The Plans I Have For You.

In the world of sports bras, choices come in pairs.

Expensive or cheap?
Individual cup support or shelf style?
Racerback or straps?
Padded or not?

Those choices also tend to band together. There are either expensive sports bras that are padded with adjustable straps and individually support each boob, or there are cheaper sports bras that are more like the top of a very tight tank top. As a college student whose boobs have all but disappeared from losing weight, I usually choose the cheaper ones. Smushing my girls up against my chest wall with a layer of stretchy rayon is really all I need.

I have been working for the past two weeks at Dick's Sporting Goods. Most of this work has been unloading freight trucks, unpacking boxes, getting things where they need to go, organizing, merchandising, signing, pricing. However, we open... today! Good-bye, days of grunt work. I now get to sell shoes!

While the grunt work was going on, we were allowed to wear jeans and a t-shirt. You know, blue collar, manual labor attire. As of Sunday, we were told to switch to our dress code from then on out. Our dress code is athletic apparel. This has become a tad bit expensive, because lazy sweatpants and cotton t-shirts aren't allowed. And "technical fibers" are pricy. But compared to the dress pants and blouses I've had to wear all semester, I can only complain so much.

With said athletic apparel, sports bras are worn.

Duh.

Tell me why, then, in a store where the employees are wearing thin "technical" shirts and sports bras IS THE AIR-CONDITIONING CRANKED UP TO THE LEVEL THAT THEY ARE SPITTING OUT ICE CUBES.

If I had five pairs of expensive, padded bras, this wouldn't be a problem. But I, and many of my fellow female employee co-workers, just have your normal sports bras.

Just because our mannequins are nipping (which, why the HECK?!!) doesn't mean that all of us want perky boobs all day long.

And I'm not exaggerating. I worked a ten-hour shift yesterday. Guess how many of those hours I was uncomfortably cold?

Looks like I can now either buy an expensive technical fiber jacket or an expensive padded sports bra.

I guess that's marketing.