The Dumbest Comment I Ever Heard

[jamespowers]

"we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot of money" -Patrick Ewing

As long as I am making it, I don't mind spending it.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

This is definitely very strange

Today I decided to take a walk down to this little neighborhood called Coolidge Corner, a little less than a mile away from where I live. Being that it's almost a 2 mile journey round trip I was thinking function over fashion when I got dressed. I put on a black velvet jogging suit with embroidered flowers on the sleeves. I wasn't showing any skin, I had big black sunglasses on and a good sized black bag. I looked like the typical modern girl. I was comfortable, yet by todays standards I was still put together. I know, it's not vintage, and some of you might think that this is sloppy. But there is no way I'm walking 2 miles on a warm day in a dress, fully fashioned stockings and peep toe pumps. Besides, for the first time in a while I pretty much looked like everybody else.

So, I'm walking down the street minding my own business. There are two men standing off to the side of the sidewalk smoking. This older woman, maybe in her late 60's looks at the two men and says "don't smoke in my neighborhood, go back to where you came from you trash"!!!! I was pretty amazed that this woman would be so outspoken. I keep walking. She's walking kind of slow, so I go around her. The sidewalks big, so I in no way encroached on her personal space. All of a sudden she starts shouting at me: "Look at yourself you dirty slob, this neigborhood isn't meant for your trashy kind, go back to where you came from"!!!! I keep walking ignoring this apparently crazy woman. She keeps yelling. I do think she wanted me to respond. I couldn't take it anymore. I turned around to get a look at her. She was wearing quite the crazy get up and had more face make-up on than I have every seen. Literally thick gobs of foundation. And she must not be able to see all that well for her drawn on eyebrows were purple!!! She had dyed all of her hair jet black but left the sides white. She looked like an old decrepit Elvira!!! I said politely to her "None of us have the right to pass judgment on anyone else" and I kept walking. The person next to me gave me a "well done", the old lady kept yelling, telling me to get out of "her" neighborhood, she even made a comment about how I must not have lived in this particular area for condos are 1/2 a million dollars and there weren't any trailer parks!!! I did nicely inform her that i owned a lovely 2 bedroom townhouse up the street and I was grateful that she wasn't a neighbor. I also told her that G-d would take notice of her behavior and at the right time she would get hers. I mean, I'm standing at the corner at this point waiting for the light to change so I can cross the street, totally minding my business and she's shouting at me very embarrassing comments, un-befitting for any true lady to say in private let alone public, and she's calling me (and at this point she's yelling at everyone waiting at the light) trash!!lol I know, she's obviously got some mental problems, and I probably should have just ignored her, but my attitude got the better of me. Shame, shame , shame. When the cross light came on I took off as fast as possible. I turned around to see if she was still on my trail. She was still at the corner yelling at people. The last I saw was 2 police officers approaching her. I wonder if they carted her back to the institution she escaped from!

Well, I just thought this entire situation was hilarious. Here I am, one of the few times a week I'm not dressed up. I don't wear vintage everyday, but my modern dress is classic skirts and sweater sets or dresses. I rarely go out in public in sweats unless I'm going on a long walk or just doing a quick run to the store and usually then I'm covered by a pretty coat. I've gone to Coolidge Corner plenty of times dressed vintage. I've never received any rude comments from people in this particular area, although it is a cookie cutter community, can be kind of clique-y but most all the people there do have open minds. Of course people look, I look very different from them. But usually this incites smiles, I've never felt uncomfortable dressed vintage in this area. So, it is quite funny to me that the one time I go down there looking like everybody else, I'm yelled at for the way I'm dressed!! Talk about irony. I know, the woman was obviously mentally challenged, she might have had alzhiemer's. I wonder what she would have said to me if she saw me all done up in a vintage suit with fully fashioned stockings, pin curls and peep toes. I'm pretty sure she would have found something wrong with this too. I always feel better about myself when I dress nicely, be it in my modern or vintage clothes, it's just the way I like to present myself. Of course at home I love my sweats. I'm just more comfortable curled up on the couch without a girdle on So although my outfit was comfortable to wear, I did feel kind of sloppy. And this was actually a much nicer outfit than a lot of the other people were wearing! So, it's so funny that I kind of felt sloppy, and here's this woman telling me I am.
I should have told her about The Fedora Lounge! Maybe I could have made her feel better if she knew that there are people in the world who like to dress up.

 

[jamespowers]

I should have told her about The Fedora Lounge! Maybe I could have made her feel better if she knew that there are people in the world who like to dress up.

Uh, that's ok. You did right by just running away.

