february 12, 2010

"circumvent." it means "to go around."

if you don't know me, i am tall, thin, bearded, and most notably a woman, but i digress.

my wife was shopping for dresses at nordstrom. a thirty-something, middle-eastern woman, void of facial expression and any sort of emotion in her tone asked, "will you be needing a fitting room?" she spoke directly to cat, ignoring my presence all together, which i took note of. as she led cat to the fitting rooms in the most direct and efficient route possible, i followed closely but with detached interest in actually arriving at our final destination. mostly i just wanted to sit down and rest somewhere, as i was becoming increasingly aware of why the phrase "shop till you drop" exists. i have little patience for retail, even on the best of days. as we came to the entrance to the fitting rooms the middle-eastern woman turned to me, blocking my way and said exactly what i was expecting. i've heard it a dozen times before, "i'm sorry but men are not allowed in the fitting rooms." she said it so-matter-of-factly, with a cadence i'm assuming acquired from years of repetition.

what i said in reply was, "but i'm a woman!"

my eyes carried a certain level of dejection and injustice. her face flooded with embarrassment. almost without pause she replied, "i'm so sorry, i didn't know..." i walked past her to cat's fitting room glancing back at her via the full-length three-way mirror at the end of the hallway. my own reflection i noticed with a new sense of awareness, was hopelessly masculine (brag?). i turned back to her before entering the fitting room and said in an apologetic voice, "it's ok, i get it all the time..."

circumvented.