0.5 what?

What is this world coming to?

A few years ago, I went shopping and saw more than one "wonder." One of the wonders was that this store had sizes below "0" yes they had "00" and even "000". Talk about the "smallest" size available!!!  

As if that wasn't enough, this store had the usual sizes in clothes and more...they had in-between sizes. 
Guess what the next number after "0" was? No, not "1" it was "0.5" and so on - see the table below: 

Sizes	Conventional Size		Chest	Waist	Hip
000	XXS	0	32½"	27"	35½"
00		2	33½"	28"	36½"
0	XS	4	34½"	29"	37½"
0.5		6	35½"	30"	38½"
1	S	8	36½"	31"	39½"
1.5		10	37½"	32"	40½"
2	M	12	39"	33½"	42"
2.5		14	40½"	35"	43½"
3	L	16	42"	37"	45"
3.5		18	44"	39¼"	47"
4	XL	20	46"	41½"	49"
4.5		22	48"	43¾"	51"

As I looked through their racks I kept wondering who came up with this ".5" (½) sizes idea? As I thought about it, I concluded that this was a sort of deception. Think about it, if your usual size (per the conventional chart - see box on right ==>) is 12 or 14, size 2 or 2.5 could easily make the person feel that they are "smaller" than they really are. 

The other thing that came to mind was that someone who's say a size 4, may try size 0 only to find that size 0.5 fits better. Then rather than come up with a plan to reduce and return to size 0 or more accurately size 4, would be content with size 0.5 - after all, it's a "low" number.

The Shopping lesson for me was to remember that things are not always as they seem... I mean what you see is not necessarily all there is to "see" - and this "grass is greener" quote came to mind.

Likewise, looking at that lady who is a size or 0.5 size lower than you must have "cost" her more than a wish. So whether you go with regular sizes or the novel 0.5 incremental sizes, I've decided always aim for the lower size. In other words, rather than "relax" & buy clothes that I can comfortably fit into, I've decided to "put my body under" - which includes eating well and exercising regularly - so I can fit into my right size. And not pay more for my clothes or is it not have to pay for more clothes.