Towanda - and invisible 60-something women

I'm familiar with this feeling of being invisible, when people standing right in front of you don't seem to even see you. I've stood in line and actually had a clerk ask the person behind me if she could help them. At the front of a line, even a short one, you'd think a big full-grown woman like me would be hard to miss. But people seem to do it quite easily. I guess it's sort of like when I lived by Stapleton airport back in the 60s, and got so I could block out the noise of the planes landing and taking off except for those few seconds when they were louder than the television. People just block out 60-year old women.

I'm in the market for flooring and furniture for the little bedroom I'm turning into an office. At R.C. Willey last evening I did have a very nice and helpful salesman try to help me find carpeting.  I did find the right carpet but I wanted a price-saving roll-end for that little room, and when I found the one that matched, it was a couple of inches too short. I could get it from a not-roll-end at regular price, but it was a couple hundred dollars more than I wanted to spend. I said I'd think about it.

Driving home took me directly past Ashley Furniture. I had seen their ads in my Sunday paper and it always appeared they had nice things and decent prices. I stopped in to see what they had. I'm looking for a small desk, or better yet, just a table for my computer and printer, a comfortable plush straight-backed chair rather than an office chair, and then a reading chair and ottoman. I think, with some lamps and accessories, that's all that little room can really handle.
I walked through the store unmolested, though I crossed paths with at least six unoccupied salespersons. Two young giggly girls were more interested in a recently married male co-worker, and were making slight spectacles of themselves laughing loudly and obnoxiously at him.

An older male salesman seemed too tired to help, leaning on a table, he did greet me but did not move nor ask if he could help me find anything. I wondered if these people were paid hourly or commission.

I felt a little like the Kathy Bates character in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe when after waiting patiently for a parking space, she was outmaneuvered by two young chicks in a sports car who then jumped out of the car and said something to the effect of "face it lady, we're younger and faster than you [giggle, giggle]." Whereupon Kathy calmly uttered the name of her alter-ego Towanda and began repeatedly ramming the sports car with her own vehicle, and then rolled down the window and said to the stunned girls, "Face it girls, I'm older and have more insurance!"

Okay, I didn't feel as violent as that, but I did think to myself, too bad girls, I have money and I'm willing to spend it. But it'll have to be somewhere else. I did find a couple of possibilities in the store, but somehow I just didn't think it was worth it.

I think it's time for a trip to IKEA.