Playing Dress Up

Well, my new Rotary assignment (District Governor in 2012-2013) has some unexpected consequences. There will be several "black tie" events over the next three years. That means wearing a tuxedo. Of course those that know me understand I am a "jeans and T-shirt" kind of guy. In fact sleeves on the T-shirts are usually optional! So, I am looking at renting a tux several times (at probably near $100 bucks a pop) or (shudder) buying one.

Enter Kim. She makes a phone call or two and finds out there is a big sale at the Men's Wearhouse. The store specializes in dress and business wear for men. Well it sounds like a good sale...buy one, get one free. My Scott's blood is attracted to this idea.  Hmmmm, sounds like I could save some money here. Ok, so we hop in the car and head to Reno on Sunday the sale ends Monday, so we gotta hurry! I should have known this wouldn't be my kind of shopping when Kim brought along my three sport coats. Hmmmm, why do we need those?

Things started innocently enough. We met a nice lady sales person, and she measured me: 44 long.  She checked the racks, and I couldn't believe my good luck. There was only ONE tuxedo in my size, and it was on sale! "This is going to go fast" I thought. Perhaps we could go browse around Pep Boys Auto Supply Store to fill out the rest of the day. This thought was going through my head as I gazed out the window at Pep Boys (in the same strip mall as Men's Wearhouse). "Ok, now we need a suit" Kim exclaimed happily. Remember, buy one get one free? Sure, how bad could it be? The sales woman waved at the rack, "your size goes from here to here." She indicated a length of rack that seemingly ran the length of the store. Kim's eyes lit up, and she joyously started examining every suit on the rack. I stood there thinking "stay calm, stay calm". After about 10 minutes, she had selected about 7 or 8 suits and was holding them out to me expectantly. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because she said "try these on"!

Visions of auto parts and accessories quickly vanished from my mind. "Steady now. Keep it together" I said to myself. And then, a reprieve. "How much are these" queried my wife. The sales woman reluctantly indicated the tags on the sleeves. "$500, $450, $650!" I had to admit, my woman had good taste! Much to my relief, she quickly put the selected suits back on the rack like they were contaminated. Then she started on one end of the rack and checked the price of every single suit, pulling out the ones under $300.

Fifteen minutes later she had narrowed it down to four suits for me to try on. I dutifully headed for the dressing room. about a half hour later we had decided on a very nice blue suit that was marked down from $500 to $230. "A tux and a suit for $230, pretty good deal" I thought, furtively checking my watch (Pep Boys here I come). "Ok, now we need to accessorize" Kim happily exclaimed. "Huh", I managed to grunt. "Shoes, shirts, ties, cuff links and tie pins....It's two for the price of one silly!!

Well, the rest is history. About the time we had fully "accessorized" the tuxedo and suit, I saw Kim over at the slacks rack. "What is she doing there" I asked myself, "I already have slacks." TWO FOR ONE!" How could I have not seen this coming? So, we got two ties for the price of one, two pairs of slacks for the price of one, and two "silk tees" (I had never even heard of one) for the price of one.

Not sure where I will keep this stuff!

By the time we checked out (Pep Boys was closed, and I didn't have any money left anyway) we had saved almost a thousand dollars! Of course that meant we had also spent almost a thousand dollars!! One last highlight, Kim found a mistake while examining the receipt. Seems they had taken the suit OFF clearance sale, but had not pulled the sale tag. They gave us the sale price and our bill went down by nearly three hundred dollars.

Well, I am one well decked out dude now. Shopping is no fun for me but my wonderful wife had the time of her life "dressing up her Ken doll." I keep focusing on the money we "saved" and it does help some. Now I have to find room in my closet for all this stuff!

That's All!