Should have flown on Hooters Air

Apparently there have been several cases recently where Southwest Airlines asked women to adjust their clothing in order to board their airplane for a flight. I don't know how I feel about that one way or the other, but a good quote was

[Southwest] dressed its stewardesses in hot pants and called itself "the love airline" back in the 1970s.

That's classic. I wish I'd lived in the 70s.

Interestingly, there is a quote at the end of the article by Lynda White, the self-declared "First Lady of Manners," which blew me away. She had just finished recommending business-casual attire on a plane, "because you might be seated next to a potential employer or business contact." Okay, I'm with her so far... I think that much makes sense, although I wonder how many people actually end up working for the guy in 14B. This is the one that really got me, though:

If you wear provocative clothing, tattoos, or you smell of alcohol or cigarettes, who's going to believe you?

I'm sorry, what? Who's going to believe you? What the hell does that mean? I suppose if I meet someone who reeks of stale cigarette smoke and they tell me they're a non-smoker, I might be disinclined to believe them. But what does having a tattoo or wearing provocative clothing have to do with believing someone? That's just plain stupid (unless the quote was printed out of context, which I'm sure is possible).

Now, I don't know anything about Ms. White other than what I read in this article, but I've painted a mental picture in my mind, and to me she's the kind of person who will take a rather insignificant detail and use that to base an entire judgment about a person. Kind of like I just did.