Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Pat

There is a local cross dresser who lives in the next town over from me. When we lived in that town, I would often see him at Kroger, doing his shopping.

I guess since the Mart of Wal opened a few years ago, he does his shopping there now. On Sundays.

I mentioned a few weeks ago on Twitter that I was going to the WM that day (Sunday) and a Twitter friend mentioned that I might see "Pat". I had no clue who she was talking about, but when she explained and I thought about the SNL character "Pat", it made sense.

After all, I do not know this person's name and I have never been able to work up the courage to talk to him, but he is very friendly. He will smile back if you smile at him. He walks with his head up, shoulders back. He clearly does not have an issue being noticed.

On top of all that, he really dresses to the nines (which isn't what one normally sees at a grocery store)and the outfits are reminiscent of the 80s. He also has a good time with make up, apparently and it's hard to NOT look.

He has these fabulous, long red nails - I don't know if they're real or Lee Press Ons, but they really complete the whole look.

The thing is, this does not disturb me in the slightest. I practically grew up with drag queens (which is a completely different thing than cross dressing or being transgendered). My best friend in high school performed in drag at a club downtown, so I was able to get to know all the queens.

I learned some of the best make up tips from them.

I'm fairly sure that all the queens I knew were gay, but the same can't be said of cross dressers. Often, they are heterosexual men who just like to wear womens' clothing.

I had not seen Pat in any of my several trips to WM until this past Sunday. To say I was thrilled is a major understatement. I stalked him for a bit, trying to work up the courage to say "Hi.", but I just couldn't. Maybe this Sunday?

The BEST part of the whole thing is to see the looks on other shoppers faces. People who aren't familiar with that lifestyle are often left with their mouths hanging open.

I saw one guy who had about half his teeth and overheard him saying to his wife (or whoever he was with), "Oh my Lord, did you see that?"

I thought, "You're one to talk, pal."

Ever hear a little saying: People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones? I think that applies here.

I'll keep you all updated if I ever strike up a conversation with Pat. I bet he's a fascinating conversationalist.

31 comments:

  1. Just don't call him Pat. Unless of course that's his name. :-)

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  2. Uh oh. I am hoping for his sake that he doesn't end up on www.peopleofwalmart.com! People can be so mean in these small towns. Hope you get to chat with him.

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  3. Well now, If you are gonna go that route, I feel you may be obligated to submit any pictures of "Pat" that you take to the website....peopleofwalmart dot com.

    Go check it out and you will see what I mean.

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  4. I am amazed that some people think they are normal when in fact, they are not. If he is happy with who he is, why should others judge? There is no book or law that says there is a sepcific way epople should live. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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  5. Man, nothing that interesting EVER happens at MY Walmart!

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  6. We know Pat, sorta. You'll have mail.

    I will say that the reason I'm not putting more details out here is that I had run into her before at Kroger near where you used to live. We were in a line that wasn't moving with her in front of me when I tried my damnedest to strike up a conversation. I could get a nod, maybe a one-word answer to this or that, but no bites. So, even though, if you walk into her office when she's not dressed to the nines and is wearing man garb, there are pictures of her in all her glory (and she does look good) all over the walls. Go figure.

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  7. It wasn't until really recent times that men started wearing pants (in some places they're women's wear) so maybe he's just trying ot be historically accurate? :)

    Fascinating character.

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  8. I love Pat! We have one here in town, but we chatted about that on Twitter. I hope you work up the courage to strike a conversation. And I also hung with the queens in HS. I miss those guys!

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  9. I have a vision in my head...although it doesn't really matter I guess. How one chooses to dress or talk or walk...whatever..as long as their happy.

    Curious to see though if Pat will converse with you!

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  10. Funny, as soon as I saw your title in my rader "Pat", I thought of SNL.

    Yeah, I don't care what people get up to. If they're not hurting anyone, just be glad for that fact, and withhold firing of said rocks.

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  11. Man I really am sheltered. I don't think I've ever seen a drag queeen in real life. And you got to hang with all the queens? That sounds like loads of fun. Reminds me of Chandler's mom on Friends.

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  12. Hope you get your chat with him. I'm betting he has a good sense of humor about things.

