Payless Revisited

The recent discussions here about high heels and Payless moved me to see how many pairs of Payless shoes I own. I knew I had a lot, but was surprised to discover that I owned 47 Payless pairs!

When I was still gainfully employed, I had a Payless store nearby my workplace that I could haunt in boy mode during my lunch hours. Whenever I did so, I swapped my socks for a pair of knee-highs before I visited the store so if I tried on women's shoes, I would get a better idea how they fit.

On my first Payless visits, I would buy a pair of shoes, take them to my car and try them on to see if they would fit. I was not concerned that the Payless staff knew that I was buying the shoes for myself. I was more concerned about freaking out another customer seeing a guy trying on gal shoes.

Trying on 4-inch stilettos in my Subaru got old fast, so after I became familiar with the Payless staff, I asked if there was a better way. The saleswoman I spoke with suggested I use their back room to try on shoes and that’s what I did for awhile. 

But eventually I said “damn the customers” and I began trying on shoes out in the open. I seldom ran into another customer while trying on heels because I was shoe shopping in the lonely aisle that had women’s sizes 10s, 11s, 12s and 13s.

One day off from work, I visited the store en femme and the saleswoman happened to be one I dealt with in boy mode many times. The way she greeted me on the way in was not the way she greeted me in boy mode, so I assumed she was clueless about who I was.

After finding shoes to purchase, I took my finds up to the register and she still acted like I was just another random female customer. I had to say something, so I said, “Remember me?” 

She looked at me more closely and then the Oh-My-Gods began. She said she was clueless and would not have recognized me if I had not spoken up. She also added that I passed with flying colors.

And so it goes!

Wearing 1.State

RuPaul Charles femulating in The Brady Bunch Movie.