Fancy Pants

[bansidhe]

I'm not looking for advice here, but just sharing a mysterious and amusing episode of unprovoked snottiness.

A while back, I popped by the pet store to pick up three cases of cat food I'd ordered. Let me describe what I was wearing at the time, as evidently that is important:
- A pair of basic black pants, like pretty much every other woman in the US owns.
- A nice-but-not-showy blouse that came from the clearance rack at Macy's three years ago.
- Basic black flats.
- Unremarkable silver jewelry (hoop earrings and a fairly plain bracelet that goes with pretty much everything I own).

I told the guy behind the register that I was picking up my order. There was no one else in line at the time, but by the time the employee returned a man (Man 1) had gotten into line behind me. The employee set down two cases of food. I politely reminded him that there should be three and he said the third case had probably been put in the wrong spot and he'd go look for it.

There were three other employees milling around, not doing much of anything. Instead of one of them looking for the food or taking over the register, all four employees headed to the back room of the store to look for the cat food. I turned to Man 1 behind me and commented with a laugh, "I can't believe all four of them went back there!" He laughed and shook his head, then said "Me neither!" It was a pleasant enough exchange.

After a minute, another man (Man 2) joined the line. He was unaware that there were four employees in the back. After a few minutes with no one at the register, he caught Man 1's eye and said, "Do you think one of us should go look for an employee?"

Man 1 replied, "Oh, there are four of them, but every last one of them is helping Fancy Pants here," gesturing toward me as he said it. His tone was not friendly or teasing in the least. He sounded quite bitter, actually.

I figured complete silence was the way to go - though suppressing laughter was a challenge - and fortunately, the employee returned with the missing cat food moments later.

I now have a new nickname at work.

[GoldenGemini]

I can understand his frustration that apparently all FOUR employees needed to look for your cat food, but that is not YOUR fault.

How odd!

[Emmy]

Very rude indeed.  I wouldn't know what to say to that as well either.  You stated what you were wearing really wasn't super dressed up, but even if you wearing an evening gown and a fur coat, the man's comment would still be rude.

[Jan74]

Evidently, your black pants are much fancier than the ones other women in America own. Are they diamond studded? 

[Auntie Mame]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX40iQ46KhA

"Mr Fancy Pants" by Jonathan Coulton

[Oh Joy]

Any chance his comment had nothing to do with your clothing?  You had two cases of food on the counter...some cat food have names including the word 'Fancy' or have otherwise quite elegant packaging.  Also, did Man 1 know that the employees were looking to find the rest of your order, and not searching for more because you'd demanded something unreasonable?

[bansidhe]

Any chance his comment had nothing to do with your clothing?  You had two cases of food on the counter...some cat food have names including the word 'Fancy' or have otherwise quite elegant packaging.  Also, did Man 1 know that the employees were looking to find the rest of your order, and not searching for more because you'd demanded something unreasonable?

There's no telling what was going through his brain, but he was standing right there when I reminded the employee about the missing case and when that employee and the three others went to the back to look for it, so he should have heard the whole exchange.

The cat food was Wellness, which is freakin' expensive but doesn't look particularly fancy. Most folks aren't familiar with it so I doubt he knew what it was or what it cost.

Oddly, this was not the first time I've had similar comments directed at me and I've never been sure why. Perhaps, somehow or another, I just look like a snob or something. It's quite puzzling.

[blue2000]

Oddly, this was not the first time I've had similar comments directed at me and I've never been sure why. Perhaps, somehow or another, I just look like a snob or something. It's quite puzzling.

Ah, that explains it. It's always the glamourous supermodel-types that hold up the cat food lines!

[Calypso]

Well, you've described your attire, but there are some damning details you left out....was you hair (gasp!) combed? Face washed? Shoes on the right feet?    Were you wearing....(!!!) nail polish?

You don't say what day it was, but (supposing) it was a weekend morning, maybe you just looked "fancy" by virtue of looking too awake and alert! 

[Auntie Mame]

Okay, admit it, you were really wearing silver sequined pants with mirror balls hanging off the cuff, weren't you?

[Shores]

It's hard to judge when not present for an exchange like this, but even with a bitter tone, I don't think I would have taken offense to this. He probably WAS bitter. At the cashiers for all abandoning their post to go look for one case of food. I'd have taken his "Fancy Pants" as a joke on how important you must be to receive 4 people's worth of help for such a simple task. More a joke on them than on you, especially since the two of you had already had a pleasant exchange about the situation. Ignoring it was fine, but I'd have probably made a joke about secretly being queen of the world.

[Flora Louise]

I wonder if he would have called the person in front of him a name if said person had been let us say, a 6' 5" tough guy? Would Mr. Impatient have wisecracked, "Oh, there are four of them, but every last one of them is helping Little Lord Fauntleroy, here?"

I going to go out on a limb and venture a "no" to that.

[bansidhe]

I'd have taken his "Fancy Pants" as a joke on how important you must be to receive 4 people's worth of help for such a simple task. More a joke on them than on you, especially since the two of you had already had a pleasant exchange about the situation.

Hey...that's a good theory! I hadn't really thought about it that way - possibly because, as mentioned earlier, I've been the recipient of similar comments in the past in different situations. I'll bet that's exactly how he intended his comment.

I found the whole thing more amusing than offensive, but I'm relieved to have a logical motive for the comment since it seemed so mysterious. 

[bansidhe]

The production center manager finally called me on the carpet to complain about my "ostentatious wardrobe" and it was 'making people nervous' because I was so pretentious.

I have what may sound like an odd question for you: Are you taller than average?

It's long been a theory of mine that tall chicks get called out for their clothing choices more often than shorter ones do. Years ago, a co-worker and I had a chance to put that theory to the test. At the time I was in my late 20s and didn't own any skirts that went below the knee. All of them were perfectly appropriate work attire with hems about an inch above the knee - nothing racy. My supervisor, however, kept telling me my skirts were too short (loudly and in front of others, but that's another story). Other gals with similar attire did not get similar comments.

A co-worker and I owned the same basic black skirt in different sizes. She was 5'0" and I'm 5'10" and usually wore two-inch heels. We conducted an experiment over about a month. She wore her skirt a few times and I wore mine on different days. The supervisor never said a word to her, but I got busted. 

[Jan74]

I'm short and I've been told I'm overdressed my whole life. I wear jeans and leggings and other definitely underdressed stuff, but since I'm short, I only wear flats if I'll be doing a lot of walking. So heels, even if it is a wedge espadrille = overdressed. I also tend to layer on top as I don't want too much attention to the bust, so adding a third piece of clothing, even if it is a cardigan = overdressed.

Basically, people judge clothing very narrowly. Sweatpants = sloppy, but a nicer pair of slacks or something = too fancy. It seems the only "correct attire" is jeans and t-shirt.