Self Censorship

So I’m in Evansville, Indiana, having stopped in Odon to eat at the Odon Essen Haus-excellent Amish lunch buffet for $5.50, drink included.

My friend’s new house is fantastic, although clearly it is still a work in progress-walls need painting, floors need redoing, and stuff needs to be moved. They have made fantastic progress though, and I am envious of their house-it’s quite close to the downtown historic district and to what appears to be a downtown that is being revived.

That said, with my arrival my friend took the afternoon off from Venetian Plaster and we went shopping because I needed a pair of shorts. At the local maul (ok, mall), I headed into Express Men, where an overdress pompous clerk with cute hair had enough attitude to put off even the most exclusive of shoppers, never mind me. This guy’s attitude reminded me why I stopped buying stuff from Structure around the time they changed their name to Express Men. I wouldn’t have guessed that a name change would bring about style changes, but it must have-when I went into Structure in December, the blue jeans had all changed and the clerk in the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver store was clueless about the different jeans that were for sale. That said I found a pair of shorts that looked good and then looked for somebody to let me into a dressing room.

Pompous Clerk and the Other Clerk were too busy schmoozing their friends, so I opted against trying on a pair of shorts and instead headed to Old Navy where I bought a pair of shorts that should last me the summer, and with luck, be hip in Germany.

After that we wandered the rest of the mall and I took the opportunity to look in stores that I haven’t been into in a long time, including the infamous Abercrombie and Fitch. At the back of the store in the clearance section, I found a cute T-Shirt that said “I head.” It seemed very gay to me and cute and at bargain prices, I think it would look good in Europe. Or here for that matter, but more so in Europe since it will be less common there.

I went up to cashier, handed her the item, and then waited while she rang me up. When she started folding it, she stopped and looked at the shirt. She stopped another clerk, and other clerk asking something. Both assured her it was ok because it was old!

Being somewhat concerned, I asked what was wrong.

“We no longer sell things with alcohol themes.”

There’s a beer mug on the t-shirt, which should explain the “head” comment.

I doubt that any store in Europe would ever consider such a silly rule.