Retro Rerun: De-Wigged

By Jayne Nicole

Picture this. You are out, enjoying the day shopping with friends, and then suddenly find yourself feeling a little light headed. Make that a little breezy on top — err — too breezy. You just had your wig come off! I’ve had that happen to me before, years ago, and luckily no one saw that sneaky tree branch reach out and snare my hair.

But what would you do if you were to find yourself the victim of a crime? Purse snatching is one thing, but wig snatching is, well, an entirely different matter. I mean, if that bald guy really needed the hair that bad he could have just asked. I would have been glad to share the address of the local shop with him (*grin*). Well, such was not the case and luckily (for him) I was not the one victimized. I was at a restaurant with some friends though when that nightmare did happen to one of our group.

We had been out at our favorite club when four of us, Denise, Judy, Tammy, and I, went to the local Ram’s Horn restaurant to have some breakfast. The place was packed and we had to wait for a table. We had been there several times before and had befriended the manager and waitresses, in fact one of the waitresses considered herself “our” waitress. Since it was packed with the after the bar crowd, it took a while for the food to arrive. We contented ourselves with looking at some photos from the “Be All” and commenting on the events of the evening. Just before the food arrived “it” happened. Denise, the victim, can tell you in her own words.

“I saw a young man come out of the restroom and start to come up our aisle. At the last moment I was distracted by a comment Tammy made and turned my head towards her. It was at that moment that this young, foolish man took the opportunity to reach out as he passed our table, snatched my wig off and walked away. I must admit I was stunned and momentarily embarrassed by this brash act. The shift manager confronted the young fool, retrieved my wig, and Jayne got the wig back from the manager. Oh, and the young cretin was removed from the restaurant immediately, I might add.

“All of this took place in full view of about 45 people. Both Jayne and Tammy asked me a few times right after it happened if I wanted to leave, and believe me, I wanted to leave! But I said no. We had come to eat and I was very hungry. Then Jayne and Judy said a few times why not put my wig back on if I wanted to stay. I told them ‘Why should I? Forty five people just saw me placed in a very embarrassing position and are now seeing me for what I am. Why try to recapture the illusion that, just possibly, I am a woman? Let everyone see me as I really am!’ Then I told my friends that what we were going to do was sit there, chat, laugh, eat our meal, and we were all going to act with all the dignity we had inside of us. And that, my dear friends, is exactly what we did. I am proud of who I am and what I am. By remaining at my booth, that Saturday night, and refusing to put my wig back on, I showed everyone that I am a human being who is proud to be who and what she really is and is not afraid to show it. And that we, as crossdressers and transgenderists, have a great deal of dignity.”

Now what did the people in the restaurant think upon seeing a crew cut appear from under a wig? Well, except for a table of silly young men, they were in agreement that the wig snatcher was trying to cause a commotion and create a scene to embarrass us and provoke us.

The ladies in the booth behind me were overheard saying, “Why couldn’t he just leave those people alone as they weren’t hurting anyone or creating a disturbance — just sitting, eating, and talking like the rest of us.”

This was the general feeling of the restaurant. The “scene” was over within a couple of minutes and the whole restaurant went back to normal. There were no weird stares or comments. Our waitress apologized for what happened, along with the manager. We told them that we couldn’t hold them responsible for the actions of an ex-patron and thanked them for their concern. The rest of the night proved uneventful, with just the normal chitchat in the line with others when we left to pay our bill.

This event had taken place a couple weeks after our support group meeting. In that meeting we talked about declaring our independence (it was the July meeting of course) and standing up for what and who we are. What is that? Human beings, people, plain and simple. You may think that the restaurant was in an accepting part of town? Not really. The mix of people were of lower middle class and from all ages and tastes. From country western types to rockers and whatever. We denied the young ruffian what he wanted most, to cause us distress and embarrassment. By denying him that, we were able to turn the tables on him. The expected reaction didn’t happen and he came out on the short end of the stick. Besides, there was the million dollar question, just where would Denise go to put her wig back on, the ladies or the men’s room (*smile*)?

We have decided one thing for sure, next time we go out to eat Tammy and I will sit on the outside of the booth. Now, why did I say at the beginning that it was lucky for him that he didn’t try to take my wig? Probably because a scream and a call to the police would have resulted. The would be wig snatcher probably charged with assault too! You see, Tammy and I don’t wear wigs anymore, and neither of us take too kindly to having our hair pulled!

Tags: crossdressing, featured

Category: Transgender Body & Soul