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April 03, 2006
A man's place?
Men have their place in the world. They can buy and sell, create and destroy, unite and pillage...but do they really need to MEASURE ME FOR A BRA?
Before you ask, no he wasn't cute and yes, he could have been gay, but my point still remains: what's a guy doing selling bras?
It wasn't his first rodeo, either. He whipped that measuring tape like a pro, and in three torturous seconds, declared my size for all to hear in the department store. THEN came his recommendations - HIS recommendations, ladies! That's like one of us telling a pro athlete which jock to wear. Not within our scope of knowledge, nor his I would think.
To humor him, I tried on the four bras he suggested. The frilly one made me itch, which after I told him, he countered through the dressing room door "But does it lift?" Um, do we know each other that well?
Then came the semi-push up bra, meant for only girls' night out OR date night. I have to admit, it had a certain style that said "LOOK AT THESE" in a tactful, seductive fashion. It landed in the 'Maybe' pile. 'Maybe he knows a thing or two about this world of bra', I thought.
But two industrial Nazi bras later, he lost me.
"Are you kidding me?" I complained while staring at my reflection in the mirror.
"Is there a problem?" He sang from the foyer.
"Do I look like Madonna to you?"
"I don't know what your problem is. You can't wear those spaghetti straps with what you've got, honey. Better to wear a good bra now than drag the floor later."
There was a collective gasp in the dressing room.
For once, I was speechless.
For the record, I bought ONE Nazi bra, one push-up, and a plain jane for toodling around WalMart.
Posted by Tish at April 3, 2006 04:23 PM
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Comments
Good for you you! I'm glad you started wearing one again. I hope it's not too late?
Posted by: Mike (ex scientia) at April 3, 2006 05:16 PM
You are KIDDING me! A male bra fitter? Although Tish, the more I read the more I thought perhaps he had some experience wearing one.
Posted by: Grins at April 3, 2006 05:16 PM
This is why I ONLY buy bras at VS, and only from one collection... the tried and true Very Sexy padded push-up. All women, they make reasonable suggestions, and know that I'd slap them in the face if they said something like that.
Posted by: Crystal at April 3, 2006 07:15 PM
This is why I never step into a VS. One time I was there, just to buy underwear, and I had no less than six sales people come up to me and ask me my size. After having it told to them discreetly, they repeated it back - LOUDLY - in front of everyone. I was so hounded, I left the store and I will never go to another of their store fronts. And it's not that my size was that huge; it's just that nobody likes to talk about their size of anything in front of the general shopping population. I think they should send lingerie sales people to intensive sensitivity training - whether they be male (gay or not) or female.
Posted by: Peaches at April 3, 2006 08:45 PM
This is true. I used to be a Tupperware Lady--er, Man. I quit when some people started insinuating that I was a freak or something. I can see from your post that I was nowhere near freak.
Actually, I made some pretty good money, because I was good at determining what measuring cup sizes were best for my customers.
Posted by: Paul N. at April 3, 2006 10:05 PM
A little old Italian man goes into a store to buy a bra for his wife.
The clerk says 'What is her size?'
The old man says "6 and 7/8ths!"
The clerk is understandably shocked: "How did you get that size??"
"I measured them witha my hat!"
Posted by: Charlie on the PA Turnpike at April 3, 2006 10:07 PM
Yeah, I'm flabbergasted. In all my years of bra-buying, I've never so much as encountered a male without 100 feet of the underwear department...well, I take that back; there may have been the occasional elderly man sitting in a chair holding his wife's purse, but at a reasonable distance away from the dressing room.
Too funny!
Posted by: Cindy Swanson at April 4, 2006 10:14 AM
That reminds me of something funny that happened to my 19-year-old daughter. She works at a local department store, and recently an older woman asked her where the "foundations" were.
My daughter, thinking make-up bases, directed her to the cosmetics department...until an older employee who overheard the exchange stepped in to correct her, laughing hilariously. My daughter had never heard underwear called "foundations," and I'll wager that most people under 40 haven't either!
I told this to my mom, and she remembered something she swears really happened. An elderly lady asked a young woman at a department store, "Do you sell brassieres?"
"Uh," the young woman stammered, "do you mean bras?"
"Honey," said the older lady, "YOU may wear a bra, but *I* wear a brassiere!"
Posted by: Cindy Swanson at April 4, 2006 10:28 AM
Hell, what a great job. I want it.
Not sure about using the measuring tape though.
Think I prefer to go freestyle.
Anyway we chaps have a far greater knowledge than you give us credit for.
For a start, its the prime thing we spend most of our day looking at. Most of us can count up to 2, and we can guage which size we like on a scale that is co-incidentally, identical to the cup size scale.
How much more expertise do you want ?
Posted by: Sim at April 4, 2006 03:52 PM
A tactless male bra expert. Great.
Posted by: Marcia at April 4, 2006 06:20 PM
Hey, Im a bloke, Its expected of me. Society is to blame.
Posted by: Sim at April 5, 2006 03:46 PM
YOU crack me up sometimes! Wish shopping experiences with the women in my house were this entertaining!
Posted by: Andy at April 6, 2006 12:36 PM