The other day I found a shirt I liked in Banana Republic.  But it was a little tight around my chest, and I wondered if it looked a bit off for my usual style of dress.  I thought it might make me look as though I belonged to a certain subculture.

There’s nothing wrong with gay men wearing tight shirts that make their arms stick out like hamhocks.  It’s just not my personal aesthetic.

So I asked a nearby salesman if he thought the shirt was too small.  He said, with a prounounced lisp, “The size is fine, but you should wear a slightly darker color.”

And I suddenly amused myself by realizing what I had tried to do.  I mean, this was Banana Republic.  Staffed by the people who normally work at Banana Republic.  They’re all about the tight shirt aesthetic.

But I decided that I was being silly and that his personal orientation wasn’t skewing his advice, especially since he was dead-on about the darker color. So I bought the shirt, and I’m glad I did because I like it.

The moral: You can ask any question you want in Banana Republic, but don’t expect a straight answer.