The Bra Lady

Nov 20, 2009

I've been working in the lingerie department at JC Penney for 2 months and am now a certified bra fitter.  Bra fitting is not a job for the squeamish.  Our store manager hired me (age 56) and my opposite number, Faye (age 76) because the college-girl associates don't like to do bra fittings (for once, my age is an advantage).  Faye and I were in the same training class but rarely work together, since we work opposite shifts.  She is a little doll, wonderful at chatting with the customers (95% of whom she knows already, or she knows their sister, pastor, grandchild, neighbor, dentist, etc.), but not too swift in other respects.  I do like Faye and mean no disrespect to her when I tell this story. 

Faye and I worked together one Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago.  Every bra customer Faye waited on, no matter what kind of bra she asked for (or needed), was ushered right over to the Playtex 18-Hour bras.  Both Faye and I had heard numerous times during our bra fit training that we must consider both the customers needs and wants when recommending bras, so I was puzzled that a 20-year-old size 36B babe looking for a colorful push-up underwire bra would be shown a white wire-free plain-Jane granny bra.  Turns out that Faye wears the Playtex 18-hour bra and thinks everyone should. 

I told my hairdresser/aerobics instructor, Monica, about Faye's Playtex 18-Hour bra obsession (I also told one of our JCP supervisors) and then forgot about it until this morning at aerobics class, when Monica (who is 35) reported that yesterday she shopped for a bra at JCP and was waited on by Faye.  Monica picked out a red bra with black lace trim (as she put it, "the sluttiest bra in the store"), tried it on, decided it was perfect, and since we're having a buy one bra, get a second bra at 50% off promo, she asked Faye, "Do you have anything else like this one?"

It's an Ambrielle Mystique Extreme Push-Up Underwire Bra.  If it were made in my size, I'd buy it just to see the expression on my husband's face (he'd probably have a heart attack, but he'd die happy).  It's a "luxury" bra, JCP's answer to Victoria's Secret.  Not terribly practical, but you're only going to be wearing it for the 2 minutes it takes your guy to
tear it off you.

And what bra did Faye show to Monica?
This one:
This is the good old Playtex 18-Hour bra.  Practical, durable, comfortable.  Monica did not buy one, and Faye's probably still wondering why.

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