Fun on Cap Metro

So I took the city bus downtown yesterday on my way to a geeky high-tech conference. I am excited at the prospect of taking the bus anywhere and jump at the chance to have it convey me to exotic locales like the Austin Convention Center or the county courthouse for jury duty. I think the bus confirms I am officially a city-dweller. Like the existance of stores in walking distance and the ice cream trucks that drive by my house.

So, I get on the bus and settle into an available seat and about 5 seconds later someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to face an elderly black woman who says:

"You are a man, right?"

I blush a little and grin. "No ma'am, I'm not."

She flusters a little and sputters something like, "I'm so sorry, I really thought you was a fellow... You see, that's why I wanted to talk to you, cuz you looked so good."

She said the word good like a New Orleans native describing an excellent pot of gumbo.

I gave her my most charming grin and replied: "It's ok. Thank you for the compliment."

Funny that something that probably embarrassed this nice lady was a nice boost to my ego.

I used to be mistaken for a man-- well more accurately, a boy- quite often. I don't get it as much anymore but obviously it does still happen. I still get it sometimes when I venture out of metropolitan areas. Rural gas stations and such. When it happens I have a big impulse to allow them to save face. If someone calls me 'sir' I tend to drop my voice an octave and hunch a bit so they don't notice my pretty-obviously-female chest. Usually I am successful, proving that if someone sees something one way and puts it into a space in their heads, it takes a lot of effort to change that picture. I try not to do that to strangers. It's dangerous to shift paradigms without a clutch.