A close call

[Sometimes Steffi]

What happens when matter collides with antimatter? Annihilation.

That's what I thought was going to happen a few weeks ago when I took my wife grocery shopping. My wife has some mobility problems, some days worse than others, so I took her grocery shopping, just to push the cart around while she shopped.

As we're shopping, my wife is in front, I'm trailing with the shopping cart and this woman in front of my wife smiles and waves at me.

Arooga. Arooga. Battles stations. This is not a drill.

In this scenario, my wife is antimatter, and anti-CD. The other woman is matter and pro-CD. In fact, she is the owner of the women's clothing consignment stare that I patronise frequently.

A collision between matter and antimatter was imminent. The woman who sells me dresses and the woman who doesn't know that I wear dresses were 10 ft apart and closing. Fortunately the owner of the consignment store figured out what was happening (probably because of the look on my face) and maneuvered to avoid collision and subsequent annihilation. Lucky for me.

As an engineer, I usually identify and assess failure scenarios and develop plans to mitigate the fallout. This specific scenario was not in my playbook.

[alwayshave]

Steffi, I'm glad that the consignment store owner recognized the situation and took evasive action. I assume that your wife did not see the wave.

[Sometimes Steffi]

I don't know if my wife saw the wave or if she didn't.

But, no one was waving at me. LOL. Maybe they were waving at someone behind me.

It's just a good reminder that, "On any given Sunday ..."

Sorry, Brits. That's just a US National Football League (NFL) cliche that is roughly translated into "expect surprises". I need to follow forum rules and post in English.

[kimdl93]

That worked out well enough.

[Kris Burton]

It's a scenario no one could have imagined. No amount of 'splainin' would have been enough,you probably could actually feel the tension wash through your body. It will be interesting if the consignment store owner mentions it to you the next time you are there.

[BLUE ORCHID]

That was too Close for Comfort !

[OrdinaryAverageGuy]

Steffi pretty sure you're a Trekkie. And it should be a fun conversation at the consignment store next time you're there!

[Geena75]

Wow, that's a heart-stopper! Good thing your acquaintance understands discretion! Imagine if she had started a conversation!

[Sometimes Steffi]

It's a scenario no one could have imagined. No amount of 'splainin' would have been enough,you probably could actually feel the tension wash through your body.

It will be interesting if the consignment store owner mentions it to you the next time you are there.

I'm an engineer and my engineering portfolio includes failure mode analysis, safety and security. It's a scenario that I should have imagined. But at least no planes fell from the sky. I work as a contractor to the FAA.

Steffi pretty sure you're a Trekkie.

And it should be a fun conversation at the consignment store next time you're there!

Not really a Trekkie, but basic particle physics was a required freshman engineering course.

I already visited the consignment boss. I felt that I needed to explain my duck and cover. But, she's a smart lady and figured it out quickly enough to, as someone said, take evasive maneuvers. We've had the talk about if i's OK for me to shop and try on clothes while she has other GG customers. I don't want to upset her "regular" (pun intended) customers. Her response was, "Do you think I want those kind of customers." She's a great lady.

No harm, no foul.

[Crissy 107]

Steffi, Damn girl, you were lucky with this one. That is about as close a call as one could have without going over the edge.

[Sometimes Steffi]

Close call, you say. Maybe not even in my top 10 with my wife.

As they say, if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.

[Frannie7]

Steffi, yes it was a tense and non-welcome situation. However, I loved the way you described it.

[Mgreenva]

As someone also from the DC area I was wondering the name or location of this friendly consignment shop

[Jolene Robertson]

Hi Steffi,

Great way to tell it! Good that the shop owner recognized the situation averted the chain reaction, I'd definitely be going back there too.

[Bobbi46]

OMG so close and yet so far, still no fall out with your wife and ended real good, pleased for you

[Krisi]

That reminds me of the time I took my wife to the diner I had been taking my girlfriend to.

[fireandlace]

I would love the name and location of the shop also….

[Sometimes Steffi]

It's called N'Used Fashions, in Herndon, Virginia.

https://www.nusedfashions.com/

As I said, this is "where everyone knows my name", at least I hope they do. Obviously, their job requires some kind of discretion. They usually see boy me shopping for clothes for Steffi, and they don't call boy me Steffi. Just tell them Steffi sent you. I think they'll make the connection.