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  13. I talked to ours for a while one day. I'm not sure he was entirely on the beam though. He was wearing a tiara and carrying flowers. Then again, he might have just been playing it up for the rubes.

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  14. This reminds me of a story I read today from the UK Daily Mail online: two drunken yobs attacked a couple to-the-nines-dressed drag queens.

    Unfortunately for the yobs, the drag queens were also professional cage fighters and beat the living shit out of the yobs before collecting their purses, straightening skirts, and moving along.

    I LOVED LOVED LOVED it!!

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  15. (Oh, and yobs were later arrested ... for once the local police did the right thing.)

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  16. 3C - I would be mortified if I called him "Pat". Yikes! :-)

    Mary - I did get a pic of him, but only from the back.

    Joker - Oh, if I send any pictures, it will be one of the multitude of OTHER shoppers there. We have some winners.

    Rebecca - I think it's great!

    Shiny Rod - This can be a narrow minded area - sometimes. I'm just glad no one bothers him.

    CuteElla - Well, technically, he is a cross dresser, not a drag queen.

    NCP - Your Roller Derby group needs to schedule a match against ours and I'll take you shopping on Sunday! :-)

    BB - If I can get a return Hi and a smile, I'll be happy!

    Tiff - Who knows? ;-)

    The Dish - My best friend died of AIDS about 15 yrs ago, so I don't go the clubs as often and I miss them too!

    Chandra - Keep your fingers crossed!

    Powdergirl - I totally agree!

    Vinomom - the queens are LOADS of fun. They are hilarious - and most of them are very talented too.

    Ron - He seems to have a good time with it.

    Honeywine - LOL about the rubes!

    Juanuchis - That is SO awesome! :-)

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  17. In our town he is Michael/Michelle. Dresses up really nice....but he is a mechanic and no nails are gonna make those hands look good. He is a really nice guy.

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  18. I am a cross dresser, and am so heartened to see the kindness and lack of judgement in these comments! Although I'm not blatant about it, I'm certainly not unhappy for most people to know, and am always pleased when people accept me and acknowledge me, especially when they speak with me normally, and am very happy to talk normally with women when I'm dressed and "en femme". Lovely to read your open mindedness. X

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  19. ETW,
    No photos? You need to learn the art of the sneaky cell phone photo, while you pretend to be dialing/texting...

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  20. I hope I get to see him/her someday!

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  21. Sneaky cell phone photo? Just ask......... would you like it if people were sneaking cell phone pics of you in Walmart? Probably not!

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  22. OMG.. okay.. you TOTALLY HAVE to talk to him! And, then blog about it of course! :)

    I LOVE people like that... they are so fun! We have a LOT of those around here... especially in Fayetteville!

    Hugs - Tiff

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  23. You'd BEST be striking up a conversation with him! Now I'm DYING to know what he has to say. I adore drag queens and am dying to be BFF with one.

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  24. The same, EXACT thing happens to bikers ETW. You'd love seeing the soccer moms grab their kids & run to the next aisle when I go grocery shopping on my scoot...

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  25. I bet 'he' is probably a really nice person. I think people that society in general considers 'odd' usually have some special qualities.

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  26. He's been around for a long time. I used to see him when we lived back that way. Always seemed nice enough and was a pretty regular sight at the store. I always figured he was just doing what made him happy.

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  27. You have more details on Pat in your mail. I will say to 3carnations: Her name is really Pat! LMAO! True story.

    And, I'll complete my partial sentence about when I tried to strike up a conversation and got litte-to-nada back. My impression wasn't that she was standoffish or mean or anything like that. My impression was that she was enjoying that feeling that a you get when you're dressed for the prom and you know you're looking good. Perhaps, the world's her runway and she doesn't like her little bit of time on the catwalk interrupted? I don't know, but from the account I've had, Pat was good people and extremely nice in the office setting.

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  28. Oh, I think we're going to a drag show at the Red Carpet on the 24th. Interested?

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  29. I had to comment on this!

    I know Pat. Haha. He's (She's) awesome. I know him (Pat prefers "her") very well. A good friend of my dad's.

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