I see this all the time. It’s usually high-school and college-aged women who do it, but I’ve seen a fair share of similarly-aged men do it, too. I generally see it more in groceries, though near colleges, you’ll see it at some restaurants, too.
While it doesn’t particularly offend me as long as it’s not happening at a nicer place, I do get a little judgy when I see it, whether it’s a young man or woman. You don’t have to shower and do full makeup every single time you go out the door, but putting on a normal pair of pants, even ones you wore the day before, takes all of 30 seconds.
I should mention that it was firmly pounded into me that ladies did not even get the mail without mascara, so I could be a tad biased. And lest anyone give a rat’s ass, I’m 34.
I find this news story and the subsequent message board discussions slightly reassuring, because it means that perhaps I am not, after all, the biggest slob in the world. Like jjiimm I do not actually own any pyjamas, but I have on a couple of occasions visited the local Kwik-E-Mart in “trackie bottoms” (jogging pants) and slippers, and possibly the same T-shirt that I slept in, which amounts to the same thing. I did feel faintly ashamed of myself while doing so, though.
I was working at the mall yesterday, so I did an unofficial trend analysis. Of the people most likely to wear pajama bottoms, the vast majority were teenage girls. In fact, I can’t think of anyone wearing pajama bottoms who weren’t teenage girls.
The more mature people who wear them in public tend to be people walking dogs late at night or early in the morning, before anyone really cares.
I myself will leave the house in them, but only if I’m only going to drop the sprog off at school. If I have to get out of the car, then no, I won’t wear them; I’ll change into clothes.
I just … i just don’t get it… i guess its a sign that i’m gettin older but I just think it looks horrible. My daughter has only been allowed this when they’ve had their wear your pj’s to school day in elementary… I’ve seen it where I part time… i just think its ridiculous…
Seattleite checking in. I work in a grocery store and I get TONS of people every day that don’t bother to get dressed. It is sloppy and looks awful. There is a man who I have literally NEVER seen wear clothes, he is probably around 50 and always has a button up pajama top with different designs and non-matching pajama bottoms over boots. He has greasy looking hair and does not smell good, and is a total antisocial jerk (Anti-social and doesn’t follow the basic social norm of DRESSING himself to go out in public, coincidence? I think not.)
We went out to a medium-crowded mall this afternoon, and I did see a woman wearing white and black checked flannel pants. She was a middle-aged woman - I felt like asking her what she was thinking, out in a mall in pajama pants.
Since I’m no longer an expert on what teenaged girls wear to bed, I find myself unable to tell the difference between jammie bottoms, sweats, track pants, yoga pants, and a dozen other styles of soft, loose, material. I see this on a regular basis with teenagers (always girls), and every now and then with older women. It’s very rare with men.
I don’t typically care what other people wear, but I would certainly never consider going out dressed that way. I will, however, go out to feed the horses in the morning wearing slippers and a bathrobe.
As for what I’d consider “women’s nightwear” (nightgowns and such), that’s rare. I’ve actually seen women picking someone up at the airport a couple of times wearing bathrobes and slippers. I regularly see women wearing blouses that look like lingerie to me, but I think that’s a completely different phenomenon than what the OP’s talking about.
You consider a town big enough for a university and a Wal-Mart to be “tiny, tiny”??? Wow.
For me to call a town “tiny” it would have to be three-digit population. “Tiny-tiny” would mean double-digit. I live in a “small” town (pop. 2,300).
Back in the early 80s I worked at Red Roof Inn and we were one of the first chains to have “Breakfast,” which was just coffee, juice and donut holes and newspapers in the lobby. You’d be surprised at the number of people that showed up in the pajamas. And even more odd was the fact that Red Roof Inns (at the time at least) were all outside entrances. So you had to walk outside to get the coffee and donuts
The only time I’ve ever set foot outside the house in my jammies is to put a bag of rubbish in the bin, and even then I check the street to make sure nobody’s going to see me! I do have days when I will wear my jammies all day in the house - it’s usually Sunday, nobody’s coming over and I have no plans to go out anywhere so I can have a day lounging around without having to get dressed. Feels very decadent to do so, and thats’ what makes it so good.
If I am going to the corner shop, I always make sure I’m dressed properly. I was brought up like that, you just didn’t go outside unless you were wearing decent clothes.
I’ve never seen anyone in the supermarket in jammies either, but my nearest big supermarket is not within walking distance from home.
