Adventures of a shopgirl: What a little moonlight can do...

I was helping a customer at work the other day. Okay, okay, I wasn’t exactly helping, I was offering unsolicited opinions and advice. And to make it even worse, I was doing it based on the image I saw in the security mirror. You see, I was offering opinions because I didn’t want him to feel ignored (men are often lonely shopping on the men’s side) and I was doing it based on the security mirror because I didn’t want to be hovering (I hate it when shopkeepers hover over me. Plus it was a very warm day, and I have to admit I was too lazy to walk over to the men’s side in the heat). So what he heard was this voice, floating over from the women’s side saying, “I like the light shirt better” and “maybe you should try a smaller size.”

He was good natured about it. He’s a semi-regular and seems to find me amusing, if a bit odd. Like when I walked over to the men’s side, realized that his dressing room door was open, caught sight of him shirtless, and said, “Oops! Naked!” and walked back to the women’s side (Men seem to like undressing out in the open, especially in front of the mirror where their bare bodies can be reflected all over the store).

Okay, hold on, I’m getting to the good part.

He brings his shirt to the counter (the light one that I liked better) and starts talking about what he can wear with it: linen pants, khakis, soft brown leather shoes. He’s really getting into it and getting this far off look in his eyes. Then he looks and me and says, “Yup, this shirt has romance written all over it.”

And I am charmed, completely charmed. My fingers stumble a bit over the register keys. Romance? How many people think about romance anymore? Sex, sure. But romance? We talk about who’s hot (or when I was younger, who was babe). We talk about the hunt (the capture is not so exciting). We know our way around Good Vibrations and watch “Sex and the City.” We rarely give compliments that produce a surge of giddiness in the recipient. I can’t remember the last time I’ve given or received “just because” flowers. Romance for us requires planning. It is not part of our everyday lives.

There was a time when you had to romance a person to advance the relationship. Now you just have to really get along. And while there’s a lot to be said for getting along, I think we’ve missed out. So take your honey out a little moonlight walk after dinner. Or tuck a little note into their pocket. Give them a compliment that’ll make them look at you and cock their head to one side. Amazing what a little moonlight can do…