One wouldn’t think that buying a men’s suit would be much of an adventure. But let me say, you just may not have been suit shopping with the same ONE I went with.

So, a suit had to be bought. Even though He thought some really nice blue jeans would work. (He did offer for me to press them- He is thoughtful like that)

For two people who had never been suit shopping before we started at the most logical place. “Men’s Warehouse” you say? “Jos A Bank” you say? No says I. We started at Bel-Air Mall. And to be fair… we started at the west end which happened to be Dillard’s Department store. We walked into the men’s suit department with no real expectations. When the fellow that approached us addressed us both as “honey” I knew we were in good hands. This guy had an eye for color and fabric and it didn’t take long and my man was looking good!

The store clerk and I were in tears laughing at all the comments and wise-cracks coming from the suited up man. It was obvious- even to the guy who had just met him that this man of mine had no filter. But our new friend was laughing as hard as I was! To the fitting room we went with an older black woman named Joanne that probably had sewed several thousand yards of fabric in her lifetime. She knew her business well and it didn’t take long and that new suit was tucked in all the right places. As we walked out of the fitting area, I mentioned that I hadn’t heard the price of the suit. I had a feeling our friend, being a true salesman, had done that on purpose. He fumbled around a minute doing some calculations and proudly exclaimed it was only $699….well, plus tax.

$699 and we still had a shirt, tie, shoes and even socks to buy. The store clerk… formerly known as our friend, told us he had to go help another customer real quick and he would be right back with us.

Now, I had been looking in the face of this man I’d be marrying in a few short weeks as he heard this final fee. He didn’t blink an eye, nor did all the color drain from his face. So, I was thinking that was a number he was expecting. But as we walked away…I learned different. When he started talking, using words like “stroke”, “blood pressure” and “panic attack” I figured Dillard’s would NOT be making a sale today. So we did what any responsible shopper would do- we slipped out unseen before we could be pressured to purchase the already pinned and tucked navy blue designer suit.

There WAS a suit bought that day- on sale at the other end of the mall for $159 and 20% off for customer appreciation day.

And it was a normal, try it on , let’s get it kind of sale. No one helped us and we didn’t laugh much at all. But we got the suit and my man will look good and we didn’t even have to make a trip to Providence Hospital.

Unfortunately we gained and lost a friend all in one day.