Does this come in my size?!

Hi all..bad blogger person back for another round! Hmm..it's Sunday night again and here I find myself finally back at the computer with a little something to say. I think I might have just experienced one of the shortest weekends ever on record. Now, don't get me wrong, it was the same length as any other weekend but it just felt short...really short. And did I do anything all that riveting? No, not really.

Yesterday was a lazy day that hit it's high point when Adam and I went for dinner to this awesome little diner/restaurant place called Hutch's down on Hamilton Beach Road. For those of you (and that means most of you probably!) that don't know of what I speak, it is this wonderful place right on the beach that serves traditional diner fare and apparently has been there forever! Well, since 1946 anyway, or so the menu board said.

Anyway, Adam and I have been there only one time before and even though the restaurant and the beach surrounding it is usually teaming with people, it still somehow feels very exclusive..almost like you have discovered something that is yours alone. Walking through the front door is literally like walking into a time warp and you can feel that the place really hasn't changed much in the past 59 years. It is alive with history that you can almost reach out and touch.

But aside from the magic of the place itself, there is also the other draw...the fact that they serve the best fish and chips this side of the Maritimes. Yeah, that alone is enough to keep me coming back again and again..well, that and the ice cream counter that I just can't seem to resist visiting before we leave!

So instead of going grocery shopping like responsible people would, we blew that off for the little trip to Hutch's, which then led to another trip to IKEA (which is another blog for another time) and the purchase of some patio furniture that we could not afford. But that was it...that was my oh-so-exciting Saturday.

And that led to today and the dawning of a bright and sunny Sunday morning. I don't know what exactly it is about Sunday mornings that alway seem to hold so much promise, but today was no exception. I woke up early, spent some quality time with Adam and then decided that a little shopping trip was in order...so off to the mall I went to meet up with Tracy. And this is really what I wanted to write my blog about.

Now I'm not complaining a bit about the shopping trip in general because overall it was a good, good time, as usual with Tracy. No, my beef lies with a few select individuals that I always seem to encounter on these shopping trips...individuals that, if I let them, could have seriously put a damper on my day. Come on, I'm sure you know of what individuals I speak. Yep, retail salespeople.

Okay, let me set the scene. So here we are, Tracy and I, we meet at the mall, each with our own purpose in mind. She was looking for an outfit for a summer wedding and I was looking to make a few purchases to extend my wardrobe for my upcoming trip to Vegas in two weeks (again, another blog). So after a short side trip, we finally get down to it and make our way through the mall in search of stores that might suit our purposes.

So along on our way, we come to a few stores that look promising for what Tracy is looking for so we head in. Now for those of you who know me, you know that there is no way in hell that anything that is sold in a "regular" store is going to fit me. Yes, for the next little while at least, I'm a plus size girl. But that doesn't stop me from going on in and lending my opinion or moral support as it may be, to my "regular" sized friends when they happen to be in the need to shop when with me. I don't personally see it as a problem but apparently, not everyone is of the same mindset as I am.

So there we are, making our way through the stores as Tracy finds a few things to try on. Now I'm not sure if this is the way with all plus-sized women, but there is just something I find very enjoyable about going shopping with "regular" sized people. I always find the best outfits and will "suggest" to my heart's content...maybe I'm just living vicariously through my smaller friends but whatever it is, I quite enjoy it. Maybe I just envision myself as a "celebrity dresser to the stars" type, who knows. And the first few stores that we went in to were not bad or maybe my radar just wasn't quite warmed up yet but as soon as we walked into this one store (called Melanie Lynn, for those who are familiar with it), everything changed. All of a sudden, I'm noticing the "looks" that I'm being sent by the considerably smaller sales people. If you are plus-sized, you know the looks I speak of. They are the "I'm-trying-not-to-stare-but-honestly-does-she-really-expect-to-find-something-in-this-store-to-fit-her-fat-body-and-I-really-hope-she-doesn't-try-anything-on-and-stretch-it-as-then-it-won't-fit-properly-on-any-of-our-other-skinnymini-customers" looks. Yeah, they try not to be obvious with the looks at first but the longer you stay in the store, the mort frantic and obvious the looks become. It is like they are somehow threatened by the presence of a fat person on the skinny-girl territory.
And I'm sorry but hell, that really bites my ass. I hate it and it irritates the crap out of me. There I was, finding myself trying to stay as close to Tracy as possible so that the frightened salespeople would be able to see that I was in fact NOT in there looking for something for myself but there on a clothes-finding mission with a friend.

