Amy Lu's View

Can a pair of pants save the world?

No.

But they can give strangers the opportunity to do something nice for each other. To make each other’s day, maybe even several days. 

This is just a little story about how I procured a pair of pants that I really wanted thanks to the kindness of a stranger. 

The pants in question were “Tonight Pants,” so named because they are lounge pants intended to be worn “tonight” or whenever one wants to be comfortable.*

The pants were a “thank you” gift awarded to donors who gave to the podcast, “Too Beautiful Too Live.” We are dedicated fans of “TBTL” lucky enough to have some extra cheddar on hand so of course we made a donation big enough to qualify for both of us to receive a pair of Tonight Pants. 

Chad’s pants came first. Yay! They were just as awesome as we had hoped they would be–a cheery bright blue made out of a soft polyester, with pockets!! And, the pants were adorned with little drawings of…pants! Yes, so clever, so meta. 

I knew mine would come soon, so I excitedly waited. 

And, they did come. But, they were the wrong size. 

Argh! I was so bummed. This was not a case of “Well, they’re not really going to fit optimally but I can make them work.” This was a case of “These are literally not going to stay on my body.”

I checked my email for the receipt. Yes, I had indeed ordered the correct size that I wanted, so this wasn’t user error. 

I immediately emailed customer service about the pants error, but also posted something in our TBTL fans Facebook group. I knew my fellow fans (known as “Tens” because TBTL has tens of listeners) would understand my emotional journey of being so excited to receive my pants only to be disappointed by getting the wrong size and would commiserate with me. 

I was also secretly hoping that one of my fellow fans would be able to remedy my situation. Maybe someone accidently got an extra pair or something that I could buy from them?

Within an hour, a fellow Ten, Jaime, had indeed offered to send me a pair of Tonight Pants in the size I wanted at no cost–not even asking anything for shipping! All she asked was that I send the pants I had on to someone else who wanted them. 

A whole little “Pay it Forward with Pants” commenced. I think at least three TBTL fans (myself included) ended up with pants we otherwise wouldn’t have had. 

(A little rant here…the customer service for the organization that distributes TBTL tried to blame me and say that I had ordered the wrong size and sounded put out because I wanted a different size. Come on, I get that mistakes happen but let’s not blame the victim. And yes, it was very satisfying to respond “Never mind, a fellow Ten had my back.”)

It feels hokey to say “I’m sharing this little story so we can all remember that although the world often feels scary and mean, sometimes people just do nice things for each other” but sometimes the truth is hokey. 

There are so many reasons we love TBTL–listening to it is a little daily ritual we share, it gives us conversations topics that usually don’t result in us bickering, it helps us keep somewhat aware of pop culture and what’s trending on TikTok, and it made me “famous” when I made it to the TBTL YouTube talent show in 2020: (https://amyluedtke.wordpress.com/2020/06/08/i-hope-you-like-this/). TBTL even gives me inspiration for blog posts and as the podcasts hosts would say, #content. 

Of all these wonderful reasons, one of the things we love the most is the opportunities it gives us to connect to other TBTL fans. These connections are often simple and mundane–exchanging holiday cards, interacting via Facebook, or just hearing others’ stories and messages via the TBTL podcast–but they all add up. 

And the pandemic and the turmoil of the last couple of years has definitely helped us all realize the importance of connection and human interaction–and a really comfy pair of lounge pants.

*Chad would argue that “whenever” NEVER includes when one is out of the house. I disagree, but that’s a topic a for our as-yet-non-existent-but-I-have-dreams-and-aspirations-who-wouldn’t-want-to-listen-to-Chamy-inside-jokes-and-long-standing-bickering podcast.