Oh man, they're sooo dirty, ugly, really beat-up slip-on sandals that I wear to dig holes & water plants, repot plants, while camping and at the beach, anything that might get "good" shoes dirty. The stitching holding the tip of the right shoe is all gone, so it looks like a clown shoe sticking way out past my toes. I don't deal with the public, but I might have to run across the street to the courthouse for something. I should have realized I was too comfortable when I got in my car. Oops! Luckily I'm only here until noon.

Where have you accidentally gone with your fugly old yard/garden shoes on?

I have gone to work with different color socks. I have fuzzy ones that I wear with my clogs.

I am not a morning person so I have done some strange things getting to work in the morning. I was so bad I finally kept an entire work outfit in the car and one in my office. I was sitting at my desk one morning and noticed I had my jacket on the wrong side.

I go to the gym first thing in the morning, come home and change shoes to go out and check on the chickens and plants, then come back in to make breakfast before jumping in the shower and heading to work. There are just too many wardrobe changes required in that process for it all to go right every day.

Today for instance I'm wearing flip flops at my desk because I forgot to lay out socks last night and didn't want to wake up the wife and kids before leaving the house. I could have worn my old crocs, but they're nearly slick on the bottom now. Luckily I am far removed from customers and coworkers, sitting in a cubical in the back corner of a data center with a half dozen other nerds.

When my son was a "guest of the state" I always set off the metal detector no matter what I wore One visit I told the officer it was probably goat poop on my shoes as I had forgotten that the last time they were worn was seeing a friend's new babies Boy did I ever get a look

these are all so funny and identifiable. My contribution is wearing mismatched shoes, but many times mismatched socks. I was a junior high teacher for MANY years and I was known for wearing interesting socks. My kids liked to see them especially around any holiday. Sooooo, they would really notice when I inadvertently would mix one holiday sock with another or wear a cat sock with a plain one. have to admit I may have done the sock thing on purpose a few times but not on conference days!

Thanks for the chuckles!! Glad I'm not the only one!! My boss thought it was pretty funny too. :+)

I have found myself in PUBLIC wearing my gardening shoes, which I would never admit were mine. I used to belong to a card club,we met at members houses. One time while preparing to leave I realized I had worn my old shoes! They contrasted sharply with all of the others at the door! LOL they all know I love to garden.

Guilty here as well. In fact i've worn my dirty yard shoes so much in public, I am no longer embarrassed!

But to work, i have worn two different black shoes. Similar but very different. And I DO work as a frontline public employee. Again, I've messed up so much. I'm no longer an embarrassment to myself, at least.

Because I worked from home, that was never a problem, however, I once got dressed hurredly and was out in public when I tried to put my hands in my pants pockets and realized I had my pants on backwards! Obviously they weren't tight ones and I had a long shirt on!

Ok. Here is mine..but I still don't like to think about it.

Winter.
In a big hurry ...had to get the kid from school ( this was a long time ago )
Long enough ago that microfleece was a "new" new thing...a miracle fabric... Not an excuse for what I am about to tell you...just some background info....

A zillion things happening that day and before I had to pick up the kid, I needed to run into the grocery store.

I had a load of wash in the washer and a load almost dried in the dryer.
I quick got dressed... Acomedmy hair, smeard on some lipstick, tossed on my winter coat, hunted down my gloves, grabbed my scarf from the dryer and out the door I flew.

I went to the new Harris Teeter....back then it was a new style supermarket...beautiful produce..little niche areas with specialty things..state of the art butcher, beautiful bakery, and even a floral department -- common now but not then. It was high priced too.....lots,of wealthy shoppers all decked out like they were going to a wedding....but it was near the school. The ENTIRE TIME I shopped people stared.. They stared and smiled...did they know I was a newbie?? Was there some sort of sign saying " she doesn't belong in this famcy market" ???Even the people behind me in checkout seemed to be looking..and smiling. Maybe they were just friendly...or too much Prozac ( "the boutique drug" back then) ..... Well, I pick up the kid, go to the dry cleaners .. head home.... As I come in....loaded with grocery bags ..I pass the hall mirror...a BIG mirror.......ah hell!! There plastered across my back flat and wide open ..(straight from the dryer a hitched aride on that microfiber scarf no doubt) a PAIR OF BLOOMERS...THE BIIG BLOOMERS...THE GRANNY COTTON ONES...THE ONES YOU DON'T EVER WANT ANYBODY TO SEE NOT EVEN THE HUBBY .....THE COMFY ONES!!! YOU know the ones.... I paraded up and down the aisles of that damn supermarket with bloomers stuck to the back of my coat.

OMG too funny! Did you ever go back to that store?

NOT for a long time.

But that wasn't hard...we got a lot of supermarkets about that time and they all got the nice little specialty stands.

Why THOSE bloomers??

Why didn't someone tell me??

Rosie, that is hilariously embarrassing. and just like something that I would do.

If I wore my garden clothes into town, people would think I was homeless and probably start handing me money
I'm too old now to look like an orphan

My neighbor had been working in her yard side by side along with me as we both worked in our front yards. We had been chatting all day when suddenly her cat appeared. He had been in a fight. Bloodied and hurt, she grabbed him up and rushed to the vet. The cat wsd ok. But when she went to pay for services, the amount was amazingly low! She didn't question it, glad to get a deal on her vet bill. We both concluded that in her garden clothes, dirt under her fingernails, hair uncombed, the vet felt sorry for her and cut her (and the cat) a good deal! I think the next time I go to a vet, I will try the same trick!

Rosie, I can't stop laughing

I'm sure you were mortified then.....if it were me and it happened years later, I would probably just think " yes, I wore an extra pair of bloomers to the store"...so what?!

For all the AZ folks, can you imagine that happening at AJ's?

More than mortified...I was so aggravated...the mem...OK ..Silence I can understand...
But WOMEN???

@MISSINGROSIE I can understand men, but I can't understand women either. Surely you wouldn't have gone out in public deliberately to call that kind of attention to yourself.
@ShadyGreenThumb Reminds me of a story about Uncle Frank. He and my aunt were well off, but being a real tight wad, he wouldn't throw anything away -- shirts got patched, etc. One day he went to the Farmers market in his work clothes (bib overhauls, patched shirt). He looked over all of the watermelons and picked one and paid for it. As he was walking away, the man he had bought it from hailed him down and brought him another watermelon! Uncle Frank could probably bought ALL of the man's watermelons, plus more!

Heck no! Not THOSE bloomers anyway!

Rosie!! too funny but those women should be ashamed!!
I'm gonna be laughing about this awhile

@frillylily and shadygreenthumb, maybe that is how we can all pay for our plants in the future

great stories! Why people do or do not say anything, I do not know. I would certainly say something. Do unto others kind of thing. One of my first plant jobs I was working for a plant wholesaler merchandising plants for large box stores. On a very hot morning I was putting out hundreds of Asiatic lilies in several different stores. I was so hot and dehydrated I did not see until that afternoon in a bathroom mirror that I had what looked like mustard smeared from ear to ear from the pollen in a messed up joker like grin that afternoon .I must have seen hundreds of people. Nobody said anything