Tag: Shopping

Brooklyn Atlantic Mall, 2:30 pm August 13th

A pretty good mall with Target and Daffy’s,The Body Shop and DSW. The usual. And Starbucks of course.

I decided to drop in Victoria’s Secret, home of the bra that has wrecked bra fashion: the already shaped like a boob bra. I may be one of the only women alive who does not like the already shaped like a boob bra. They do not hold my boobs. I end up tugging up my bra all day long trying to keep things under control. I need underwire and lots of it. I cannot use 2 pieces of foam rubber connected by a piece of string, it just doesn’t work for me.I am forced to buy Bali bras. They are matronly to say the least. No amount of black lace can make up for it.

While it had been almost a year since I last visited VS, things looked pretty much the same. The perfume and soap and pajamas and makeup are front and center. A largish part of the store is devoted to this overpriced and suspect quality crap. Bras and underwear are situated beyond these irrelevancies.

The sales people descend upon you as soon as you enter but magically disappear the minute you actually need help. This is standard sales person behavior not limited to VS salespeople.

Who knows they are going to need help the second they walk in a store? I haven’t had time to even see what’s there yet.

I found 2 acceptably styled black lace bras. Not a foam rubber boob shape in sight. The sign clearly stated buy 2 for 25 dollars. When I got to the register it turned out the that the 2 identical looking black bras were actually 2 different bras with 2 different prices and not included in the sale even though they were directly under the sign. At this moment the sales people vanished. The manager was nowhere to be found and a long line had formed in front of the register with only one person at the desk. No one manning the section I got the bras from. I saw a few people industriously folding garishly striped boy shorts in Pink but it seemed to me that it was useless to ask for help outside their territory.

I left without buying a single thing.

You saw that coming didn’t you?

Victoria’s Secret gets a D- once again.

I’m having a bit of fun because I made some $ and I hadn’t made any $ in a while.So for any red blooded girl that usually means hitting the shops.

I bought these 60.00 Gap jeans 2 sizes 2 big so they would be baggy on my butt.This means the waist is really really loose.Apparently if you are the size I bought you have a fat gut and a big butt along with chubby thighs and hips the size of a barge.I am blessed with only 2 of these attributes.Gap seems to pride themselves on remembering women have hips and a butt.Yet no matter what if I don’t want to wear tight jeans and I buy bigger sizes the waist will always be way too big. So basically they are still designing for apple shaped ladies.

I guess I can get a belt.Yet I have never liked wearing them.

Then I bought 2 books that were supposed to be for my trip but I am already half thru one of them:
Anybody out there by Marion Keyes. Pure chick lit lite but I do love the way she writes.

The next book is Thief by Peter Carey one of my all time favorite writers.I am totally saving it for the grueling plane ride from Newark,NJ to St.George,UT.

About 85.00 bucks spent total.

About 2 months ago I bought glasses from Mott st Optical.
They were expensive.Over 200 bucks.They were also supposed to be available to be picked up the same day as purchased.But while I was hanging in the neighborhood killing time waiting to go get them, someone from the store called me to tell me I had to wait until the following Monday,instead.

It’s really hard for me to get into the city.I don’t know why,it just is.Which is why I was thrilled when they told me I could pick them up the same day.So when they told me I was going to have to make another trip I just sagged.And I never went to get them.I called and asked them to mail them to me.They said they would and read my address back to me and it seemed all set.I never got them. I called last Friday and inquired about them.The girl who answered said they were ready and I could come and pick them up! They never mailed them!

I freaked. I lost my cool.I used expletives.I demanded to talk to a manager.Of course none was there.How convenient!

The girl basically told me it was my fault because I hadn’t picked them up the day bought them.She had that note.She didn’t have the note that was never written that they’d called me to tell me they wouldn’t be ready the same day.So it was this attitude plus her saying that she just worked there(I hate it when people in the service industry, an industry I worked in for over 6 years do this)that made me see red.

When I was in retail I would never dream of telling a customer that it was their fault they were unhappy with the service they received due to some failure on their part to be satisfied with basically non existent service!

I’m so annoyed! First reason: I’m totally broke.
Second reason: my entire neighborhood is having one ginormous stoop sale and I love stoop sales but I can’t buy anything!
Third reason: I had enough money to buy some “Delft”( in quotes because one dollar Delft isn’t very likely) pottery marked for 1 dollar and 3 dollars. I got the vase which was a dollar and wanted these little elephant salt and pepper shakers those were 3 dollars. I paid for the vase 1st then gave madam a ten for the shakers.She asked if I had something smaller.So I scrounged in my wallet for it.While I was scrounging, this really pushy and annoying girl was waving a purse about that she wanted to buy.The thing was that purse was from madam’s neighbours’ table which madam was minding for her and this sudden rush of business caused her to be distracted with my purchase. Long story short:she didn’t actually hand me the shakers and I walked all the way home thinking I had them. I was also distracted and ditzey it seems. I blame the fact that I had my dog with me at the time. He is annoying during financial transactions because he always wants to jump on everybody which makes it hard to open my wallet and restrain him at the same time.
Fourth reason:I found an absolutely perfect and solid butcher block style table about 3 and a half feet tall with shelves.For 20 bucks! A pittance! If I had money,that is.
Except I do not. So I called the man who does,A. and asked to borrow 20 from him. I got a long lecture on why we didn’t even need this gorgeous thing in our lives instead. Oh well.
Glass of white wine to settle the nerves.