I'm curious to hear what some of the more noteworthy shopping experiences you all have had were like... I've had very positive and very negative experiences, but the vast majority has been positive!  Here's a few of my noteworthy experiences:

I was shopping for a bra at a large department store, the saleslady was very helpful in helping me pick out different styles with the wide backs and underwires which are my preference... she had picked out a good 5 or so bras for me to try on, then walked me back to the fitting room of the lingerie section.  She went in and checked that all the stalls were empty then let me in to try on the different bras.  While I was in there I heard her stop another customer from going into the fitting room. 
   "Oh, is the fitting room closed?" 
   "No, but there's a man in there right now..." 
   "A man?" 
   "Yes, but you can use the fitting room in the next department".

Similarly there was an incident where the saleslady helped me pick out the style and size I was looking for but when I asked if I could try them on she seemed bewildered... said she would have to ask her manager.  So she calls over the store manager, and in front of a bunch of shoppers explains to him that I'd like to try on some lingerie.  He looks at me and says I can't use the women's fitting room, but if I take the bras over to the men's department I can use the fitting rooms there.  Well, it beats having to go home to try them on and returning the ones that didn't fit so I used the men's fitting room.

One of my best shopping experiences was at Sears where I was looking for a specific playtex bra style that I knew from experience fits like a glove... unfortunately it was a style that was being discontinued and I mentioned this to the saleslady who had been very helpful... I mentioned how I wish they'd keep making them because it's so hard to find a bra that fits so well.  She said she could help me find better fitting bras if I didn't mind her taking measurements of me in my comfortable playtex bra.  So she did a professional bra fitting on me and I learned I was wearing the wrong cup size, she brought me some other bras to try based on her measurements and I was amazed that they were even more comfortable than the awesome playtex bra that I was mourning!

Another time on what was apparently a slow day, I was in a department store's lingerie department looking for a bra when an especially helpful saleswomen comes up and excitedly asks me if I dress up, I told her I did and she was just having the best time helping me find the prettiest things in the lingerie department that could possibly fit me.  Between her and her co-worker they were having me try on just about every style that existed in my size and show them how it looked on me with my shirt back on after I put it on... and while I appreciated their enthusiasm and cheerful disposition, I was really just there to pick up some boring utilitarian bras, the fancy super frilly stuff they were having me try on was not exactly my style... but I tried them on anyway, mostly just to be polite but I did enjoy their enthusiasm. 

Hi Fresca! Your shopping adventures sound fun. xD

I recently went shopping for boy's clothes for the first time a few weeks ago and it was awful. Probably because I went to Wal-Mart but my budget demands it. =w=;; I wore a boy's jacket and some jeans and a hat to store and at home, I thought I was actually very convincing and if no one gave me a second glance, I would probably pass. Nope. I got my pride and feelings hurt severely when a store clerk saw I was looking at a men's button up shirt and asked if I was getting it for a male relative for Christmas. Ouch. I also failed to find anything that looked remotely like I imagined in my head and pretty much went home completely defeated. I partly still blame Wal-Mart for having ugly, but affordable clothes. xD

I've recently bought clothes online instead and found that they don't fit without some serious compression in the chest area. Considering I only have one suppressor bra, this is a bit of a problem and I'm now looking into good binders.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has had similar problems. It can be so frustrating for me. But I'm a bit of a perfectionist and when things don't go right the first time, I can react childishly. >w>;;

Thanks for sharing, though, Fresca. That last story made me chuckle.

Fresca,

That kind of event can happen at any time to transgender.
I do not care so much whether they treat me as man or woman.
Whatever they call me, I buy what l want and saleswomen are always kind.

barbie~~

I've had a number of positive shopping experiences. I remember purchasing a rose colored blouse in a Goodwill.
The saleslady remarked that she liked the blouse I chose. I sensed that she knew that it was for me. What interesting
is that I was in drab mode. Strange how life can be but I like it

Quote from: gennee on December 17, 2012, 03:10:56 PM
What interesting
is that I was in drab mode. Strange how life can be but I like it

Yes. Gennee,

Actually it does not matter so much whether I am in full or drab mode, or whether they know I am a man or not.

Barbie~~

Fresca, I loved your experiences :-)

In my country, there are no separate "male" and "female" fitting rooms so it's far easier for us to try things out (couples are fond of entering them together, so they can comment on each other's choices!). Perhaps the only snag for the more shy types is that most stores will carefully count how many pieces of clothing you take with you inside the fitting room, so the shop assistant will find it amusing if a guy takes a lot of bras an skirts into the fitting room. Amusing, yes, but they will not say anything — if you're a customer, you're a customer.

In fact, while I cannot claim to have a huge shopping experience (I'm too poor for that!), on all occasions I've shopped for clothes or accessories, I was always well treated. Originally I tended to pick the winter holidays season for shopping, because it would be less obvious claiming to be buying for a female friend. But people have birthdays all around the year, so it's always a good excuse as well. Sometimes, however, I skip the explanations altogether.

There was just one case so far where I had no possible excuses: trying out a pair of shoes. I wear huge sizes, and people usually don't shop for shoes for their other-gender relatives anyway, so it was obvious I was choosing shoes for me — specially because I had to visit the "large sizes" aisle.

So after browsing for a while on one shop that carries large sizes, a shopping assistant came over to me (I wonder if they drew lots to see who would attend to the "weirdo"). I was in drab mode — actually, in male business clothing, to be more precise

The shopping assistant was a bit shy, but it was clear that she was used to seeing males around the large size aisle, and she offered her help. While I'm not still completely 100% confident about shopping for female clothes and accessories, I'm always nice, polite, and smiling — the worst that they can do, after all, is kick me out of the shop! — so that put her to ease. I asked a few advice on some of the models and asked her if I could try them out for fitting; she said it was fine. I did it by the aisle, standing up — slipping out of my male shoes and testing one or two female ones for size and fit. I'm actually glad I did so, because, as usual, the size numbers on the shoes were not exactly correct (they hardly ever are, in my country). To this day, and except for some boots I bought on eBay, these shoes are the ones fitting me best

So that was it, nothing very special, lol

Where I got more eyebrow raising was not in a shop, but by getting some of my items sewed back and/or slightly changed. There are lots of small shops doing that kind of work. I picked one in a low-profile shopping mall and brought them some things to re-fit and sew back again. They showed some surprise but did their job well — I sort of told them I was part of a group of amateur theatricals (there is a theatre nearby) and that I had more "props" to fix. Later they got used to fixing "strange" things like corsets and padding items and so forth. I think they found it rather amusing!

For several reasons, I was unable to use them again and had to find another shop, near my place. Here I got into some difficulties. I have a slightly oversized dark olive dress, in a straight cut, and I wished to give it a waist, because, obviously, straight cuts don't fit me well (but I had no idea of that when first buying that dress!). So I took very precise measurements and told them exactly what I wanted. Here I hit a snag: they questioned my measurements and wondered about them (I'm rather curvy with the padding!). So they didn't want to do the job unless they could do a fit! I had told them it was a surprise present for one female relative, so I couldn't bring her to the sewing shop. They were very reluctant to accept the job, but, at the end, when I was sort of giving up on them, they sort of made me promise that I would not complain if the dress got ruined due to lack of proper measurements. I naturally accepted their conditions! And, to this day, this is one of the dresses that fits me best (I'm wearing it today as a treat).