The town had about 2,000 people in it when you included the student population. Without the student population there were probably about 500 permanent residents. I consider a town so small it didn’t have a sit down restaurant or grocery store a tiny, tiny town. The Wal-Mart, university, and city hall were the only buildings outside of a McDonald’s and a video store that refused to rent to students. It was mostly farming around the school and that was it. It has been 6 years since I graduated so I’m sure it has grown since I left but it still isn’t a large town by any stretch of the imagination. At the time I didn’t see a need to put on anything other than clean jammies, especially since pretty much everyone else there was a student and wandering around in jammies as well.
Count me in as one of those who doesn’t wear pajama pants out for anything. Well, I’ll wear them to drag the garbage can around to the front on garbage night, but that is IT.
For a college town (Albany) I don’t see it that often. I just came in here to say after I saw this thread, yesterday I saw two young ladies (mid twenties) in the grocery store wearing not just pajama pants but flannel pajama pants with cute little designs on them. They looked even more like they belonged in bed. Stupid.
I used to work in a shopping centre in a run down, horrible estate, and a lot of people would wear their pajamas to shop in. Men, women, the young the old… Nobody batted an eyelid.
In fact, I’ve seen a few wear their slippers aswell (mainly older ladies).
However, when i started working in a more “well-to-do” area, I never witnessed people shopping in their pajamas or slippers.
I don’t even stick my head out the door of my condo unit to go to the garbage chute or the mail room without at least throwing a shirt and some jeans on. But I’ve seen quite a few uni students and high schoolers running around in pjs, plus the odd late nighter at the grocery store. I live in the PNW.
I think I went out in pajamas in public this morning! Oh no…now I might have to change my stance on it. Or at the very least recognize that what I did was very, very tacky, and it was, and I feel awful about it (and not a little bit embarrassed).
I didn’t mean to though, and my pajamas today are technically sweat pants that have never been used as anything except pajamas by me. But it was sort of an emergency, and I didn’t plan to get out of the car…
My husband had to go to his office just to drop something off, but while he was there he found out that one of his employees had called in sick and there was no one to cover his (24 hour) shift, so being the supervisor, it fell to my husband to cover the shift. He called home for a uniform and food to be delivered to him (he works in a rural county with a lack of restaurants, so providing and cooking one’s own food at the station becomes important). I was still in my pajamas, having nothing to do today so no reason to dress at all, and in a hurry, so I just grabbed what was needed and drove to his office (in this county) expecting him to come to the car, get his things and then I could scurry on home. BUT he got called out before I got there meaning that I had to walk into his office, where a bunch of people saw me. :o To make matters even worse, on the way back I noticed that my gas gauge was on E, so I had to stop and get gas too…all still in my jammies. :o But I paid at the pump, pumped only the amount I needed and hurried back into the car before (I hope) any of my acquaintances might have noticed.
This experience has taught me a valuable lesson though, and I should get dressed even when I don’t plan to leave the house just in case…
re: I did that once and broke down. I was mortified and the AAA man thought it was very funny.:eek: Never again! I do bring my trash and recycle bins out in my jammies but it is a quiet street. No pervs or thugs.
I think the whole pajama’s in public thing is related to rap. I would never go shopping in PJ’s but young people do it all the time. Slippers belong at home.
No, not rap. Rap music places a tremendous amount of focus on lots of bling and name brand clothes. PJ’s in public is simply something done by youngsters who don’t have a lot to lose by being sloppy in public as long as they are comfortable. I wouldn’t go out like that today but as a teenager with no one to impress it didn’t matter a whit. I’m sure those kids in their pyjamas will be happy to stay off your lawn though so it shouldn’t be a problem.
On Sunday, at Wal-Mart, I saw someone in pyjama bottoms. I was actually keeping an eye out for anyone who resembled someone who might appear on “People of Wal-Mart”. Other than the pyjama-person, the woman ahead of us in the checkout line, who was over 40 and certainly should have known better, wore a sweat shirt that said
HEY
FUCK
FACE
Wal-Mart is full of people I *so *want to get to know better. :rolleyes:
I don’t mind running to the grocery store or Wal-Mart or something in my sweats or nicer pj pants (not the worn-out ones with holes in the crotch or that became a little too short after much washing). I’ll throw a sweatshirt on and some sweatpants and run to the store. More often than not, though, I’m wearing my old scuzzy pj pants (they’re super comfy!), so I change and put on some jeans with that sweatshirt.
I do see A LOT of girls going around in their pj pants. And they love having advertising on their ass. God, I hate that (the writing, not the fine 19 year old booty).
Or at the very least recognize that what I did was very, very tacky, and it was, and I feel awful about it (and not a little bit embarrassed).