Leslie Langford
03-19-2014, 10:08 PM
...she said sarcastically.
'Tis true. I was out for a day of shopping in "Leslie" mode earlier this week, and in my element. I was dressed in a 3/4 length black wool coat accessorized with a striking multi-colored gray/black/fuschia/white scarf along with a textured black pencil skirt, a mauve-colored knit top, nude pantyhose and calf-length, mid-heel leather boots (yes, it's still cold in this neck of the woods...what else is new?). Without being immodest, I felt that I was looking good, having a great day overall, and my confidence level was high.
I spent the better part of the day shopping in a nearby mega-mall and making the rounds of various women's and department stores, scoring a couple of dresses and a pair of shoes at ridiculously marked down "final, final, final" clearance sale prices on remaining winter items (the displays and racks were pretty much picked over at this point, but I got lucky ;) ) But before leaving, I decided to stop in at the Walmart at the far end of the mall to buy a new tube of Wet 'n' Wild mascara.
Now, the Walmart in this mall is on two levels, so it has a moving sidewalk (a so-called "Movator") to move people and their carts between the two floors. And typically, a "greeter"-type person is stationed at either end, presumably to assist customers and/or look out for unexpected falls, but probably more likely - to keep Walmart safe from the risk of unwanted lawsuits in the event of an unfortunate injury.
So, as I am approaching this Movator on the upper level, I see "my guy" - a rather dumpy, balding, middle-aged man (i.e., not your average "Lothario") - looking around in a typically bored fashion, glancing over at the Movator occasionally, but more than likely counting the minutes to his next break. Suddenly, he spots me and snaps to attention, his eyes following me in a not-so-subtle fashion. I become aware of this and try to avoid eye-contact - but to no avail. As I approach, he looks me up and down admiringly (leeringly?) and with a mischievous grin says "Have a good day, Ma'am" - these probably being his first words to anyone in the last half hour. I flash him a quick, polite smile, and continue on my way, making a point of keeping my eyes facing forward and otherwise acting non-chalant.
I head over to the cosmetics section, find my mascara, and look around a bit more in case I find anything else I might need. Then, after a good half-hour has elapsed, it's back to the Movator...and guess who is still stationed at the top? My greeter friend.
So here's the scene - no one is ahead of me, he spots me right away, and his eyes start to follow me again. But then he starts to get cute...he pretends to look away, but a few seconds later, his eyes snap back at me. This continues on for several more times, and I am watching this out of the corner of my eye as I am totally on to him. Really? Who does he think he is fooling? Men can be so dumb sometimes - well, at least the non-CDing kind, anyway ;) Then, as I approach the top of the Movator, my knight in shining armor locks his eyes on me again, gives me another huge "nudge, nudge, wink, wink"-style smile and helpfully advises me to "Watch your step, Ma'am". Again, I offer a polite smile, and focus my attention on making a clean getaway in case he makes another attempt at initiating a conversation with me.
I'd be a liar if I said that on some level, I didn't enjoy this attention as it was likely a form of validation that I was passing reasonably well that day. And yes, my outfit was not standard-issue "Walmat chic" (grunge?), so that alone would have made me stand out among the crowd somewhat.
Still, this fleeting encounter did creep me out to some degree, and it was a good life lesson as to what GG's are forced to endure on an almost daily basis. I suppose that after a certain point, this type of unwanted attention becomes a fact of life for them and they start paying it very little heed, whereas we males are usually flying under the radar and are mostly invisible when out in public.
Who says that acting like a woman can't make you a better man? We CDer's have ringside seats when it comes to being able to see the world from both perspectives and learning from some of the unacceptable behaviors that men often engage in. I truly wish that our non-accepting/non-supporting wives and SO's would realize this sometimes, give us some credit for not being so "hyper-masculinized", and see that our being transgendered can have its occasional upsides as well...
'Tis true. I was out for a day of shopping in "Leslie" mode earlier this week, and in my element. I was dressed in a 3/4 length black wool coat accessorized with a striking multi-colored gray/black/fuschia/white scarf along with a textured black pencil skirt, a mauve-colored knit top, nude pantyhose and calf-length, mid-heel leather boots (yes, it's still cold in this neck of the woods...what else is new?). Without being immodest, I felt that I was looking good, having a great day overall, and my confidence level was high.
I spent the better part of the day shopping in a nearby mega-mall and making the rounds of various women's and department stores, scoring a couple of dresses and a pair of shoes at ridiculously marked down "final, final, final" clearance sale prices on remaining winter items (the displays and racks were pretty much picked over at this point, but I got lucky ;) ) But before leaving, I decided to stop in at the Walmart at the far end of the mall to buy a new tube of Wet 'n' Wild mascara.
Now, the Walmart in this mall is on two levels, so it has a moving sidewalk (a so-called "Movator") to move people and their carts between the two floors. And typically, a "greeter"-type person is stationed at either end, presumably to assist customers and/or look out for unexpected falls, but probably more likely - to keep Walmart safe from the risk of unwanted lawsuits in the event of an unfortunate injury.
So, as I am approaching this Movator on the upper level, I see "my guy" - a rather dumpy, balding, middle-aged man (i.e., not your average "Lothario") - looking around in a typically bored fashion, glancing over at the Movator occasionally, but more than likely counting the minutes to his next break. Suddenly, he spots me and snaps to attention, his eyes following me in a not-so-subtle fashion. I become aware of this and try to avoid eye-contact - but to no avail. As I approach, he looks me up and down admiringly (leeringly?) and with a mischievous grin says "Have a good day, Ma'am" - these probably being his first words to anyone in the last half hour. I flash him a quick, polite smile, and continue on my way, making a point of keeping my eyes facing forward and otherwise acting non-chalant.
I head over to the cosmetics section, find my mascara, and look around a bit more in case I find anything else I might need. Then, after a good half-hour has elapsed, it's back to the Movator...and guess who is still stationed at the top? My greeter friend.
So here's the scene - no one is ahead of me, he spots me right away, and his eyes start to follow me again. But then he starts to get cute...he pretends to look away, but a few seconds later, his eyes snap back at me. This continues on for several more times, and I am watching this out of the corner of my eye as I am totally on to him. Really? Who does he think he is fooling? Men can be so dumb sometimes - well, at least the non-CDing kind, anyway ;) Then, as I approach the top of the Movator, my knight in shining armor locks his eyes on me again, gives me another huge "nudge, nudge, wink, wink"-style smile and helpfully advises me to "Watch your step, Ma'am". Again, I offer a polite smile, and focus my attention on making a clean getaway in case he makes another attempt at initiating a conversation with me.
I'd be a liar if I said that on some level, I didn't enjoy this attention as it was likely a form of validation that I was passing reasonably well that day. And yes, my outfit was not standard-issue "Walmat chic" (grunge?), so that alone would have made me stand out among the crowd somewhat.
Still, this fleeting encounter did creep me out to some degree, and it was a good life lesson as to what GG's are forced to endure on an almost daily basis. I suppose that after a certain point, this type of unwanted attention becomes a fact of life for them and they start paying it very little heed, whereas we males are usually flying under the radar and are mostly invisible when out in public.
Who says that acting like a woman can't make you a better man? We CDer's have ringside seats when it comes to being able to see the world from both perspectives and learning from some of the unacceptable behaviors that men often engage in. I truly wish that our non-accepting/non-supporting wives and SO's would realize this sometimes, give us some credit for not being so "hyper-masculinized", and see that our being transgendered can have its occasional upsides as well...