Recently I learned a new term: Social Ominivore. It refers to someone who eats as a vegetarian when at home, but will eat anything when at a restaurant or as a guest at someone’s home. The thinking is that they really prefer to not eat meat or fish, but they don’t want to make things difficult for others in their social circle. If only everyone with dietary preferences would think that way.
Given the proliferation of allergies and the popularity of gluten free and other diets, this seems like an extremely considerate, or social thing to do. Of course, some dietary restrictions are medically necessary. But veganism frequently is not and vegan products have become ubiquitous. One of the items that caught my eye was a California-made vegan mattress being sold at the Fifth Avenue “experience center” of Avocado Green Mattress. I can’t even…
But I want to return to the social side of this realization. It got me thinking about other things that I do in a social environment that I don’t do when at home. The comforts of home allow me to ignore so many aspects of my appearance that I pay attention to when we go out. Or at least when I expect to run into friends or neighbors when we go out.
Take for instance shoes. I used to be a shoe-aholic. When I worked in Manhattan, I had so many pairs of shoes, my coworkers called me Imelda Decker. It was a head nod to Imelda Marcus. (Look her up.) Now I spend most of my time at home in socks. I put shoes on when I go out. Unless I’m going someplace fancy or if I expect to run into someone who might notice my feet, I wear basic, serviceable, easy on-and-off footwear with my socks. In a social setting, I’ll trade my socks for some type of sheer hose and I’ll consider a shoe that has at least a bit of a heel. I guess I’m no longer a shoe adopter. I’m a Social Shoe Adapter.
Since I’m on the topic of what I wear when we go out vs. at-home comfort, let’s talk lingerie. Right up there with my socks, I favor cotton tank undershirts instead of bras. I don’t get a draft across my midsection with tanks. Likewise, cotton underpants that would never be confused with anything sexy are what fill my dresser drawer. But I’ll admit to being a Social Lingerie Gal. My mother always made me wear my best underpants when I left the house. “What if you get hit by a truck and they have to take you to the hospital?” “What if?” indeed. Never happened in the five decades she and I shared on this planet. But it ingrained in my head the notion that I should consider wearing some nicer lingerie if I planned to be going very far from home or would be out for any length of time. Not sexy, but at least stylish. OK. Maybe not even stylish. But without holes and with elastic that isn’t stretched out.
Something else that I do rarely now that I’m retired is wear makeup. I had a friend who wouldn’t even leave her bedroom until she put on her face. I, on the other hand, still have makeup left from weddings I attended that ended in divorce decades ago. These days, when I say I’m going to put on makeup, it means some eyebrow pencil, mascara and a touch of blush on my cheeks. And you’ve probably guessed by now, that I do that so seldom that it definitely makes me a Social Face Painter.
In a totally different vein, my last item is one that brings me back closer to the socially considerate nature of the Social Omnivore where this essay started. When I’m out of the house, I try to watch my language more carefully. When I traveled on business years ago, I spent a lot of time in the field with the sales force. Let’s just say that none of those guys would ever have called me a goody two-shoes. These days I try to leave my four-letter-word lexicon at home. Instead of a potty mouth, I guess you could call me a Social Sweet Lips.
I’m sure there are other social activities that I follow when we’re out, but these are the ones that come to mind right now. If you give it some thought, I’ll bet you’ll come up with a list of socially motivated behaviors of your own.
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