Slip Slip

I had a job interview today with an organization that I can only describe as having an "ultra professional" dress code.  Of course I've only heard via rumor that their dress code is ultra professional but I decided not to take a chance during my interview and I dressed as professionally as I could: a skirt instead and trousers and pantyhose instead of going bare-legged.

Side note: while I was waiting in the lobby I saw an employee walk in wearing bright pink tights and worn, brown riding boots, so I'm questioning the rumors that I heard.

Now, pantyhose are not something I normally wear because, well, I hate them.  In fact, I had to go purchase a pair because I didn't own any that were nude colored.

Side note: the way the pantyhose industry defines the color "nude" is not the way I would.  I purchased the palest, non-white, pantyhose I could find but when I put them on I looked like I had only fake-baked my legs.  I hate that.

So, morning of my interview I get dressed, making sure I don't forget my slip because there is nothing less professional than not wearing a slip when one needs to.  I drive all the way downtown.  I park where I'm told to, which was about a block from the office I'd be interviewing at.  I begin walking toward the office building and when I'm about a quarter of a block away I notice that the waist of my slip is closer to my knees than my actual waist.  This is not good.

There aren't a lot of people around so I just step behind a trash can and try to pull the slip's waist up from the outside of my skirt.  This didn't work very well.  People are starting to cross the street and walk toward me.  So I just go for it.  I stick half of my arm (as discreetly as I could) half way down the back of my skirt and just pull the slip up.  But only the back half of my slip is close to wear it needs to be.  Now people are walking right by me giving me awkward smiles, so I give awkward smiles back.  Next, I go ahead and stick half of my arm part way down the front of my skirt (I'm trying to pretend like I'm tucking my shirt in, I doubt I fooled anyone) and pull up the remainder of my slip.

With my slip close to where it should be I proceeded to the office building, one hand holding my folder with my resume and directions and the other hand trying to hold my slip in place without being obvious.  When I got to the front desk I asked the lady where the closest bathroom was, she told me down the hall and down the stairs.  So I went down the hall and down the stairs to find that the ladies room was closed because it was being cleaned.  There was another receptionist/security type person at the bottom of the stairs so I asked him if he knew where the next closest bathroom was.  He wasn't sure and told me my best bet was out in the parking garage and down a ways.

While in the parking garage wondering if that guy really knew what he was talking about I realized that my slip had slipped again.  So I step between two cars and do it all over again.  I think I got it up a little better this time but I really needed a bathroom to make sure everything was ok.  Suddenly I was really grateful I had been to the interview so early.

I never found the bathroom that was supposedly near-ish the parking garage so I went back to where I came from.  There was a lobby there, a large lobby, that had very few people in it.  So I sat down in an overstuffed chair and took a few good minutes to pull my slip up extra high then stood up and re-tucked my shirt.  I think I'm good now.

The interview itself went pretty well, no complaints.  When it was done, the first thing I did was go back to the ladies room and, luckily, I found that it was open again.  I went it, took the slip off (didn't want to have to deal with it out on the side walk again - and my skirt was a pretty thick material with a lining),stuffed it in the bottom of my purse, and headed home.

I wear this slip pretty often, a few times a month at least, and it has never before slipped past my butt and down too close to my knees.  I can only think that it slipped this time because of the pantyhose - the dumb control top pantyhose that hold everything in too well and give everything from just below my boobs to the tips of my toes an un-natural slickness that can only be described as evil.  Next time I feel the need to wear both a slip and pantyhose, I will safety-pin the slip to my skirt.  Lesson learned.