Targeted Again

I am pretty excited because I am going to Jamaica. The thing is that there is always more to do than just hop on a plane. For instance, no matter how hard I try there is always a trip to Target. I endeavor to avoid it. I go to J.C. Penney, and Macy’s, and the specialty shops but always, always – there is something – something that must be gotten at Target.

That is how I wound up in the clothing and hanger littered dressing room at Target again. I was trying on bathing suits because Target actually had cute bathing suits for women who are not size 2, 4, or 6 – thank you. The entire staff in this area – working over carts of clothes to be put back onto the racks – consisted of women who had head-coverings and garments that went to the floor. I felt underdressed and slightly defiant. I had the sense that I had suddenly been airlifted to a third world country without having a chance to read the State Department travel advisories. They were all really busy talking to each other. There was not a moment to be lost to assisting customers in all the excitement. At one point a supervisor came by and suggested that the party come to a close. They did not seem to be very taken by the suggestion but after some additional encouragement the crowd of extremely modest but extraordinarily chatty employees dispersed into the nooks and crannies of Target.

 

 

After I tried on the bathing suits, I gave the clothing that I did not want to buy back to the lady working the dressing room counter. However, it was not to be such a simple transaction. She became distressed and warned me off. Put those over there – she said and pointed to the carts surrounded by the women who had fanned off from the town hall meeting/potential riot. I’m allergic to latex – she told me and then went into a great deal of detail about her exposure to latex and the potential problems that could ensue – citing everything from swimsuits to paint in the ladies room at Target. How to escape this unexpected mire of needless information and the currently AWOL crowd of unhelpful help shifting clothing back and forth between carts in the dressing room area of Target was becoming a real puzzler for me. I only managed to escape when the latex-adverse clerk stopped talking for an instant to help another customer.

Sadly, I escaped a moment too soon. Like Cinderella running off and leaving her crystal shoe as she departed the ball, I left something important behind in my hurry to be gone.

Almost fully across the length of the mall, I realized that I had forgotten my jacket back in that fateful dressing room area and had to return and face the latex-lady in the quest. Only my need for my jacket could override the dread of the hike that had now been complicated by the addition of carryout food in hand. The jacket was there and the woman, surrounded by a sea of underwear, bathing suits, and sundry summer clothing items pointed me back to the carts now devoid of ladies with headscarves. There it was – looking a little lost and crying out to be rescued from an uncertain fate. I grabbed it and made my getaway without looking back.

At least I found a bathing suit.

Comments

[Poolie]

Have fun on your trip! Pictures!

[boxx]

HOORAY! Finding a good bathing suit is quite an accomplishment. I also bought one this year. I decided i LOVE swimming too much to NOT swim because I'm chubby these days. If people don't like what they see they are just going to have to close their eyes. hehehehe. POOL TIME!

[kenju]

Lucky you! Finding your jacket AND a bathing suit? It took me 6 mos. to find one I could live with.

[Margaret]

I would have been on the phone to the manager as soon as I got home. You found a swimsuit?? I went last spring, and came home in tears--vowing just to wear my 25 year old black tanks. They still fit; that's a good sign, right?