The other day, something unusual occurred at work. I was stopped in the hallway by a man I didn’t know, and then his first comment was about my clothes. That doesn’t happen to me a lot, especially at work; I had been stopped at work by women I didn’t know and had them comment on my clothes, but this was a first.
When asked by my friends about what I wear to work, my usual response is, “Oh, I could probably show up naked and no one would notice or care.” Of course, upon reflection, I’m sure a few people would notice. I’m also certain a few people would care; however, I was just trying to impress on my friends that I didn’t work with a lot of “fashion” types.
Given my body, which I, probably like most women, have a love/hate relationship with, I thought it was a far better strategy to be clothed and complimented than be unclothed and laughed at. When next asked, I would be sure to change my “line.” I would say, “Oh, I show up in my vintage finery and people I don’t even know stop me to comment!”
Anyway, I had seen this engineer before; in fact, he sits in an aisle across from me making him part of my little cube neighborhood. He’s always on the phone, so I assume he’s in support; I know he’s always on the phone not because I hear him. Whenever I head toward the restroom, I see him standing up in his office talking on the phone; ah, my months of unemployment spent watching CSI and Law & Order were not wasted, what a sleuth I am!
So, I was making my way toward the restroom the other day when I passed him in the hallway. He stopped right in front of me, making me wonder if he was a hall monitor and going to ask me for my restroom pass. He didn’t and instead he asked, “You know those tops you wear?”
It took me a moment to process the fact that a man was asking about my “tops” and then another to think about the “tops” he was referring to. My tops varied from Ann Taylor Loft to 40s Japanese pajama to 60s embroidered sweater to 70s polyester. He then gave me a clue by adding, “The embroidered ones.”
I figured out he was referring to my Mexican embroidered tops, and I could see why he’d remember them. When I liked something, I didn’t get one of them. I had about five of those tops, and I usually wore at least one a week.
He asked, “They are from Mexico?” I told him that I thought they were originally, but I had bought them all from eBay. Going off on a little vintage tangent, because I was so excited to have someone who was remotely interested, I told him that it appeared to me that most of my tops were dresses that had been hemmed and made into tops by their owners.
He asked me if I had been to Mexico. I said, “I never really been but I’d sure like to go.” Okay, I didn’t say that exactly, but whatever I said had the same gist!
He went on to tell me that my tops reminded him of his mother. He was from Oaxaca. He told me that the type of top I wore was prevalent there, and his Mom wore them frequently.
I told him that I loved all my tops. The fashion bond overwhelmed me so much that I totally threw caution to the vintage wind and asked, “Have you seen my purple embroidered Mexican dress?” I then quickly wanted to retract that question when he shook his head “No,” because I didn’t want to imply that he might be fashion stalking me.
I told him how much I loved my purple dress and again felt a bit goofy saying so. I said, “It cost me about $80 on eBay.” He laughed and told me how inexpensive they were in Mexico.
I told him that all my other tops were about $30. He laughed again. And, a moment later, he smiled, said it was nice chatting, and he headed back to his cube.
I stood there in the hallway. I somewhat felt like I had just been in a fashion hit-and-run. I was still amazed that he took the time to stop me and then begin to tell me very fondly about his Mom. Every time I see him now, he says “Hi,” and he gives me this big smile that I think is one quarter for me and three quarters for his Mom.
When I arrived back at my office, I thought it was funny how I randomly run into people sometimes. I made friends with a security guard at an ATM machine, two engineers who crashed in front of me on the rail trail, and now with an engineer over a vintage embroidered top from Mexico; my world never ceases to amaze me.
Yesterday, I wore my white embroidered Mexican top.
I left my office to go the restroom, and when I looked across the aisle, I saw him standing in his office. I looked down at my top, looked back up, and I smiled at him; he got my message and he smiled broadly. As I walked off, I thought how nice it was to have a "friend" who always smiled when he saw you even if he didn't know you very well and if only because you reminded him of a place he once called home and of a person he loves. ♥
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