The Waiting Room

Realizing that I have an interview on Friday, I tried on my one remaining pantsuit from my attorney days. I got rid of most of my "attorney gear" after making the switch to academia. After all, who wears a suit?? Also, I have a skirt suit, but it's just not the time to show my legs.

The suit was ill-fitting. The pants were too big in the waist and the jacket was huge. So, I decided I would have to brave the mall. My mission...find an attorney appropriate - interview suit. The mission would take place on a Saturday, the worst shopping day of the week. But seeing as my schedule is quite full between now and Thursday, I had to suck it up.

I decided to go to the medium sized mall near my house, rather than the Big Ass Mall which has everything but is also extremely busy on the weekends. This also meant that I was stuck with three possible places to shop. No big deal. I know what to look for, style and fit-wise, after all, I am a disciple of Stacey and Clinton. With that in mind, I entered the first store.

Store #1: Lovely suits but very expensive and mostly black. I have nothing against black; in fact my homeys agree that I look pretty good in black. But, the last suit was black and I wanted something different. I tried on a brown tweed. It fit well, but I was not feeling the cuffs on the pant. Not good for those of us 5'4" and under. There was a lovely grey, but I did not see my size. Tried the smaller size and it was just a little to tight.

Store #2: This place should be called the land of ugly ass suits. I mean seriously, who wears pastel lime green! Also many of the suits were on the matronly side. Where are the suits for the 30-40-50 somethings of the world? One Nine West suit looked promising. But, ill fit and poor quality sent it back to the rack.

Store #3: Found suits that fit well and priced right, but the quality just sucked. I don't want to have to replace it after a couple of wears.

After all of that, I was feeling defeated. I trudged back to store #1, thinking I would settle for the brown tweed. As I was checking the rack for my size, a male clerk looked at me and said:

"Oh honey, that suit will not do. It will show every flaw you have. It is not very forgiving.

At first I thought of running out the door. I didn't need to be reminded of my flaws. Then I thought, "Dude, you should talk. You look like you have not missed too many meals." Instead, I smiled and said, "OK, show me something that will work."

He picked up the grey suit and said. "This is perfect for you."

I said "But, I tried that one on. My size wasn't there, so I tried the next one down." It was just a little tight..."

He told me to wait and he rushed to the back. About two minutes later, he came out with the same suit in my size. I went to the dressing room and tried it on. A clerk working the dressing room handed me a blouse to get the full effect.

I walked out to the three-way mirror to see the two clerks standing there.

"Honey, you look fabulous." the male clerk said. Although, it wouldn't hurt to have the sleeves taken up. But you look awesome." The other clerk nodded in agreement.

He was right. When I looked in the mirror, I was amazed at how fabulous I did look. The suit hit my curves in all the right places and covered the not so flattering ones.

Happy with my find, I changed clothes and the male clerk rang everything up.

"$330.00." He said.

My first thought was "SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP, THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY AND YOU DON'T HAVE A JOB RIGHT NOW!" I took a deep breath, pulled out the Visa.

As I walked out the store with my purchase, I began the justification game. "I will have it for a long time. It's of good quality. At minimum, I can be buried in it. Besides, when you look good, you radiate confidence. Oh, and I haven't bought anything extravagant in a long, long time."

In the end, I am happy. I have a great suit that is quite flattering. It makes me feel good about myself and my ability to show these people I am ready. And I am going to kick ass on Friday.