Gretchen writes up about her MS employee badge, which she accurately labels her “Dork Badge”.

I love that everyday when I get ready to walk out the door, I clip on my dork badge and am reminded of my 22 year old self … dressed in my favorite tank top (what was I thinking?), eager to start a new adventure.

How true. I still have the orange-ish faded (I once was an a-, must have bled over) picture of myself at 23. More hair, bad choice of leftover Abercrombie & Fitch frat boy button down.

When I started, no one actually wore them visibly. You just stuck them in your wallet and swiped that at the key pad when needed. Then we got tough on security, tailgating, etc. and as Gretchen notes, you constantly find yourself forgetting to take them off in public.

Although, to her point, I’ve never been accosted in public by an overeager reporter or customer. Especially not in Seattle, as it seems the majority of people you meet ANYWHERE work for the company as well. Just drive across one of the bridges looking for the thousands of hanging parking tags that scream out “MICROSOFTIE!!!!” to anyone driving by.