While I generally try to avoid negative information, I confess, I am a big fan of the web site EtiquetteHell.com. The stories of wedding, business and everyday etiquette faux pas submitted by the Etiquette Hell regulars are sometimes quite horrendous and sometimes just plain hilarious but always educational - it's my best source of "what not to do".

One of the resent "bad retailer" stories addresses a sadly wide-spread trend in the clothing and shoe industry - lack of good service, product variety for and general acceptance of people who were apparently made outside of some "perfect human" template, of which we are all supposed to be aware before going clothes-shopping. A tall, curvaceous bride and her friend go to a bridal botique and are told by a sales associate and store manager that the store is upscale and, thus, does not serve "fat brides". They get similar responses at other boutiques until the bride finally decides to just go and have all the dresses for the wedding made by a good seamstress. Perhaps the scale of the bridal boutique associates' discourtesy was exaggerated, however that particular story did receive 7 pages of responses on Etiquette Hell forum.

Another story - in the same groove - is told by a tall woman who has large feet. That is, her feet a proportionate to her size, but on a general scale they are fairly large - size 11. When she goes to an upscale department store to look for shoes, she is told that the store doesn't carry large sizes because it's upscale. Apparently, if you have larger feet, you automatically become a country bumpkin.

My heart goes out to the larger folks despite the fact that I myself am a smallish person. Why? Because, while at the other end of the spectrum, I too apparently do not fit into that "perfect person" template created by... somebody. I wear size 5 - 5.5 shoes - can't find them anywhere for a reasonable price (sadly, Nordstrom, despite it's great selection of smaller shoes is outside of my "reasonable price" range at the moment). I was actually giggled at by shoe sales associates and was jokingly advised to go look in the children's section. It's cute the first 2-3 times and is not outright insulting, but does get old eventually. I have the same situation with clothes, because I am short. Prior to my first marriage, my income has been questioned by - yes - bridal boutique salespeople because I look youthful (What business is it of anyone, how much I earn, until I actually decide to

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