Kilted Life - Day One

[KiltedManxman]

My SW casual in Wallace arrived Saturday. Although I bought this one for just knocking about the house and such, I decided to take it for a test drive on Sunday. I have two other kilts on thier way here, but this is my first. What follows is an account of my first kilted day.

My wife and I made our first stop at a local Christian Bookstore. Not even a raised eyebrow from the two clerks and three cusotmers there. Next stop - Walmart.. on a Sunday afternoon. Plenty of folks on hand there. It seemed that the older folks and the younger kids were the ones who had any noticeable reaction. Some of the seniors looked disgusted and horrified, while the young folks had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of befuddled shock. What a hoot! Messed with their paradigms, to be sure.

Then over to Costco, where few paid much attention. A couple of quiet "Check this guy out" comments exchanged between spouses were overheard, but pretty much a non-event. The couple behind us in the check-out line whispered something to each other and the woman found everything in the store to look at, besides me, while her husband was discreetly checking out the kilt. When I made eye contact with him he smiled and nodded politely with a sort of, "Man, you got more guts than I do" look.

Next stop, the health food store. I needed to return an item here while my wife shopped a bit. The girl at the checkout counter did her best not to look my way and was trying to contain her laughter. I snuck up from behind her and stepped directly in front of the counter and said "Hi, I need to return this". You should have seen her jerk in startled amazement. I was completely matter-of-fact and relaxed while she was trying to gain her composure and handle the situation. It seemed a struggle for her as she quickly said "That's fine" as if to dismiss me. When I didn't move, she fumbled for a returned merchandise form for me to fill out, and now I was trying to contain MY laughter. I said, "Can I just finish my shopping and have you deduct it from the bill?". "Yeah, OK. Go ahead" she said. I could see she just wanted the kilt-kooties to leave her immediate presence.

Then we went to the grocery store where three teenagers were leaning against the wall just outside the front door. The distinct smell of weed met me as I came close to the store's entrance. One young man said "Rock on, man! " I smiled and and said "Howzit?" as we entered the store. His eyes were glazed and bloodshot and a smile from a pierced lip made my heart bleed with concern and compassion for him. A couple of folks in the market looked rather puzzled or indignant, but nobody said a word to me. The rest of the shopping outing was farily uneventful.

My wife likes the look of the kilt on me and is in total support of me wearing it in many public situations. She asked me how I was doing with all of it as we drove home. I told her "I think all those men we saw today wished they were me and all the women wished they were you". She smiled and said she was pleased that I felt so confident.

What a trip. I'm not sure what kind of social commentary can be made from all of this yet. But it was interesting to see the varied expressions and reactions to a man wearing a man's garment that is unusual to this culture. For the folks who had a less than positive reaction to my kilt wearing, the very thought is obviously beyond what can comfortably fit into their tiny little box of a world. It must be stifling and oh-so-boring in there. I enjoyed some amusement at their expense, yet I pity those who who would let such a trivial thing rattle them or upset their delicate little psyches. This is not to say that I didn't have moments of being self-conscious or fearful. But I think that others were by far more uncomfortable with it than I was. My wife agrees, as she said that it was obvious that others had more of a problem with it than I did.

I didn't decide to wear the kilt as a social experiment - only for my own enjoyment. Little did I realize that the testing of my self-confidence would reveal the insecurities in others. While somewhat amusing, it is also sad to see others in such bondage.

Kilt on, my brothers! The world needs to see the conspicuous display of your steady courage and quiet confidence.

Kevin
---------------------
The kilt is not just a garment, it's an adventure!

[Southern Breeze]

Welcome to life outside the box.Heres to many more kilted days.

[Graham]

Thanks for sharing that, you are finding what many of us here also find every day, the excitement of stepping out kilted, seeing the reactions of others, challenging the status quo and the long held and often stuffy opinions of others, just like a Friend of mine did 2000 years ago!

Life is great in a kilt!

[Archangel]

Thanks for sharing that, you are finding what many of us here also find every day, the excitement of stepping out kilted, seeing the reactions of others, challenging the status quo and the long held and often stuffy opinions of others, just like a Friend of mine did 2000 years ago!

Life is great in a kilt!

punctuation: no real record of Friend in kilt, record of iconoclast Friend is sound.

People's reactions are so good, and also destroys my stereotypes. The people that say things are not usually the people you would expect to.

[GMan]

Kevin,

Rock on man! What great story, and so true on your observation of others insecurity.

[Sindarius]

Kevin,

That's the spirit lad. Congratulations on your first kilted outing. It just gets easier from here. Aye it's true that the reactions of others to a man in a kilt can be quite revealing of thier mindset. I've often thought that there's a sociology paper to be written relating to others reactions to kilts. Maybe a government grant for a five, no, ... ten year study is in order :-D .

Welcome to Xmarks,

[Sherry]

... Next stop - Walmart.. on a Sunday afternoon. Plenty of folks on hand there. It seemed that the older folks and the younger kids were the ones who had any noticeable reaction. Some of the seniors looked disgusted and horrified, while the young folks had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of befuddled shock. What a hoot! Messed with their paradigms, to be sure.
...

Just before heading out to the Texas Scottish Festival on the 3rd day, my family made a stop at Sam's. My son was sent on a separate mission to purchase some supplies, & he received a positive & knowledgeable reaction from the lady at the checkout, who admired his kilt & wanted to know about the tartan. As he was leaving, he heard the older man who had been behind him in line remark, "What was that?" The checkout lady informed him about the kilt. The older man's attitude was a long the lines of "what's becoming of today's young people?" It was nice that the lady was able to inform the man that it was a celebration of heritage, not some freak fad.

It's a good thing that you're never too old to learn!

Sherry

[Owl of Oban]

Right on Kevin, and congratulations on Day One!

I found that my ease in a kilt grew considerably after an afternoon in the Glasgow business district seeing gents of all shapes, sizes and ages wearing the kilt as proper business attire. Now when I wear the kilt 'out', I'm simply doing what the Glaswegians do every single day, and honestly couldn't care less what 'WalMartians' think of me. :-D

[Freelander Sporrano]

Kevin, Thanks for sharing .
Your story is so typical of many here at X and just goes to show that being kilted isn't so bad. It's more of a prblem for other non-kilted to grapple with

[bubba]

WalMart ain't so bad. My wife gets her decongestans there all the time. One of the regular greeters knows me by name and so do some of the checkers and customer service people. A kilt wearer is memorable. ;)