the worst possible and most uncomfortable genderfucked scenario i could have ever imagined... happened at work today
i've been butching it up pretty much every day at the store since we opened because i'm still experiencing (milder) hot flashes occasionally, and i didn't want to dress up in case i started pitting at work. today, i decided on a whim that i'd dress up. i have this cute little black spaghetti-strap romper/"playsuit" that i used to love to wear to pride events. it's slouchy and cute and simple to pair with lots of accessories, and i found it in the clean laundry so i was like "fuck it, let's be cute." and i also wore my big stompy black pleather boots that i haven't worn in a while, and i felt SO SO CUTE!!!
unfortunately, my day did not go so well. important to know: i am a trans man, and a pretty short but stout trans man with a shit-ton of body hair. i got a comment from a customer pretty quickly and it deflated me, so i threw a sweatshirt over it the whole rest of the day. also the stompy boots started hurting my feet literally an hour into my shift, so i was suffering physically through the worst moment of my retail career as well. that'll give extra context for what happens next:
i went to the bathroom probably 3 hours into my shift, and i'm only taking a 10-minute break so i'm rushing to pee and get my romper back on and my sweatshirt back on and wash my hands and get back to the registers to clock back in before i'm late--
and i forget to put on my sweatshirt until i open the door to leave the restroom, and there's an elderly (and clearly very physically disabled) man and his adult daughter waiting for the stall to open up, and i'm halfway through putting the sweatshirt back on, so they can see my spaghetti straps over my hairy (and BLACK-FUZZ-COVERED, btw, because i didn't even WASH THIS SWEATSHIRT BEFORE WEARING IT TO WORK) shoulders and my sweat-covered hairy chest and my rainbow bandana on my head and my big goth mommy stompy boots and my six piercings and and
i kinda blacked out for a split second but the last thing i remember is the daughter saying to her dad, "dad, c'mon. you can go in. yes, it's the right one. just go." like over and over and over again as i panic-ran to the break room to die of frustration and vague embarrassment because BOY HOWDY i KNOW that dementia-riddled man is going to tell everyone he knows about that time he waited outside the men's bathroom in the back of a retail store and a bearded tr*nsvestite burst out of the men's bathroom covered in sweat
