Trick or...I mean, uh, NICE OUTFIT!

What is the proper etiquette when it's October 31 and you're not sure if a person is wearing a costume?

I was at the coffee shop yesterday, where two women caught my eye.

One was wearing a straw-blonde wig and far too much eye makeup. However, I wasn't able to determine what she could possibly be dressed as: Britney Spears? (Nope, no Cheetos in sight.) Paris Hilton? (Nope, no crabs in sight.) I watched her surreptitiously for a while, trying to figure out if this was her normal outfit or if she was making some sort of post-modern statement.

The other was dressed as a naughty A&W lady. No, this does not make sense, which is why I thought at first that it must be a costume. However, I quickly remembered that A&W ladies are not exactly a common fetish like nurses or police officers, so I then thought that it must be the woman's work uniform. That was before I realised that this particular outfit would likely be some sort of health-code violation if worn by a professional in the food-service industry. It was also not the sort of thing any normal person would be wearing at this time of year in Name of Town Withheld.

I mentioned this to a friend while we took our kids trick-or-treating, and it turned out that she had had a similar experience earlier that morning. However, she hadn't been confused: she had been fairly certain that the person was in costume. (It turned out to be the person's normal clothes. Yikes.)