Successful clothing shopping

[redbird]

I have new bras.

I went to JC Penney this evening (it's handy to work), grabbed a few different sizes of a couple of styles that seemed possible, and went to a fitting room. I asked how many bras I could take in at once, and the attendant said "as many as you like." I explained that I had the same two styles in three different sizes, and she offered to measure me.

I accepted. The woman got a tape measure, wrapped it around me (with my shirt as well as bra on), and told me I was a 36 B or C. I was skeptical—I think I last took a 36 bra in the Carter administration—but I accepted her offer to lgo get bras the bras I had chosen in those sizes. I told her my general parameters (no underwires, I like cotton, and a few thoughts on colors) and she came back with a half dozen bras in 36B and C. After I tried some things on, it turned out that what fit was one of the ones I'd brought in in the first place, a 40C. I went back out, tried one other style (which didn't fit right), and then grabbed several more of the ones I liked. So, I now have six identical bras. I have gone through my underwear drawer and gotten rid of some old bras. (I should probably do more, but am going to wait until I've worn one or two of these and am surer that they do, in fact, fit.)

I also looked at some other clothes, and found two pairs of pants to try, neither of which fit. One was the too-familiar combination of too big in the waist, about right in the hips, and too short rise (that is, it pressed annoyingly against my crotch). At that point, I decided it was time to pay and come home, rather than wearing myself out. The cashier asked if I was using my store credit card, and I said no. I let her talk me into rounding my purchase up by six cents, to a round number, after she explained that the charity they were collecting for was the YMCA. At the very end of the transaction, she asked my zip code. I looked at her blankly, she repeated the question, and I said "01002" (which was my zip code for six weeks in 1980). I routinely give wrong answers to that question when stores are collecting demographic information, and that was the one that popped up first. For some reason, I never think to give one of my old local zip codes: it's 01002, 06520, or 02134.

For my future reference: the bras I bought are Bali "Double support stretch cotton wirefree."

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Yay for comfortable bras!

Bra shopping is the most exhausting thing ever. I found one that worked and also bought five more.

Zip Codes

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"I routinely give wrong answers to that question when stores are collecting demographic information, and that was the one that popped up first."

I always give 20755, which is the NSA's zip code.

20500 is the White House.

B

Re: Zip Codes

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

I go for 90210, 60609 and 12345 (the last mostly for online sites) ... though occasionally I put in 22311 where I lived in 1980.

One of my credit cards has an alternative billing address of 02889 as I have a friend who lives there so if I'm ordering from a US website that requires a validatable US address (even if it's shipping to the UK) then I put that one in.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I have new bras.

Congratulations! I just went with bedfull_o_books to do that, so I have some understanding of how good that is.

I routinely give wrong answers to that question when stores are collecting demographic information

I've often thought about giving something like H3C 2A8, which I seem to remember the CBC giving out as its return address way back in the day, but I figure that'd really confuse the poor cashier, so on the east coast I often give them some random 94??? number, like 94108 (Chinatown, SF). On the other coast I tend to give them 06520.

I have a friend who gives the address of some baseball field in Chicago when he's asked for that sort of thing.

[redbird]

That reminds me: I give valid answers if it's, say, the Woodland Park Zoo or the Montreal Jardin Botanique trying to figure out if I am entitled to the lower admission price for locals: they have a legitimate reason for the question. (The woman at the Jardin Botanique was a bit flustered by a US postal code.)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I've generally found the measurements inaccurate except at specialty-bra stores. I once had a salesgirl measure me as, IIRC, a 34 B, or something close -- I'm generally a 40 D or DD, depending on the brand.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you have the same approach to buying underwear that I do!

Sadly, Marks & Spencer have discontinued the bra I like and I can't find another style that works for me. I've tried four or five shops now, and it's starting to get annoying.