- This topic has 29 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by
.
- Posts
Funny story today. I was early for a meeting and saw a Ross close by, so I decided to stop in and see if they had anything that tickled my fancy. Nothing in the shoes. Bummer. Nothing in the active wear (still trying to find a tennis dress). Went back to the dress area and saw the cutest tie-dye dress. Only $10?! Sold! Looked around a bit more and talked myself out of 2 more dresses and went to the cashier.
A cute young lady was working the register. I waited my turn and there was no one behind me. I walked up and exchanged pleasantries and handed her the dress and she looked at me and smiled and asked, “Are you going to wear this dress?” For the briefest of moments, I was taken aback. I’ve bought plenty of women’s clothes in person. I’ve had comments from various cashiers about how pretty something was I was buying or that they loved the color. I’m sure a few knew I was buying it for myself, but they didn’t come out and ask the question so directly. I figured, what the hell and said, Yep!
I said, I have the cutest wedge sandals that will go with this. She smiled again and said she really liked it and that it’s just so soft to wear. (Maybe she had one too?) I paid for it and she told me to have a great day!
While the question, at it’s surface, may have been a bit rude and presumptuous, I’m glad she asked. It was a lovely interaction and actually, she’s the first person I’ve ever told, in person, that I’m a crossdresser! It was a VERY liberating experience and I was flying high walking to my car! So fun!
*kisses* tara 🙂
P.S. And she was right! I tried it on tonight and it IS very soft 🙂
I’m glad you had a nice interaction with her, and that you decided to accept it was for you!
Those little wins are what make it all worth while….
Hugs, MaryAnn.
Given the young lady’s response to your answer, Tara, I doubt that she was trying to be rude or presumptuous. It seems to me that she was sincerely curious. Regardless, I’m glad it all went well. Enjoy your new dress.
Maybe you should rock that dress to the shop and ask what she thinks.
Hmmmm that would…uhmmm gulp…take big kahoonas.
-
That would be awesome! If only I knew her schedule and she wasn’t 3 hours away!!! HA! LOL!!! 🙂
*kisses* tara 🙂
Fabulous Tara, thanks for sharing.
It has been my experience as well. Any shop assistants who are interested enough, and not feeling awkward, ask if it is for you out of genuine interest, and are usually thrilled if you admit it is for you. And it usually leads to a warm friendly interaction, and didn’t it just make your day❤️Bianca
-
It TOTALLY made my day! And the weird thing is that I wasn’t embarrassed by it AT ALL! It was SO liberating to say it out loud to someone! Yes! That dress is for ME!!
*kisses* tara 🙂
Thanks for sharing this shopping story, Tara. I’d say you turned a possible negative experience into a positive encounter. But I agree with you, a little rude and presumptuous by the cashier; of course it would depend on the tone in her voice when she asked.
Before COVID the clerks at Victoria’s Secret would ask but I think it was just so they could make better suggestions and provide better service. The tone was always friendly and it helps that a large percentage of VS customers are male. I also think they want to make sure if you are buying for a gg that you know size and what she likes😊
-
She was very pleasant about it and was smiling at me when she asked. I think she already knew the answer before asking. Maybe she just wanted to see what my reaction was going to be. I think I surprised her a little when I started discussing the cute wedge sandals I had that would go with it 🙂
I have never had anyone ask me about purchases in any store other than a Sally’s Beauty Supply store where I have purchased several wigs. The woman working in the store was the franchise owner who was very nice about it and told me how to care for the wig and then gave me a discount when I offered to pay for it in cash. She even told me to stop by anytime she was working and she would be happy to help me and will always give me a discount if I paid for wigs or other items in cash. That is how I pay for all my clothing purchases anyway. Women at shoe stores always smile knowingly but have never said anything about the size 11 or 12 shoes I was buying on sale.
I agree it is very liberating to be able to talk openly about the purchase.
Congratulations, Tara. People these days are much more supportive than we give them credit for.
While I was never asked, I had a similar incident. I had bought a couple of platform high heels, one in black velvet and one in sparkly silver. A few days later I decided I liked them and wanted the red velvet one as well. I checked online, and all the stores around me were out of my size. But, I did find one store that had it in stock, and it was 10 minutes from work. So the next day I went into the store at lunch time.
When I entered, the woman was completing the sale to another woman customer. I walked in, went to the aisle where my size was, and yes, the one pair was there. I grabbed it and went to the front, where they were still finishing up the sale. When it was my turn, the sales associate, seeing how quickly I was in and out, asked, “Did you know what to get or were you told what to get?” I told her I knew what to get, then added sheepishly, “They’re for me.” The woman told me it was all right, and then I started a conversation that despite the height of the heel (5 inches), the platform (at 1.5 inches) brought the effective size down to the point where they are comfortable enough to walk in (feeling more like a 3.5 inch heel).