And I thought that I was doing pretty well until we made it to this store called Laura Petites. Now maybe it is just the fact that I've been overweight for virtually my whole life, but there just seems something very wrong about someone my size going anywhere near a store with the word "Petite" in the title, but on in I went anyway. After all...we were on a mission and it looked like they had some cute dresses in there that would be perfect for a summer wedding. But again, as soon as I walked in, I could feel the looks coming my way..and this time they weren't only from the staff but they were from the customers to. At one point I was standing at one of the racks of dresses helping Tracy look for a size when this "regular" sized woman came right up and acted like I wasn't even there, virtually pushing me out of the way. And as a side note, yes I know that this could have happened because she was just a bitch but work with me here..I'm on a rant.

Anyway, I tried to ignore it and walked with Tracy over to the fitting rooms as she had found a few things that she wanted to try on. She went on in and I stayed outside making a pretense of looking at the racks of dresses hanging nearby in an attempt to look like I was actually doing something other than standing there like an idiot. But low and behold, there comes along this little salesperson, dressed in her little sales person clothes and this god-awful look on her face. She gives me this false, pinched smile that clearly had no hope in hell at being sincere or even reaching her eyes, for that matter and literally gave me the once over from head to foot. And clearly what she saw there didn't please her since it was all she could do to get out a "Can I help you?" in her most insulting, saccarine sweet voice.

And let me tell you, if I was just a little bit less of the nice person that everyone is always telling me that I shouldn't be, I would have given her an ear ful. I would have told her that no, she couldn't help me. There is absolutely nothing in that I need in my life that I could ever get from her. And yes, I do realize that there is no way in hell that any of their 80-year-old grandmother clothes would fit me, and yes, I do realize that I am breaking some sort of truce that has been established through the ages between the skinny and the fat people of the world, not to tread on their sacred territory. And yes, I do realize that I really must be serving as quite a distraction to their regular customers as they can't seem to stop staring at me either. And yes, I would really love to know just who shit in her cornflakes this morning to make her think that she has the right to talk down her skinny little nose to me, making me feel like I'm some sort of a lesser being, just becuase I don't qualify for the 0 to 14 size range. See? Told you I could have given her an earful.

But did I say that? No, instead I turned her smile back on her and said that I was just waiting for my regular sized friend that was trying something on.

But what I really, really wanted to say to her was that if she thinks that I'm fat now, she should have seem me 60 pounds ago, before I discovered the magic of Weight Watchers. And yes, I can absolutely, completely and utterly guarantee her that, when the time comes when I AM skinny enough to fit in "regular" sized clothing, I sure the hell won't be shopping in her store. Because the time will come when I am no longer carrying an extra person around with me as I have a goal and I'm working toward that goal every day. And when that day comes, I'll be making my way directly to the stores that have the nice "regular" sized clothes but more than that, I'll be heading to the ones that have the decent people working in them because I have been keeping track.

Okay. I'm done ranting now. But please do me a favour..whether you are a sales person or not, the next time you come face to face with a plus-sized person, please try to make an effort to treat that person like a human being. You don't know us and you don't know anything about our lives and under it all, we are all human beings and deserve to be treated with respect. There may be more to us than many people think there should be but really, if you look close enough, chances are that you are going to find a pretty big heart inside as well.