Regards,

J

 

[jamespowers]

The previous post reminded me of an interesting interaction I had today at the "lunch truck." I had on my heavy wool overcoat which nearly goes to my ankles and my Mallory Pliafelt fedora. I had it buttoned up so you could see little else other than my pants over my shoes.
One guy comes up and uses the old Dick Tracy line. :eusa_doh: I come back with my previously mentioned: "if I am Dick Tracy then you must be Pruneface." He responds "either him or Mumbles." lol lol lol lol We both laughed about that one. I haven't heard of mumbles in a long time. Clearly the guy really knew who Dick Tracy was and who his enemies were. lol lol

Regards,

J

 

[Stoney]

Daisy,

If you run into her again, see it you can get her phone number for me.
I just love women like that, psychotic with purple eyebrows ya know.

 

[Aerol]

Street folk

It's just life in the big city.

For your own safety, though, you should ignore them.

 

[czack]

It's just life in the big city.

For your own safety, though, you should ignore them.

Yes, please do. You don't know if they can become violent.

 

[shoeshineboy]

ask my mother if she got her birthday card from me.....she never calls anymore.....


mark the shoeshineboy

 

[jamespowers]

ask my mother if she got her birthday card from me.....she never calls anymore.....


mark the shoeshineboy

lol lol lol lol

 

[Jerekson]

The previous post reminded me of an interesting interaction I had today at the "lunch truck." I had on my heavy wool overcoat which nearly goes to my ankles and my Mallory Pliafelt fedora. I had it buttoned up so you could see little else other than my pants over my shoes.
One guy comes up and uses the old Dick Tracy line. :eusa_doh: I come back with my previously mentioned: "if I am Dick Tracy then you must be Pruneface." He responds "either him or Mumbles." lol lol lol lol We both laughed about that one. I haven't heard of mumbles in a long time. Clearly the guy really knew who Dick Tracy was and who his enemies were. lol lol

Regards,

J

This is the kind of interaction that we need more often :eusa_clap

 

[John in Covina]

She was wearing quite the crazy get up and had more face make-up on than I have every seen. Literally thick gobs of foundation. And she must not be able to see all that well for her drawn on eyebrows were purple!!! She had dyed all of her hair jet black but left the sides white. She looked like an old decrepit Elvira!!! I said politely to her "None of us have the right to pass judgment on anyone else" and I kept walking. The person next to me gave me a "well done", the old lady kept yelling, telling me to get out of "her" neighborhood, she even made a comment about how I must not have lived in this particular area for condos are 1/2 a million dollars and there weren't any trailer parks!!! I

*************
1 out of every 10 people you meet is NUTS :fing28: to one degree or another and there is a lot of mental illness out there amongst the homeless or even the elderly. Chances are she is suffering from some type of mental condition and needs help from experts. I am glad that the police were coming to intercede, hopefully they will hook her up with the specialists. Strangely enough it could have been a cry for help in some ways.

Glad she didn't get violent with you!

Sincere best regards,

 

[Chanfan]

Yes, please do. You don't know if they can become violent.

Meh, I think you have far, far more to worry about crossing the street, vis a vis traffic, than you do from the homeless, statistically.

 

[Diamondback]

Uh, that's ok. You did right by just running away.

Daisy, JP nailed it. When in doubt, escape and evade--do nothing to escalate the situation, just like I was taught in my self-defense classes, and as I now teach my own students. You don't want to get into it unless your back or an inoocent bystander's is "to the wall"...

Quite possibly someone else called 911 about the lunatic on the loose; if I had been in your position, I might have considered drawing 1 of my 2 cellphones and called it in myself...

For your own safety, though, you should ignore them.

Not such a good idea, slick. When someone's obviously looney-tunes, you don't know what they're gonna do, so it's generally prudent to keep a wary eye--not paying them the attention they want, but maintaining a general awareness of relative positions and potential actions.

Why do I feel like I need to say this? The lovely Miss Buchanan is a grown lady with enough years of life in a major city to know her way around the block... Maybe it's just the "teacher" in me trying to turn this into a real-world lesson for the youngsters. I don't know for sure...

EDIT: Finally off the "NEWBIES" list! YESSSSS!!!!! *pumps fist in air*

 

[Aerol]

big city life

That's ignore as in don't engage them in conversation, not ignore as in pretend they're not there.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Aerol, You're absolutely correct. I should have just not engaged her in conversation. My attitude did get the better of me. Sometimes I have problems just saying nothing and walking away.

