Well, it finally happened. My worst nightmare. As I have proudly proclaimed for a while. I'm quite confident in being out and about in my neighborhood and around town.

Tuesday, week before last, I was sent to get birdseed (and some other things) at Bi-mart after work. This time, I opted to stop by the house and change into appropriate clothing and not appear there in my overly masculine work uniform.

So, it was a nice day, and I parked near the outside bin where they keep the birdseed, picked up a 20# bag and proceeded to the entrance. As I approached, there was a man standing near it, looking at some plants they had on display outside. I really didn't pay too much attention until he said, "Hi Pat, how's it going." I looked up, keeping my expression neutral and walked right on in the store.

I recognized him as being one of the people whom I deal with almost daily at the customer for the warehouse I work out of. It's a dedicated warehouse. We only serve one customer.

Well I really didn't know what to do. He'd seen me and called me by name. He obviously recognized me. While I was in the store, he got another good look at me, but didn't say anything.

After some thought, I just determined that I'd tough it out and act as if nothing was out of the ordinary when I next saw him. If he mentioned it to anyone, I'd just 'fess up and admit to being trans. If he chose to say something to me, I'd say that I didn't think it was something I should talk about at work and offer to meet him for coffee after hours and answer all questions.

All that week, I didn't have occasion to deal directly with him, but finally on Thursday last, he was on the dock as I made a pickup and talked to me just as if nothing was unusual. I've seen him to at least say "Hi," three or four times and it's been business as usual.

I'm gonna let sleeping dogs lie.