Since the "prior" posts links were getting a bit long, there is now a page with links to all of the posts: My Transgender Experiences.
Restaurants:
- Ethyl's Smokehouse (O'Fallon, Missouri) - I have spend nearly all of my life living in and around the O'Fallon area and am old enough to remember when the building that is Ethyl's Smokehouse was "Bubba and Coy's Catfish" (which I ate at several times as a child), but while we have driven by Ethyl's more times that I can count over the years, I had never been there. I suppose primarily because it comes across as a "bar" and we're not really drinkers; but M and I were out running around the other day and I really wanted to try something new for lunch and we settled on Ethyl's and I'm glad we did. Since it's not really the focus of this blog, I won't go into the details of the meal, those can be found in the Yelp review I left HERE, instead I'll focus on how I was treated. From the moment we walked in, until the moment we left, I was treated as any other woman. Even though my voice probably slipped here and there, our server never wavered on pronoun usage or politeness. While I generally have good experiences, this one was exceptionally good and I wish every experience went this well.
- Pi Pizzeria (Kirkwood, Missouri) - Pi isn't some large national chain, they have a few locations in St. Louis, one in Washington D.C., and one in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, thanks to some love from President Obama, they are a little more well known than most chains their size. J and I visited here after our most recent laser appointment; and since I was having my face done yet again I wasn't in any makeup or even dressed overly nice. That being said, I was treated wonderfully. As far as the food, well it's a touch "fru fru" for me, but it was good and we would go back. As a side note, we visited around 4:30pm or so on a Monday - before their dinner rush, so they were *very* slow, I'd be curious to see how our experience is when they are in their dinner rush. As a side note - especially timely considering another recent blog post - their bathrooms are single person uni-sex bathrooms which was nice.
- Fox & Hound (Chesterfield, Missouri) - I always hate to put too much weight on a single experience, be it good or bad, especially at a restaurant - but we were very pleased with our experience here. We elected to sit in the "dining area" (which is fairly small) versus the bar area, so our experience is based upon that. Now let me first say that I was not wearing makeup or a wig, we had a laser appointment a few days prior and my face was still in pretty bad shape. However, despite that fact, I still got ma'am and together we got "ladies" from the hostess, our server, the manager when he "touched our table", and the other server who dropped off some of our food. That alone, scored them points with me/us as often times when I'm out sans hair/makeup, I either get no pronouns or on occasion male ones. I don't let that bother me when it happens, but I do prefer to hear feminine pronouns, so as I said I was very happy with that. The food was great, and our service was also quite good. All in all, I'm sorry we hadn't eaten there before and I really hope our future visits go as well as this one did.
Retailers:
- Dollar Tree (Bridgeton, Missouri) - Typical Dollar Tree experience, store personnel were all polite and customers tend to be focused on themselves so it was a typical un-eventful experience for me which is always nice.
- Payless Shoe Source (St. Charles, Missouri) - We popped in here (as well as the one in O'Fallon) looking for a replacement pair of flats for me. The pair I currently wear most of the time actually has a small heel on them. When M bought those for me, I didn't like them, but after wearing them over time they've become my favorites and I wanted a similar pair. Unfortunately I guess they aren't in season at the moment so I couldn't find something I liked in my size. However, the store personnel were very nice and helpful and treated me wonderfully.
- Ruler Foods (St. Ann, Missouri) - For those not familiar with Ruler Foods, it's an "Aldi's" equivalent owned by Kroger. The one in St. Ann opened a few months ago and M wanted to check it out. The store is really similar to Aldi's. We did find enough things cheaper to justify the trip since we stocked up on some things such as block cheese, but normally unless we were in the area it wouldn't be worth the drive for us. The store personnel were all nice and polite and treated me as any other woman.
- Trader Joe's (Chesterfield, Missouri) - I had never been to a Trader Joe's, though J had. Well last weekend we were bored and decided to go running around and somehow we ended up here. To be honest much of the food is a touch "fru fru" for me; but we did pick up a few things and everyone there was so incredibly nice. We will definitely go back.
Services:
- South Providence Medical Clinic (Columbia, Missouri) - This "clinic" has replaced the Green Meadows clinic in Columbia. It's a nice, new, modern building perhaps a mile or two down the road from the aforementioned Green Meadows building. I believe the majority of the providers (perhaps all?) from the old clinic have moved down here, but regardless of that Dr. Swenson, who has handled my HRT since I started it and has recently became my GP moved down here so I have as well. There is a lot to like about the new clinic, and a couple of things I don't like as much. It has a much more open floor plan which is nice in some ways, but annoying in others since it's not as "intimate" as the old clinic since the different teams have a common waiting area now. Additionally I miss the nice fish tank from the older building as well. On the plus side, there are multiple reception areas to get checked in which makes the process faster in general; and the rooms are obviously newer and have a nicer setup. One of the nicest things for me is that they can check you out in the exam room - they don't always do it, but when they do it's nice since I don't have to make an extra stop at the reception desk. This can include scheduling appointments. They have a lab onsite as well, which I did make use of at a prior visit, they were very quick and efficient which was appreciated. My results were up on their MU Healthe site the next morning which is quicker than I was accustomed to when using the lab here at the Tri-County location. Dr. Swenson and her nurse are still just as wonderful as always and all of the reception personnel have been great - even considering a "check-in snafu" at a prior appointment. I still strongly recommend Dr. Swenson and South Providence has been just as good, if not better, than Green Meadows so I'd give it a strong recommendation as well.
Since I like to have a thumbnail, here's a picture of J and I the day we went to Columbia for my checkup and shopping with her and M. I'm not overly happy with the picture - I'm not sure if it's us getting used to the new camera or if I just didn't look as good as I'd have liked, but "it is what it is", so...
There are a few other places I should note, but I'll save those for the next entry. So with that I'll wrap this post up. As always have a great day.
- M
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