2025, Business, Family, gardening, Mysteries

Weekend Dress Code

31 Comments

Last week YA and I headed off to Bachmans for our veggies and flowers for hanging baskets.  This is an annual ritual and this year we needed flowers for 15 baskets and six bales (although I was pretty sure I would need a trip to Gertens for my favorite dragon wing begonias.

YA was ready sooner than I expected so I had to rush to get ready.  I grabbed a pair of khaki shorts that were sitting on my dresser and then my Pi Day shirt, which was at the top of the drawer. 

I hadn’t thought about this combination until a Bachman’s employee stopped me almost immediately upon entering the store, commenting that I looked like a staff person.  For those of you who weren’t there (or more likely just don’t remember), my Pi Day shirt is purple.  I laughed it off, but she wasn’t kidding.  Person after person tried to ask me a staff question. 

It wasn’t a big deal until the end of our trip.  As we were checking out, it turned out that my bright white petunias didn’t have a code to scan.  Telling the cashier they were bright white petunias didn’t help. She didn’t have a binder full of codes, she didn’t ask anyone else, she certainly didn’t believe YA and I when we said it was the same price as the royal purple petunias.  No – she sent me back to the flower barn to find one with a tag and code.  This week is NOT a good time to hold u p the line at Bachmans, so I was almost running when I headed back to the barn.  Two more people stopped me.  One woman realized immediately that it wasn’t a Bachman’s shirt and backed off.  The second woman felt the need to talk about my purple shirt and how she had mistaken me for staff.  It took me much longer than you would think to extricate myself from her and get back to the cashier.  The lines were pretty long and it was clear some folks weren’t happy.

So my lesson for the week?  Don’t wear purple to Bachmans!

Any businesses where you could make a credible staff person?

31 thoughts on “Weekend Dress Code”

  2. I could easily pass as an OSHA safety inspector. Wear all the high visibility clothes including gloves and a clean hardhat. Carry a clip board and pretend to exam and check off items. Don’t smile.

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      1. And keep your head down, look serious, and walk fast.
        That’s an old military joke about how not to be bothered. We had an assistant superintendent who did that all the time.

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  3. I get asked questions at libraries. Guess the librarian vibe never actually wears off, no matter how long it’s been since I actually worked in one…

    –Crow Girl

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  4. I could still fake my way through working at Surdyk’s (or any wine shop) as a wine consultant (a poor man’s sommelier).

    Nose, bouquet, hints of jasmine mixed with soursop and apple.

    Light tannins but still age-worthy.

    French oak adds much more nuance to this pinot than does American oak.

    “How much would you like to spend?” (asked with a sinister smile).

    Chris in Owatonna

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  7. I remember reading about a stunt whereby members of the Cacophony Society, a group devoted to creative mayhem, descended upon a Best Buy, all of them dressed in blue polo shirts and khaki pants. I don’t remember if they did anything in particular but maybe creating the confusion was enough.

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  9. The clerk could not ask for a price check or accept what you said to keep the line moving? Several times in grocery stores they have accepted what I said. Target, when I used to shop there, would ask for a price check. Our garden store clerks have the book of UPCs but pretty much knows them. This time of year a manager is there to help keep the line moving. When someone has a lot, she will help put them on the counter in groups by price.

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    1. I’ve discovered over the years that May is a rough month for cashiering at Bachmans. They have lots of seasonal folks who don’t have the most experience during these first few weeks of gardening season. The biggest thing they don’t seem to know is how to charge to someone’s Bachman’s card. It always surprises me because you’d think that would be one of the first things they get taught, but obviously not.

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  11. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Target. I fall into the red top/khaki slacks habit and look like a Target employee. VS, I do think that is very funny though.

    We have experienced an exciting morning here. Lou’s cousin Kevin was here for the weekend, taking over caring for us Friday and giving Ben and Katie (son and DIL) a break after a long 5 days for them last week. Kevin is from Decorah, Ia where Lou grew up. RIght now they are at Ft. Snelling Cemetery attending their uncle’s funeral. He died in November, but the family waited for the actual funeral until they could be outdoors at Ft. Snelling. That day could not have been nicer than today!

    At 7:53am Kevin said, “I have something to share that is pure joy.” Then he ran his son”s announcement to run for governor of Iowa as a Democrat. Right now Rob is state auditor, then only statewide elected Democrat there. Kevin was so excited. Here is a link to the announcement/website:

    Home

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  12. Yes, what Clyde said… Was that sales clerk not trained in?? What’s wrong with the manager?

    I could fake it pretty well at the cash register if I worked at a book store like Birchbark Books – no, WAIT, I actually did that. I always felt like an imposter at checkout…

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    1. I try to cut them slack at this time of year. This is a big Bachmans (I think its the original one) and they have two separate cashiering areas… one in the store itself and one “up on the hill” (that’s what they call it). I can’t imagine going from just a handful of customers a day to hundreds every hour.

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  14. I could go into a Home Depot or Menards, dress like an employee, push around a little cart and never talk to a customer and nobody would ever suspect me.

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  16. What color shirt is safe to wear when you’re shopping? Tie-dye, maybe?

    I think it would be fun to go into a liquor store and open some random bottles of wine and hand out samples to other shoppers. This one has notes of blackberry and vanilla….

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