My First Shopping Experience at Talbots (sort of)

I didn't know that I would be ready for Talbots anytime before hitting my 60th birthday, but I must admit that I loved A LOT of items in the Fall lookbook (much more than in the JCrew one) and a while ago I started to check their website for new arrivals and sign up for emails (actually all started when I read an article on Talbots in the WSJ this spring, that featured several look from the Fall lookbook).
Yesterday I had my first shopping experience at Talbots and it didn't go very well. For Talbots, I mean. If you read through the end you will know why. Amusement guaranteed ;-).

I was walking home with my daughter (after dragging her all the way to JCrew at the Rockefeller Center) and she had fallen asleep in the stroller. I was checking the JCA post (do you also suffer from compulsive cell-phone-checking disorder?) and someone (I think it was Gigiofca) posted a code for 20% off at Talbots. Because I wasn't very far from one of the stores in the city (that I know only because I used to live a few blocks away, and not because I had ever shopped there), I decided to check out the new arrivals, hoping that they would have an item in particular that I had added to my wishlist waiting for a code like this one.
So, I walked in (or I should say, I forcefully pushed my stroller and my sleeping daughter in) and after the first impulse to run away from that private club for old ladies (no offense) I thought that I would look around and even try something on for sizing purposes, in case I would decide to order something from the website later on.
The first impression was that the merchandise looked very spring-y. A lot of yellow, green, white and navy blue. Even the red was a tomato red more suited for spring-summer than fall.
Anyway, because I was there and my daughter was sleeping I grabbed a few things that caught my eye and went to the fitting room.
After trying four or five items my phone rang. It was my husband, finally home after a four-day business trip (he was supposed to arrive later in the evening but he could catch an earlier flight) who was asking where on earth I was. Coming ho-ome!
So while I was trying to free myself from a sheat dress that was way too tight than I could have imagined from seeing it on the hanger, a howl came from the stroller. My daughter was waking up and not in the best mood. The howl become a piercing shriek, a cry of pain that clearly had nothing to do with wake-up grumpiness. For a minute or two I couldn't tell what was happening (she was crying so much that she couldn't speak) and I was afraid that someone would force the door to see if I was torturing her (only a lady from another fitting room said "she must be tired, poor baby". That in my mind of worried and guilty mom translated into "What the hell are you doing in a fitting room with your daughter crying like that?") Then as soon as I put her feet on the floor I understood, but it was too late: like a dike that suddenly breaks, a river of pee started to flow from her underpants, dripping through her legs and leaving a big puddle on the fitting room's carpeted floor.
Let me explain: my daughter NEVER had an accident since she is potty trained and we went to the restrooms while we were at JCrew so I didn't think "potty" at all.
Thanks God I had a change with me (when they are in diapers we always have a diaper with us, but I find it difficult to remember to take extra underpants with me) so I wiped her legs, changed her and she slowly calmed down and went back in the stroller (that was the only place where she could go as I had to take her shoes off, because they were soaked).

Now you would think that I would call someone and explain what it had just happened so that someone could come and cleanup or close the room. And that was my intention, I swear to God. But there was nobody around to tell and when I went back to the selling floor everybody was busy and nobody was looking at me and all of a sudden it felt ackward (plus, I was in a hurry because my husband was waiting home). The only guy around was the security guy but it felt even weirder that I tell the security guy that my daughter had just peed in the fitting room (like I was really guilty for something). So I just walked out the store. A HIT-AND-RUN, that's what it was. I was MORTIFIED but now I understand better what can pass through the mind of a normal guy who finds himself in a situation and sees an easy EXIT (just go for it, it's easy, nobody is looking at you). I can't even imagine what they though of me when they found out. If they found out.

So I am not shopping at that Talbots store anytime soon, out of fear that someone will recognize me as the lady who peed in the fitting room and run away. Plus, for the time being the vibe of the Talbots stores is not for me. This morning I went ahead and placed my first order online.

Enter FB50K at checkout for 20% off new arrivals until tomorrow night (8/7). Free shipping is automatically applied on orders of $100 or more.
I will share my pics in my next post.