Right, this pink golf shirt thing. Never thought I’d own one, honestly. Pink? For golf? Seemed a bit much. But the wife, she saw it on sale, grabbed it. Said I needed to “brighten up my wardrobe”. Felt more like I was being forced into looking like a flamingo.
So it sat there. In the closet. For weeks. Maybe months? I just kept picking my usual navy or grey shirts. Much safer. Every time I saw that pink one hanging there, I just kinda… ignored it. Pretended it wasn’t mine.
First Time Wearing It
Then came the company picnic. Casual affair, but you know, gotta look somewhat presentable. All my usual safe choices were in the laundry pile. Seriously, every single one. It was either wear a wrinkled mess or… the pink one. Great.
Pulled it on. Felt weird. Looked in the mirror. Felt even weirder. It wasn’t offensively bright, more like a dusty rose kind of pink, but still. Pink. On me. A grown man. Headed out feeling like I had a target on my back.
Got to the picnic. Expected some jokes, maybe a few laughs. And yeah, got a couple of “Nice shirt, Bob!” comments, you know the type, dripping with sarcasm. But then something else happened. The boss’s wife, really nice lady, came over. Said she loved the colour, asked where I got it. We ended up chatting for like, ten minutes about random stuff. Never really spoken to her much before.
Then one of the guys from accounting, usually super quiet, mentioned he had a similar shirt, wore it golfing all the time. Led to a whole conversation about terrible golf shots. It was actually… fine? Nobody pointed and laughed hysterically. The world didn’t end.
- Felt self-conscious at first.
- Got some expected sarcastic remarks.
- Also got some genuine compliments.
- Led to unexpected conversations.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m suddenly going to buy a dozen more pink shirts. Navy blue is still my comfort zone. But that day was kinda interesting. People see you a bit differently maybe? Or maybe it’s just a shirt, and I was overthinking it massively. Probably the second one.
Still feels a bit strange putting it on, but I don’t dread it now. Wore it a few times since. It’s just another shirt in the rotation. Funny how you build something up in your head, though. All that fuss over a bit of colour. Point is, tried it, didn’t die, life goes on. It’s still just a shirt.