The Perfect Shirt is Hard to Find

A friend who had leukemia titled her blog, “Cancer Banter: Diagnosis, Treatment, Remission…and the quest for the perfect purse." Most women can relate, to the purse part, that is.

In keeping with this theme of tying the small details of life to its main events, if I were to write a skin cancer blog, I might call it, “My life with skin cancer…and the search for the perfect shirt.”

Too large or two short

My UPF larges are a little too big, plus I lost some weight, so I have been looking around for a medium that is not too small or tight. I have long arms and I want the sleeves to come down to my wrists, but I don’t want the shirts to be big and blousy.

I gave away almost all of my sleeveless tops so that I could have coverage on my arms and neck. But some of my long-sleeved shirts don’t cover my neck well. A friend at tennis had a nice long-sleeved hoodie. I liked the fabric, cotton, and the look, and was pleased to find them on sale at Eddie Bauer. When they came, I was unhappy about the length of the arms on the two mediums (too short) and was about to return them. But I saw that although they had free shipping, you have to pay for returns. What a waste of $7. I kept the shirts.

The French Open tennis tournament, also called Rolland-Garros, moved from the spring into September and October due to the worse numbers in the spring. It was the perfect chance to study the female players’ clothes. They were dressed for the cold, wearing the same kind of clothes that I wear in the warm weather for skin cancer prevention. (Unless it’s so hot I can’t stand it.)

Too expensive

The U.S. player Danielle Collins wore a nice long-sleeved New Balance shirt. I wondered if it was cheaper than the long-sleeved Nike shirt ($75) that matched the skirt I just bought. I wasn’t going to pay $75 for a shirt. Plus, to get free shipping on the Nike website, you had to join the “Nike club.” I assumed you had to pay for this, and it seemed a little too much to ask, when there is so much free shipping available.

Online shopping problems

I saw it was $64.99 (duh, 65$) with free shipping and was about to buy it but then had second thoughts. It’s hard to tell how the fabric feels when you’re buying online. I’ve already done too much on-line pandemic buying. I ended up with a long-sleeved shirt that looked good on the screen. But the material is too thin. I might wear it as an under layer, so I kept it. I really hate returning things.

The saga continues…The Tennis Express website sent an email with a teaser: Check out French Open Player Gear (Rafa, Nadal, Kenin and more!) + Friends and Family Sale! I followed the prompt to “Petra Kvitova's Tennis Equipment, Gear, And Accessories. The Czeck player had also been wearing the Nike shirt. It was now $48.97!

I put the number 1 in the box. Nothing appeared in the cart. I clicked on chat and an agent bot came up. I said nothing happened when I tried to check out. She (or it) said that was because it was out of stock. I asked why they don’t just say that. She said the website never tells you if an item is out of stock. So, they just want you to sit there clicking away?