As for a need to call 911, well there was no need to do that. This was a crazy old lady. I do have enough years of life in the city to know a crazy old lady from a person who might cause me harm. My many years in the city have taught me well. I was really only telling this story because I thought it was funny that one of the few times I was dressed down in public, I get called a slob. In no way was this a dangerous situation for me to be in. The few things I said to her out of shear frustration didn't escalate the situation or put me in harms way. She was a crazy lady, by the time I reached the corner she was shouting at quite a few passers by. This is a common occurrence in any major city. Outsiders might think of it as odd or possibly scary. Any person residing in a largely populated area would see nothing out of the ordinary. Nobody actually called the police. I don't think anyone would have, for this is such a common thing to see. It just so happens that the city was doing some road work and there were a couple of cops at the corner helping direct traffic. It was them who approached the woman after watching her yelling for a few minutes. If that detail hadn't been there, she would have continued yelling at passers by. This was a completely harmless woman. I've got enough street smarts to know when to keep my mouth shut. Although in this instance my frustrations did get the better of me. Although the few comments I made to her in my defense really didn't make matters any worse.

 

[AdmiralTofu]

Well, my story's a lot less exciting than crazy people, that's for sure.

Sometime last week, I had my Bailey Executive with me at work. It's a wool camel-colored stingy brim with a wide chocolate brown ribbon. It originally came with a center crease and a pretty shallow pinch; I deepened the pinch dramatically and rebashed it in a diamond crease with a dome for my huge noggin. Anyhow.

A co-worker came over to my desk and said it looked like a cowboy hat. (How he made that connection, I have no clue.) He then put the hat on his head and started walking around with it, bow-legged, and using his keys to imitate the sound of spurs. I think he even threw in a "Howdy pardner!" before he realized from my Evil Eye(tm) that it was either put down the hat or get decked.

I actually don't mind people wearing my hats -- in fact, I encourage it. More than once I've had the pleasure of telling my co-workers that they look better in my lids than I do! (no lie.) I figure anything that'll encourage more hat wearing is a Good Thing. But if folks are just gonna wear them to make fun of it, then it's off limits. At least to that one dude.

I just don't see how he made the cowboy connection. Was it the color? Is *any* brimmed hat a "cowboy" hat to him?

Now, my BCF Huckel Barcelona (the one in my avatar), I can almost see...

-Tofu

 

[Jerekson]

Is *any* brimmed hat a "cowboy" hat to him?
-Tofu

Haha! You have no idea how many people that applies to. lol

A while back a co-worker saw me wearing a brown fedora. He immediately took to calling me a "cowboy".

And, "Cowboy".

and "Cowboy"

and "Cowboy"

and "Cowboy"...

Until eventually, I snapped, and said, "If you have to associate my hat with anything, associate it with Indiana Jones."

not to say that I don't regret saying that, but at least being called IJ is better than Cowboy.

Cowboy really suceeds at hurting my pride, for some reason.

Indiana Jones, on the other hand, is more tolerable, being as IJ actually did wear a fedora.

It's a complicated issue

 

[jamespowers]

Haha! You have no idea how many people that applies to. lol

A while back a co-worker saw me wearing a brown fedora. He immediately took to calling me a "cowboy".

And, "Cowboy".

and "Cowboy"

and "Cowboy"

and "Cowboy"...

Until eventually, I snapped, and said, "If you have to associate my hat with anything, associate it with Indiana Jones."

not to say that I don't regret saying that, but at least being called IJ is better than Cowboy.

Cowboy really suceeds at hurting my pride, for some reason.

Indiana Jones, on the other hand, is more tolerable, being as IJ actually did wear a fedora.

It's a complicated issue

Sounds ok to me but I prefer Bogart or Dick Tracy. At least I have a few comebacks for those. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J

 

[AdmiralTofu]

Cowboy really suceeds at hurting my pride, for some reason.

Indiana Jones, on the other hand, is more tolerable, being as IJ actually did wear a fedora.

It's a complicated issue

I hear ya. I can't explain it. It's just... I dunno. Yick.

If anybody, I'd rather be Joe Friday! Dragnet's the whole reason I started wearing hats anyway.

As for associations in general, I really don't get why people can't accept that this is simply the way I dress, and who I am. I'm not trying to be anybody other than myself, and I'm not dressing for anybody but myself.

But, if I go any farther, I risk going fftopic: . On to more dumb comments!

 

[jamespowers]

I hear ya. I can't explain it. It's just... I dunno. Yick.

If anybody, I'd rather be Joe Friday! Dragnet's the whole reason I started wearing hats anyway.

That's for sure. Everyone has a reason or icon that got them started wearing hats. Mine were my own family. My grandfather never went anywhere without a hat---likely a milan. The same was true of my great uncle John---he preferrred the homburg. His was probably the first dress hat I ever wore---no matter how big it was when I was 6.

Regards,

J