[theoddz]

Originally Posted by Slater

It absolutely will get easier, but there will be times when it will still be uncomfortable for one reason or another. Don't beat yourself up over that. Don't tell yourself that you should be past it or whatever. It's going to happen from time to time.

The last time I shopped for a suit (which for me personally, is the hard one for various reasons -- underwear is easy), the male salesclerk pretty openly snickered at me. Initially he was on the phone with someone and he would look over at me then make some comment into the phone that I couldn't hear. After a few moments he was off the phone and female staff person came over and the two of them stood behind the counter, watching me, half-whispering to each other and cracking up. Neither of them ever spoke to me. I was humiliated and left.

This was 7 or so years ago and I would probably handle it differently now. In part I think I reacted the way I did because it was the first time I had been so openly mocked by sales staff when I was shopping for clothes and I just wasn't expecting it. Sure, I'd gotten some weird looks before, but that was the extent of it. If it were to happen now, I would be a little better prepared for it, I think. So keep that in mind too, uncomfortable situations will happen but you will get better over time at handling them.

I still don't own a suit, but I am thinking about getting one.

I don't own a suit, either.

Pop tells me that a lot of men don't really own suits anymore. Pop says that things are a lot more informal now for most people, men and women alike. In view of this, a lot of men just use a sport coat and match it with a tie and a simple pair of trousers or even jeans. I think that's what I'm going to go for, since my lifestyle really doesn't require a suit for much. I do have a nice shirt and tie that I can wear with a pair of trousers, but my body thermostat seems to run on high clog most of the time, so a coat would be much too hot for me, most, if not all of the time.

Decide what your lifestyle is and then build your wardrobe around it and the climate. You'll be much more comfy that way.....and you won't be spending a fortune on things that you really don't need much, if at all.


~Theo~