The other morning, a woman in her mid-sixties by my guess was a few steps ahead of me at the entrance to Wal-Mart. She was dressed very nicely, in white capris and fancy sandals with leather straps and giant glittery rhinestones. Obviously, this lady had invested time in her appearance: her hair was perfectly sculpted, her makeup was immaculate, and she was well-smattered with jewelry.

As I strode closer to this very well-dressed woman, however, I noticed something unusual about her blouse. She wore an embroidered teal cotton blouse, perfectly ironed, which fit her very nicely, but it had something strange going on at her waist. I admit I was intrigued. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that she had a number of flaps of fabric running vertically around her midsection. It was a style I’d never seen before, and while I wouldn’t declare it particularly flattering, it was an interesting feature.

Then I saw the tag at the back of her neck; the blouse was inside out! What I thought were design elements were the inside portions of the darts that made her top fit nicely at the waist. Here’s where I ran into a dilemma, though. I wondered whether I should quietly tell her that she’d made a boo-boo in getting dressed that morning, or allow her to continue her Wal-Marting as she was, seams be damned. If she’d been dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, and clearly not too concerned about her outward appearance, I wouldn’t have worried about saying anything. This lady, however, clearly spent time getting ready for the big world that morning, and I really wanted to tell her that she missed a step. I pictured her being embarrassed when she finally realized her error at some point later in the day.

In the end, I kept my mouth shut. I felt guilty about not saying anything, but I let the moment pass too quickly to do something about it. I wonder, though, if that otherwise immaculate lady would have wanted to know about her inside out blouse. For the record, I would want someone to tell me if my seams were showing.

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