Yesterday afternoon we went shopping at Gordman's. I ended up finding six or seven "business casual" workshirts I could wear to the office, several of them being green (the others were black, blue, or grey, which I can wear with pretty much anything). I'm not a big fan of bright colors anymore; whereas when I was teaching it was basically anything goes as a professor because I'd get admiration and respect from the class anyway, the same is not true in corporate jobs in the private sector. As I live in the shadow of my wife while working at that job, I also have proverbially larger shoes to fill than most other employees, and the last thing I want to do is stand out for any reason.
Yes, any reason. I doubt many of you have had the opportunity to work in the same office as your spouse, but let me tell you, it does create an interesting work dynamic. Learn things too quickly and excel at your job too quickly, and you'll both be singled out for favoritism, as logic would dictate that there's some handholding and extra training going on with you that hasn't been given to the other employees equally. Learn things too slowly and/or find yourself unable to grasp the job itself or its duties (or, conversely, screw up too much), and everyone thinks you're an idiot (and, by extension, they'll think my very intelligent wife married an idiot, which doesn't make her look good). No, until I'm comfortable in the work environment fully, and until I can learn all of the nuances of the internal office politics, I'm staying under the radar -- I'm showing up, clocking in, doing my job, and clocking out. Just because my wife works there and just because she's a supervisor doesn't make me special or any different than anyone else. Moreover, I don't deserve nor do I want special treatment. If I screw up, I don't want to be treated with kid gloves because of who I am -- I am independent and my own person, and my responsibility is my responsibility alone.
All I can do is attempt to keep my head above water, and do it even more when Daisy is not there working with me. Excelling when she and I aren't working together that particular day is fine -- for example, two of my five days this week (tomorrow and Wednesday) she has off. She normally works Wednesday, but took it off as her own Labor Day makeup holiday. She doesn't work today either as it's one of her normal days off.
Anyway.
So I now have work clothes -- or at least more of a variety of work clothes I can wear on a daily basis to my job. Two of the shirts are long-sleeved, even though i generally hate long-sleeved shirts that aren't hoodies. While I can wear hoodies/jackets/etc to work if necessary, dress code dictates that it's not work-appropriate enough attire to actually work in. Or something like that, anyway. Truthfully I didn't pay attention any more closely than I had to, and I wore one of my fleece zip-ups for my entire shift one day last week when it was cold and rainy. I'm getting the feeling that as long as you show up, do your work, and don't make waves...nobody really cares as long as you attempt to look decent.
I also got a new belt, some coffee, and a shaving/shower gel set from Gordman's as well. The one nearest to our house is the one we went to, and it's not the "good" one. I paid $10-15 for each of my shirts there and everything I got was on clearance -- the one closer to the parents' place has a bigger selection and I was getting shirts there last year for teaching outfits for $5-10 each at the most.
After the Gordman's trip we went to the Dollar Tree, where Daisy was able to find some stuff to decorate the house for fall. She got a wreath and some fake leaves, as well as two little scarecrow-like figures, and she's going to hang them up and decorate the interior of our home. I asked her why.
"What do you mean?"
"The point of decorations is for people to see them," I said. "Nobody is ever in our house but us. Exterior decorations I'm fine with, but interior decorations for fall/Halloween? Eh, what's the point?"
She and I don't see eye to eye on this, of course, but whatever makes her happy makes me happy. I've learned to pick my battles and not put up a fight when it's about her doing something which makes her happy.
Mind you, we did get a lot of other stuff at the Dollar Tree, stuff I/we needed as I haven't actually been to a Dollar Tree for real shopping since I was living in Newton. I shop for bargains -- if there's something I can get for $1 that would cost me $3 or $4 at Walmart for the same thing, I just get it there. That includes stuff like deodorant, shaving cream/razors, my allergy medicine, garbage bags, etc.
"I want to go to the mall," she told me while we were Dollar-Tree-shopping.
"Of course," I said. I hadn't been to the mall since, oh, last fall? Before Christmas? Possibly last summer -- I can't remember, really.
Apparently there was a big sale (and she had a good coupon as well) at Torrid, which (if you're not aware) is like the girly, plus-sized version of Hot Topic without most of the glitz and glam. A large chunk of Daisy's wardrobe comes from Torrid, something I support because she looks fucking hot in almost everything she buys there. So yes, I'm fine with tagging along with her to the mall and to Torrid. She found a shirt she wanted and an embossed peacoat jacket that looked so good on her that if she hadn't bought it, I would've bought it for her that very second in a heartbeat.
Not every man goes to Torrid with his wife.
Ahem. Anyway. Afterwards, we wandered the mall for a bit. I found two t-shirts in JCPenney, one a Superman shirt and the other a John Lennon shirt. At the last remaining Suncoast store I've seen in operation anywhere in the past fifteen years or so, I purchased Pacific Rim on DVD for $7.99. Daisy, not to be outdone, got herself some stuff from Bath & Body Works (where I also picked up a new body scrubber for my shower). The rest of the trip, however, was a bust -- I wanted to see if Old Navy had anything I needed or wanted, and they did, but none of it was in my size or it was too expensive. I was also in there to look to see if they had their winter coats out yet, as I'd found a peacoat there a few years ago that I loved and would replace the one I have now (which is falling apart after about four years of daily wear in the wintertime). Then we came home.
We do still have to go grocery shopping tonight as soon as I get home from work, though -- we were too tired last night and had been on our feet all day running around stores and the mall. I told Daisy to be ready as soon as I get off at midnight, because she'll be home and will be awake -- and the clock, after that, is ticking until I'll absolutely need to eat and pass out. While I could go shopping myself without her, there's probably a fair amount of things she needs, and it's something we generally do together due to, well, the amount of stuff we get. Tonight it'll be a fast, but big, trip -- we should've gone two nights ago and we didn't, and now the stuff I needed before I desperately need now because i'm either out of it or very close to being out. I also know Daisy doesn't want to spend any more time shopping at midnight than she has to, and I don't blame her because I don't either. It's my first day back at work for the week and I'm super-tired already; who knows how I'll feel at midnight.
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