Approaching a stranger with an invitation to fit test my shirts is a lot harder than expected. Here’s a recap of my first attempts today.

At 11:41 a.m., a potential tester boarded the train, but after following her into the subway car, I wasn’t so sure. If I have to glance more than twice to confirm, I’m giving up.

At 11:42 a.m., I noticed a definite customer to my right. Unfortunately, she spoke no English. Fortunately, I had just one more stop to go after she indicated this to me.

At 5:30-ish p.m., a woman wearing the tell-tale camisole under her woven shirt sat next to me while we waited for the N train. I took a deep breath and said, “Excuse me, but do you have a hard time finding button-down shirts?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

“Well, I’m creating shirts and I need women to help try them on,” I said and gave her my clever invitation with the red violet button on it. “This is my first time handing these out, and it’s a little awkward.”

“I can see how that would be,” she laughed. And blushed. And I blushed, too. And we had to wait forever for the train before we could escape into different cars.

I obviously need to polish my approach, but I felt unexpectedly buoyant all the way home. I’ve finally invited a complete stranger to try one of my samples.