I Bought Them in the Women's Department!

Most of my socks have worn out heels. I don't know why, but it's true, so every now and then, I have to go buy more socks. My sister went with me once to pick out some new ones, and she pointed to a pair of Gold Toe socks (I believe that actually is the brand name, so don't judge me for capitalizing it.). I'd only ever seen those on my dad's feet, so I said, "Aren't these men's socks?" She said, "They're in the women's department!" I said, "Good point," and bought them.

Nevertheless, I've always been really self-conscious about them, because frankly, they still look like men's socks to me; if it's even possible for socks to look gender-specific. So I don't wear them without shoes in front of people, because I don't want them to get the wrong idea about my footwear preferences.

Today when I got home from work, my friend BJ was here, so I changed out of my work clothes and plopped down on the couch with my feet up to kind of unwind. Then, to my horror, I realized I was wearing my Gold Toe socks, and I was pretty sure there was no way he hadn't noticed. I just tried not to think about it, because there was nothing I could do at that point.

A while later, another friend showed up, and after being there for about 30 seconds, he said, "[Miss Berrie], I hope you're not offended by this..." and I immediately thought, "He's going to make fun of my socks! Oh no!" and then I thought, "Ok, seriously, who really cares about your socks? Grow up." He then continued, "...but why are you wearing men's socks?"

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd been the only one there, but then he turned to BJ and made some comment to him, so BJ responded with, "I just didn't know they made women's socks." In my humiliation, all I could do was whimper, "I bought them in the women's department..."