But it doesn't matter, you'll be treated fine anyway. The first time I ever went there I talked to the owner and asked her if she was able to "treat me like any other girl" shopping there. She responded yes, enthusiastically.

To manage expectations, they mostly carry "Misses" sizes (2 - 14), and have limited Plus-sized selections. And like any other consignment store, what they have in stock changes on a daily basis.

About twice a year they have a Sidewalk Sale, where every item on the sidewalk is on sale for $5.

[LydiaL]

Yikes! Good thing your wife did not see the look on your face at that moment.

[Stephanie47]

It could have been much worse. "Honey, I got a bunch of lovely dresses in that are your size. You should come down and take a look."

[docrobbysherry]

Steffi, I hid my dressing from my older, live in, daughter for a few years. After a number of close calls like yours, (and I'm sure you've had more), I found dressing at home to be so stressful that I felt better off not doing it than risk my daughter coming home unexpectedly and catching me!

She didn't approve but we worked out an effective DADT arrangement where I could dress stress and she wouldn't see me! After that I could enjoy dressing again with zero stress!

My point being you're going to get caught sooner or later. And, even if u don't? I found the "thousand deaths" I suffered worrying about that to be worse than coming clean and arranging a compromisie solution!

[Ursula Harrison]

I had my luckiest escape in a shop called Marks & Spencer, a name that will be very familiar to UK members.

This was back in the day when M&S sold garter belts with proper metal clips. My local store then consisted of two storeys, the upper one much smaller than the ground floor, containing only lingerie and customer services. Before heading up to the lingerie I bought a pair of male trousers on the ground floor. As I stepped off the escalator into the lingerie department it was empty apart from one woman browsing through the racks.

I was about to head over and select a garter belt when a booming voice called out "Hi! How are you?" I turned to see a guy from my office. The lady was his wife. So we chatted for a bit, then he asked "what brings you here?" There were only two reasons to ascend the escalator. Lingerie and customer services. So Thank de Lord I had those trousers! "I bought these trousers last week and I'm not happy with them so I've brought them back for a refund." I then had to go over to the customer services counter and get a refund on a pair of trousers I'd bought five minutes before. For once I couldn't blame the lady behind the counter for the looks she gave me!

Lucky, lucky, lucky. Lucky I bought those trousers before I went upstairs. Lucky he saw me and called out before I started browsing. Also lucky that he'd gone with his wife. I'd never met her before. It could have been embarrassing the following month when I met her again at the office Christmas party. She'd probably have remembered me as the guy holding up garter belts against his waist in Marks & Spencer.

[JulieC]

^^^

That's precisely why I do not shop local Or, if I do, I pre-order and just pick it up. I can then beg off saying it's for my wife if they happen to see what's in the bag.

I've had one run in though, even taking that security measure. I was in a store about an hour away shopping for some pantyhose. I'd made my selections, and was headed towards a register. Suddenly, I saw a woman who worked for me at the time. Thankfully, I saw her at a distance before she saw me. I immediately reversed course, dumped the pantyhose somewhere, and took a circuitous route out of the store and off to my car, with no detection by her. Phew!

[Bianca Fay]

I had an incident that doesn't exactly classify as a close call (because I was shopping with my ex) but I believe that the incident has possibly helped me avoid future close calls with SAs or nearby acquaintances in a store.

To explain, my ex was trying to convince me that using self check-outs would enable me to shop for clothing myself whenever I was alone. We had just selected a skirt and a few pairs of black pantyhose and she was showing me how to navigate the check-out station...

Cue Murphy's Law. The 'help' light started flashing and an SA immediately swooped in to offer her assistance. Regardless, the skirt wouldn't scan so she escorted us to customer service, talking to my ex the entire time about what a beautiful skirt she had chosen. During this transaction I was approached by a friend who happened to be walking by.

Needless to say, I have never used a self check-out by myself ever since. At least not when buying a skirt and pantyhose!

[Diane P]

Steffi, since you say you're an FAA contractor then the air traffic control term 'near miss' should be familiar to you. That's what you had and it sounds like the consignment owner's TCAS went off, so she moved to avoid the collision.