(Hmm, maybe I can coin the term “feels-like-height” in the same way the meteorologists use the “feels-like-temperature” to account for either wind-chill or heat index depending on the season. Lol)
Once I got past my initial self-conscious reaction, it was actually a pleasant conversation. And I went back to work knowing I had a successful trip with the pair of red heels sitting in my car the rest of the day.
If shopping in drab I hint that female merchandise is for a girlfriend, which in a way is of course true for us CDers.
En femme I usually slink off to self check-out. Ulta does not offer that option. My first time at Ulta the check-out girl asked my name and phone number. My impression was that she thought I was a GG. Surprised, I stated my actual first initial for my given name and gave my actual phone number. Next she asked my birthday. I thought that too intrusive and nervously replied, “You don’t need that.” What would she want next: my rank and serial number to take me prisoner?
At another Ulta, I in drab and ostensibly running an errand asked a clerk (female) for a make-up sponge. She said something like, “This is what you want,” a possible hint that she guessed it was for me. At this Ulta, I wasn’t asked my phone number, which suggested to me that at the first Ulta I had passed as female.Hi Tara
I had an interesting shopping experience I bought a lovley mini dress in one of my local shops
When I got home tried it on it was a little tight so the next day I brought it back to change for the next size
I went to the customer service got to the till and the lovely assistant asked me why I was changing it I said I just wanted the next size she then replied this would look amazing on you I smiled back at her and said thank you
I’ve been back to the shop a couple of times and she has helped me pick out a couple of amazing dresses
L❤ve Kelly💋Ann
💋☘💋
I can remember my very first shopping for lingerie experience back in the heady days of 1983. What you have to remember is things were very different back then but even though I wasn’t dressed I can remember gliding around the lingerie section and thinking wow this is my kinda clothing and I have to buy some! After being approached my a friendly shop assistant who asked me ‘ something for the girlfriend is it sir’ I replied no its for myself can you help please and to my surprise they was very helpful and I didn’t look back so every time I need knickers or hosiery it’s off to my local marks and Spencer xx
This reminds me of something that happened to me many years ago. I had a job where I often wore a coat and tie, but sometimes wore a Polo and slacks… depended on the client I was going to see. But I always wore pantyhose under my slacks, and often a bralette under my shirt.
There was a Payless ShoeSource near my house. One day I had a few minutes to kill before a meeting, so I decided to go in and look for some new heels. I wore men’s shoes with my work clothes, but I kept a pair of women’s flats in the car for just such occasions. I took off my men’s shoes and socks and slipped my feet into the casual black women’s flats, just in case I saw something I wanted to quickly and discreetly try on. The one clerk there was helping a woman and her teenage son when I walked in.
I went to the aisle for the larger size women’s shoes and started looking. I was really wanting a pair of black pumps with about a 1″ heel, and I was hoping to fins some on sale. I listened to the woman and the mother of the teenager talking and knew they weren’t paying attention to me. I found what I was looking for, dropped one on the floor, slipped my foot out of my flat and into the heel… it was too small. I kicked it off and slipped my foot back into my shoe. As I was putting the box with the heels back on the shelf the sales girl appeared next to me. She asked if I wanted to try it on. I didn’t know what else to do, so I told her I had and it was too small. She looked at the size on the box and said “I’ll be right back.”
She came right back with a box of the same shoe, but in 1 larger size. She sat down on the little stool and said “Let’s try these and see how you like them.” So I let her take my shoe off and help me put my foot in the new heel… it felt good. So she got the other one out and helped me put it on. She told me to walk back and forth and see how I liked them. She rolled up my pants leg and told me to look in the little mirror. She told me I have great ankles for heels.
Yep… I bought the shoes… and three other pairs. Unfortunately not long after that Payless ShoeSource started closing stores.
-
I was at Kohl’s a couple of weeks ago and went into the women’s shoe area because I’ve been looking for a good sale on red heels. I found a cute pair on clearance, but they were still kind of high, but I figured I’d try one on just to see how it looked/felt. Now I was in my male clothes and as I slipped the heel on and stood up on it, I kind of sensed another person. I looked up and there was a woman (customer) there and I caught her giving me ‘the look’. As in, what are you doing, freak? Then she walked off quickly when I made eye contact.
I’ve had women ‘catch’ me trying on heels before, but I usually just smile at them and they’ve smiled back. This was the first time I found someone so clearly disapproving. I guess you can’t ‘win’ all the time. Some people are going to be like that. Fortunately, for me anyway, that has been the exception and not the rule.
I had a Payless experience a couple of years before they closed. I decided to go to one in a town about an hour away. I was in complete guy mode, jeans, ball cap, and work boots. I went about 10 minutes after opening, hoping I could try on some shoes without being seen by anyone. I had on a particularly high pair of heels and was standing in them looking at the small mirror when out of nowhere the sales girl appeared beside me. I didn’t even hear her walk up and my senses are usually on high alert when out and about like this…
When she appeared, I had no excuse. No “these are for my wife” excuses, like I would normally come up with. The realization that someone was there took only a second but felt like several minutes. But she made no weird faces, no laughs, and when she spoke she sounded normal.
