Men in the women's dressing room?

[Diana in OR]

Today I was trying on clothes at Sears. Inside the fitting room area They have several changing rooms and a smallish, open common area with a chair and a rack to hang clothes you don't want. There is no attendant. The first time I went in,when I was already trying things on, I heard a man and woman's voices. The man was sitting in the chair, and the woman was trying on clothes. (This through a door, INSIDE the fitting room area.)

I'm glad I hadn't walked out in something skimpy or whatever.

 

The couple was speaking German and obviously European, so I thought it was just a cultural difference. No biggie.

 

The second time I went in to try something on, there was a couple in there that were in maybe their early 60s. She was trying on clothes and coming out to show him.

 

I have never seen men in a women's dressing room before. Ever. Is this a new thing, or something I just happened to miss along the way? Btw, I've been shopping at this particular store for 20 or so years.

[Tammy]

because no one is ever in there and the women's is full!

[j.griff]

It's not new to me. I've seen men sitting in the dressing room "area" in the chairs provided, holding their wifes goods, while she tries on clothes. :)

And I don't expect the area outside the actual dressing rooms to be private, that's what the doors/curtains for the dressing rooms are for- so *I* wouldn't ever walk out in something "skimpy".

[Kay in Cal]

So many places have generic unisex dressing rooms nowadays (like Target) or the rooms just open onto the store itself (as in many smaller clothing stores). Doesn't bother me... I assume that area is for people to assess what you are wearing after you have changed. The voting area, so to speak!

[abbeyej]

Most of the places where I shop don't have separate men's and women's dressing rooms anyway. The only place where I assume privacy is in my own "stall". It wouldn't bother me to have a husband waiting outside while his wife tried clothes on. (Though I'd be disturbed if there was a man alone "hanging out" there in the dressing room -- that doesn't seem to be what you described at all though.)