I love those times when you have a weirdly ridiculous experience with a stranger. Either they try to share some kind of inappropriate story with you (I do not appreciate birth stories in the middle of the freezer aisle) or ask you for something off the wall.
Yesterday, I was at Hancocks. It was a delicious day at the fabric store because my husband had come home early from work and I was toddler free with a tall, one-pump, Starbucks pumpkin spice latte in my hand. I was browsing patterns and buttons then made my way over to the trims. I was "minding my own" when I heard a poor man (clearly sent to the store by his wife) painfully describing "You know, those little hooks like on a bra clasp" to an employee. He had no other words to describe them and had to keep saying "bra clasp" over and over, but the employee had no idea what he was talking about and finally said "We don't have anything like that here." Well, for one thing, they probably do have actual bra clasps, and for the other, I know for a fact they had hook and eyes which is what he was trying to describe. He passed behind me and I said, "I think you mean 'hook and eyes,'" the poor man's face lit up and he was so relieved to have alternate vocabulary with which to describe a product he didn't fully understand. Anyway, he went on his merry way and found what he needed (by the way, this is not the weird experience). So I continued browsing trims and gradually made my way to the table of seersucker on sale ($2.95 a yard!!)
I was absorbed in my sale fabrics when a little older lady, who had been browsing trims near me and probably heard my exchange with "bra clasp man," approached me and asked what I thought of two different pieces of gold, sequin covered elastic. She had a small piece and was trying to match it with what was there. I said, "Well, one is gold and one is colored" (it was kind of irridescent with many different colors plus a little gold). So I thought maybe she just couldn't see very well or couldn't reach the trims (she was about 4 feet tall or slightly less, no exaggeration). I pulled out a roll of the same thing she was holding and started to leave, then she began to describe exactly what it was for. The tale she told me involved a cruise she's going to be taking, a gold dress she will be wearing and a navy blue beanie that she intends to cover with this gold, sequin elastic. I'm "Mmm, Hmm'ing" politely and backing away when she asks, "Could you help me wrap this around my head so that I can see how much I will need?" No kidding, she stood there and had me wrap about 3 yards of stretchy sequins around her head in rows with zero compunction. She was really friendly and it was no trouble, but it completely cracked me up. What a thing to ask of a stranger! It was also sort of oddly personal to be putting things on someone else's head.
Anyway! I came away with a funny experience and more fabric than I intended to buy, but what do you do?!
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