“Those shoes are very popular, but they look a little big on you”. She grabbed the same pair in 11 and held them out for me. I had to walk probably 15 feet to where she was, I think honestly she just wanted to see if I could walk in them. Instead of sitting, I lifted each leg behind me and took off the shoes, like I have seen girls with great balance do before, and slipped into the other pair I had already placed on the floor. She smiled a little and mentioned how well I handle heels and she wished she could handle them as well as I did.
So we had a nice chat and I tried on a few more pairs, we talked like two women discussing shoes…except that I was in total guy mode. It was very nice experience and she said nothing at all about me being a man trying on heels. At one point she even asked me what color was my dress… This led me to being a little more open later on, and I (months later) had a great time in DSW with a sales girl that was probably in her early 20s. She had me trying on shoes for probably an hour, and watching me walk up and down the aisle and making recommendations… That experience was a little more exhilarating as there were other customers in the store watching me without trying to look obvious…
Wow I type a lot, I just don’t get to talk about this side of me much at all…sorry! I said all that to say that just being open about who the shoes were for was a freeing experience, much more enjoyable than making up some story and just trying to get in and out quick. I’m sure some of the sales associates talked about what they had just witnessed with someone else afterward, but at the time they made me feel like an important customer and not some freak.
Tiffany
In the UK we have stores called Pirmark, and another called Marks & Spencer and both are very TG/CD friendly.
I was at an event where both of these retailers had representatives, and we discussed their philosophy of supporting the community.
Both said that they welcomed TG/CD to their shops and would go out of their way to help them with changing rooms and article selection as they realised that being helpful and supportive to our community would make the individual happy to come back for a repeat purchase, and then to pass on to others about the help they had, thus increasing their customer base.
I explained that I thought this was a great thing for the community and good for the stores as the object of the exercise was for the buyer to have a good experience and get the items they want, and the retailer to make sale and take in some money. – so a win win situation.
Primark have gone a couple of steps further and have offered to provide a make over service if an individual needed – and would arrange this in a private area if the store had this facility.
So if you are open and up front with things, you may be pleasantly surprised !
(think about the scene in ‘Pretty Women’ when she comes back to the snobby store laded with bags and says ‘ big mistake’ 🙂
hugs Dawn
x
I’ve told this on another thread about the time I was at the mall dressed en femme and went into a Victoria’s Secret that was having a sale ( When aren’t they having a sale).I felt a little intimidated by the crowd of women and girls who were there shopping, but I stayed anyway There was a table with a mountain of panties on it in different colors and sizes. The sign said Buy one and get another of equal size and value free I made my way to the table and began looking for something that would fit me, but wasn’t finding anything that I liked. A sales girl came over to me and asked me if she could help me? In my best feminine voice I told her that I was looking for a pair yellow bikini panties in size five. She immediately started looking through the maze of panties until she found a pair of yellow panties in my size. She also found a pair of pink bikini panties that were my size and handed them to me Are these what you are looking for she asked me?.Yes I answered her and she asked me if I wanted to try them on? I told her that I didn’t think that it is possible to try panties on, because of sanitary reasons. She told me that there’s a box of tissue paper panties in the fitting room, that I can wear under the new panties. I had never heard of such a thing, but I followed her to a vacant fitting room and sure enough there was a box of tissue paper panties on the bench. I went in and tried the new panties on over the tissue paper panties and they fit me. I removed them and disposed the tissue paper panties and went out to where she was waiting for me. I told her that I was happy with the way that they fit and bought them. That’s the only Victoria’s Secret store that I’ve ever seen tissue paper panties in the fitting room It’s a great idea and wonder why other stores that sell lingerie don’t have them?
I began buying my own pantyhose at 13. No big deal. I would just go into the store, choose my pantyhose, pay and leave. One time I was in JC Penney where I bought a lot of my pantyhose. I was pay9ng for my pantyhose when the cashier asked if they were for me. For the first time I felt, embarrassed, ashamed and busted. But admitting I wore pantyhose and was buying them for myself excited me. I managed to stammer out a “yes”.
She told me I could join the hosiery club. Buy so many pairs, get one free. She noticed I bought a lot of pantyhose. This was getting really exciting. I was outing myself. I joined the club and enjoyed getting my free pairs.
Had a similar experience many years ago. I was in the mall and walked past Fredericks of Hollywood and saw a lovely red bustier that I had to have. I went into the store and told the clerk that I wanted to buy it for my girlfriend. She asked if I knew her size, I replied that she was about the same size as me. She then said “Honey is this for you?” I answered “You caught me”. My face must have turned as red as the bustier. After that I felt ease and she was very helpful in helping me with the purchase.
- The forum ‘Personal Crossdressing Stories’ is closed to new topics and replies.
Recent Comments