies, (sports teams in particular) a great deal of money.

I agreed.

He also felt the best way for me to understand the product was to run through the battery of testing myself.

I agreed.

The CEO told me that he had to place sensors all over my body, and that it would work better with little or no clothing on.

Seemed legit. So I agreed.

I'm confident with my body. So when he asked if I would strip down to my skivvies, I agreed. Again.

So there I was. Naked. In a conference room. Taking a stress test.

There were simple tasks to complete, problems to solve, and games to play – sort of like an IQ test. Only this test would add loud noises, barking commands and other distractions. As you ran through the testing, he was monitoring my vitals. Heart rate, sensors on my head, and skin temperature etc.

I performed so poorly on portions of the test the CEO thought I had “brain damage.” His words, not mine.

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