Business Casual

The dishes had been done, the snow had been shoveled, other chores were completed and it was only noon. My morning had been productive to say the least.

Shoveling snow isn't something I had done in many years. It was fun, as memories of being 12 came floating out of the brilliant white sky. I was 12 years old in 1978, the last time I have seen this much snow in one place at one time.

I was resting my sore back but enjoying the feeling of having done some manual labor when Daisy asked if I wanted to go shopping. I hadn't planned on it really, yesterday our county and most of the neighboring counties were under a level 3 snow emergency, meaning you are subject to arrest if you do not have a compelling reason to be out on the roads. We have literally been snowed in for nearly 2 days so the thought of going somewhere sounded pretty good.

I thought I had dug my car out well enough move beyond the driveway but I was mistaken. I got stuck after having moved 2 feet. My big rear wheel drive Caddy didn't like the snow. After some more shoveling and some pushing (including a neighbors car that was also stuck in the alley) we got underway, in a sunny afternoon, snow and ice sparkling bright everywhere we looked. Fields blazing white in the late winter sun, smooth, deep, crisp and even.

My mission was to visit a K+G mens mart. This chain of mens stores had been advertising a promotion pushing mens No Iron shirts, buy one get one free. I need no iron shirts, since I don't have the time to iron and I suck at it. Daisy can iron a mans shirt quite well but she has no time either and it isn't her job to make sure I have pressed clothing.

Thus I am on a quest to buy a no-iron shirt. We follow the directions found on the website and drive through several neighborhoods to the store. As we drove we saw more urban squalor, the people were more ethically mixed, there were more car lots and strip clubs. I was getting a bad feeling about K+G mens mart. We pull into a parking lot and the storefront before me is giving me a dark vibe, I know the look, and it is not high end retail but more like a K-Mart in a bad neighborhood.

We go inside and visions of Value City are going through my head. For those of you that don't know, Value City is one of those aging department stores that sell faux high end clothing. Racks and racks of cloths under yellowing florescent lighting, weird signs on the walls stating the department. Three foot high plastic letters spelling out MENS etc. The clothing is "brand name" but the brands are pure de classe. Pierre Cardin? Jordache? Izod? Who wears Pierre Cardin these days. The brands sold out many years ago, to sweat shops in Indonesia and mass market mediocrity. If I wanted off the rack blandness I would have gone to Wal Mart. No I was looking for some nice clothes, and while I am always on the lookout for a good value, this stuff was just making me dizzy. The display in front of the store was showing a suit ensemble comprised of a white sport coat, white slacks and some fruity colored shirt. I would like to take this moment to mention I was the only white guy shopping there today.

Daisy made me take a look around but all I saw was faux class, not the real thing but a poor mans swank and glitter. Something a pimp would wear perhaps. We left soon after we arrived and drove to the Mens Warehouse. A crisp young man with a tape measure around his neck greeted us the moment we walked in and was a very big help. He measured me, gave me some advise about shirt sizes that I didn't previously know. Found 4 shirts in my size and extolled the virtues of them in a sensible way. I then mentioned I wanted a versatile and tasteful sport coat. Our nice salesman whisked me off to the racks of coats and instantly produced several candidates that fit perfectly and weren't overly expensive. What a great experience, to be guided in my quest for nice clothes by an actual clothier. This guy listened to what I wanted, then delivered impeccable choices that were high quality yet affordable. Yes I ended up spending a c-note more than I had planned but I am very happy with my purchases.

In the words of Raymond Babbitt K-Mart Sucks.. and so does K+G Mens Mart.