Thursday, April 01, 2010

Emergency Clothes Shopping

Single Ma's post about wanting "hawt" spring clothes made me laugh... and reminded me that my own spring shopping, so far, hasn't been that pleasurable. I've definitely had the itch to buy some new duds, but I haven't had the time or energy to really focus on it, until I was forced to!

This is one of those nightmare scenarios, but it could have been worse: a couple of weeks ago, I was all dressed up in a suit, for a big off-site meeting where I had to help make an important presentation. We nailed the presentation, and afterwards, I stopped in the ladies' room before getting on the subway back to the office. While I was in the bathroom, I bent over to pick up something I'd dropped, and in doing so managed to slam my butt against the corner of a waste bin. For a few seconds, all I could think was "ouch!" But then my brain suddenly focused on the sound I'd heard as it happened: "rrrrrip!" My hand flew to my backside, and sure enough, I discovered a huge tear in my pants-- through the fabric, through the lining, and indeed through a bit of my own skin too!
I think my jaw literally dropped, thinking "OH SH*T! I'm in a client's office, with a giant hole in the butt of my pants-- what do I do??" Luckily, I remembered then that although my suit jacket would not cover the hole, the raincoat I had on that day would. I was incredibly glad the meeting was over and that all I had to do was put my coat on and get out of there! But I did have to go back to my office for the rest of the day-- and was I really going to be able to sneak around with my back to the wall all afternoon? I didn't think so.
My solution was to head straight for everyone's career-wear standby, good old Ann Taylor. I don't always have good luck with clothes there, but fortunately, I found a decent pair of black pants that fit pretty well and were only a teensy bit too long. Since I was wearing a black top under my suit, the black pants still made a nice outfit even though they didn't match the lighter color or pattern of the suit jacket. I bought them and wore them out of the store.
The pants, of course, weren't on sale-- that would have just been too lucky, wouldn't it? The total including tax came to about $140. Under the circumstances, it seemed a small price to pay for the convenience of immediate full butt-coverage. But I seem to remember having seen these same pants on sale a couple of months ago, in some buy-two, get x% off deal, so it was annoying to have to pay so much for them. But of course if I'd bought them months ago, I'd have had to go home and get them on the day my suit pants ripped! Which would have made the whole experience an even bigger pain in the ass...
So the real moral of this story, I guess, is that if you're an on-the-go career gal (or an on-the-go career klutz) who has to look sharp, you should always buy black tops and pants whenever they're on sale and then stash a few extras in your office! And don't bend over without checking very carefully behind you!

P.S. SingleMa, would wearing a sharp suit with a hole in the butt make me a "hawt mess?"

P.P.S. Yes, everyone, this is a true story, despite today's date!

12 comments:

Money Beagle said...

I was in my cube, which at the time was right outside a big conference room where a big meeting had taken place. I bent down to plug my laptop in. I heard the same RIP you described. I immediately sprang back into my chair. Luckily nobody was coming out of the room at that exact moment. I had to sit there for about fifteen minutes while the room cleared before I could grab my laptop bagpack, sling it over so it covered my ripped pants, and make a getaway. Luckily I managed to make it out undetected and even more lucky was that my house was only a few miles away, so it was a quick half hour round trip to change my pants. Talk about close calls!

frugal.zeitgeist said...

Good god, that was funny. Glad it had a happy ending!

Anonymous said...

Happens a lot when your clothes are too tight.

Single Ma said...

This post made me laugh out loud...for real. LOL! I've never had a fashion disaster like that (HA HA HA can't stop laughing at your bootay on display) but I have had the clumsy spill on the shirt or suit jacket. So yep, I keep at least 2 extra blazers and a white camisole in my office.

Re: your question. Honey, unless you are a teeny bopper or a thug, we need you to keep the milkshake covered at all times. LOL!

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bugbear said...

This same thing happened to me at work once. I tied a long sleeved shirt around my waist to cover the hole. It worked. It was even "hawt".

penny said...

I love spring shopping, randomly bought some shoes online at aldo on sale. They didn't fit, in returning them found a liquidation store ended up with twice as many shoes, bags and sunglasses. It was great!!

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said...

This has happened to me twice!

The first time was in high school while we lived in Argentina. There was a sharp point in the van we took to school that ripped through my jeans and has left a tiny scar on my thigh...I was able to immediately get out of the van, change, and get a ride to school from my mom so it wasn't a big deal (other than the fact that those were my favorite jeans...to a teenager, it was earth shattering). LOL...teenagerdom...

The second time was when I was working a college job at the bowling alley and the back of my pants got ripped by one of the machine parts I was working on. I had another 4 hours of my shift with no real breaks. My coworker was nice enough to let me borrow his jacket for the rest of our shift...since I'm 5'2" and he was 6'1", it covered everything. That could have been much more embarrasing... :-)

Gone Broke said...

Ha! That's pretty embarrassing. But hey, that's what emergency money's for right?