Child #3 has one borrowed suit, some dress shirts, one pair of black dress shoes, one pair of dress socks, a few white undershirts, and a semi-eclectic collection of ties. He also owns one very dark navy suit coat for lacrosse travel season, a coat my friend Sal and I picked up at the Wilmington, MA, Salvation Army store after work one day (the time we hunted down the random teenager who was my son's exact build and begged him to try on the blazer before I spent a whopping $5 on it).
In short ... we are screwed.
We spend Sunday, a gorgeous weather day, inside the mall and the local department stores, in search of items to bulk up his wardrobe for a temp job that will pay him less than it will cost me to outfit the kiddo. We start at the Salem, NH, Salvation Army in hopes of snagging another great suit coat buy. The place is closed, though.
Monday arrives, and the boy decks himself out in the best damn business professional look he can muster -- borrowed designer black suit,teal dress shirt, black tie, and black dress shoes. He looks like a zillion bucks.
He fights traffic and construction, taking over an hour to drive what the map claims is thirty minutes (but we know is closer to forty-five). When he arrives, he is half-relieved and half-mortified to discover the dress code is actually business casual. Better to be overdressed for a new job than underdressed ... unless, of course, you've been hired as a swimsuit model, but I digress.
This morning he still goes for the dress shirt and professional look. Even though his immediate supervisor kiddingly chides him "no tie," it's hard to go from making a smashing impression one day to being the King of Polos the next.
The good news: I don't have to invest in a new suit for the boy ... yet.
The bad news: He's going to need a few more "business casual" looks. Cha-ching, cha-ching! ;)
