If you are not familiar with the layout of a Payless store, in this neck of the woods the men's shoes occupy one wall of the store and the rack across the aisle from the men's wall of shoes contains the largest size women's shoes (up to size 13). Either way, that is my aisle.
So, I am in the middle of the aisle perusing the sneakers and trying on the ones that look like they have potential to make my feet happy.
I am the only customer in the store, when in walks a middle-aged gent, who proceeds down my aisle. He briefly glances at some shoes on the men's wall and then continues down to the end of the aisle and around the corner to parts unknown.
I continue to pull paper padding out of sneakers and try them on my left foot, which is my fit testing foot. (As they say, "What's good for the left foot is good for the right foot.")
A minute or two later, the gent appears at the head of the aisle, but hesitates walking down the aisle when he sees me still at it.
Suddenly, my transgender radar unit started vibrating and I had to reach into my purse to shut it off as the gent quickly exited the store.
True story (mostly).
Femulating during The Great Depression.
Wearing Moschino (top), Diane von Furstenberg (shorts),
Stuart Weitzman (shoes) and Tory Burch (bag).
that dude was totally a crossdresser
ReplyDeleteThere was a Payless in a strip mall near me that is no longer there. There were times that I shopped there and would go down the men's wall across from the large size ladies shoes. I would pick up a male shoe/sneaker/etc. and go through the pretense of trying them on while facing the woman's shoes looking for a style or size that I thought would work for me. If I found something to buy I would check to make l sure the coast was clear then pull the woman's shoe box off the shelf, do a fast final inspection, perhaps try to slip one on if I had stockings on, replace the men's shoes on the rack and then take the ladies shoes to the checkout.
ReplyDeleteThere were times when other shoppers or employees would 'invade my space' and I would be spooked into fleeing. I can empathize with the gent you mention. My guess is that your T-dar was on target. How ironic would it be if a 'T' was spooked out of buying a pair of heels by the presence of one of the true icons of the 'T' community.
Pat
I wonder how times a day this happens in Payless! Cause Pat I do exactly what you described!
ReplyDeleteI really sympathize with him. There are a couple Payless stores near my home and I like the tall racks and relatively short aisles.
ReplyDeleteI tried a Shoes On A Shoestring warehouse near work but with the shelves, I felt the sales people tracking me all around the store. I found where the large sizes were, but lost my nerve and just walked out.