Who Am I Kidding? Maybe I could be a good Con Artist?

I'm having such a funny day!

My first endeavor was my grueling physical training session with Joel. He wasn't as wacky today than he normally is. And he kicked my ass. The workout wasn't really as bad as last week's, but it still wore me out. Tomorrow will be interesting, because I'm bound to be much more sore than today. Let's just hope that I'm not horribly crippled like last time.

But better still! No, wait for it; it's great! Who do you think just tried on a $5,000 jacket? Yeah, that's right! Sometimes I like to play make-believe. It's the part of me that's still an 8-yr old child. I went downtown to get some cash, which is actually much closer for me than walking all the way to the Citibank in Lincoln Park. I decided that I wanted to walk around designer stores. First I started with Ralph Lauren, which I've been in before, and is fairly accessible for someone with my cash flow. I actually thought about buying a couple of 80-dollar polos. But that's not the really funny part: after I finished at Ralph Lauren, I decided to really go for it. That's right, I went to Giorgio Armani. No, not the Armani Exchange--the real store that shows the Runway Collection. HA!

Interlude to say that I love going to the boutiques for designer clothes! They're such showcases for the clothes, and not real stores. There were also, like, five people in the whole store--all workers. When I entered and saw this, I actually worried that I had made a mistake. The whole focus on the store would be on me.

Aw, hell, I'm just going to go for it. I was totally expecting a Pretty Woman type of exchange, where passive-aggressive, bitchy salespeople would see that I clearly am just pretending, and ignore me until I finally leave. NOT THE CASE. Well, it was a little with some of the salespeople, because one woman haughtily told me that this store housed the runway collection, which I just shrugged off as passively as I could. So, I guess I looked like I have money, because one saleswoman really latched on to me. She brought me coffee and, ahem, helped me look for my new jacket.

I honestly have no idea whether or not she really knew about me. If she did, she had remarkable poise and treated me like any other customer. She even encouraged me to try on some of the jackets that I liked. (She also complimented my taste! Okay, I know it was part of her job.) She set me up in a dressing room and gave me a $500 white t-shirt to wear while trying on the jackets. She also found me two nice suits to try on as well. And I do have to admit, the clothes looked great on me. One jacket in particular, kind of funky, with a side zipper, a little like a classic motorcycle jacket.

She came in the dressing room, complimented me on my clothing choice, and began to talk about tailoring. Uh oh. ABORT! The jig was most certainly up at this point, so I just fessed up. Kinda. I very kindly told her that these clothes were a little out of my personal price range. This was the first time that her placid demeanor cracked a bit, and she looked a little disappointed. But, I then asked if these pieces were featured online anywhere, in case I wanted "to show someone." I figured that was the best strategy: make it seem like I come from money, but don't necessarily have it myself. Maybe I have a ridiculously rich grandmother, who likes to buy me designer clothes? It seemed to appease her, and she gave me her card, when I signed up to get emails about his new collections.

Maybe I never fooled her in the first place, and she was just playing along. If so, that was mighty nice of her to treat me like any other customer. If not, I really disappointed her when I told her I couldn't buy the clothes.

Who knows? Maybe one of these days I'll be able to get one of those jackets. Or a nice Armani suit. But for now, I think I'll just stay out of these stores.