SHOPPING: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Dari LaRoche

 

Shopping can be fun. Or, shopping can be awful. It can draw us together. It can separate us and cause fights and rifts. Many times, it has nothing to do with money. It may be solely an attempt to impose our will on another as if we know better. Like sisters, spouses, even friends and work colleagues.

One of my shopping trips was funny in retrospect, but still embarrassing and the worst. It happened at Christmastime in a huge Nordstrom store in a major mall outside Washington, D.C. I was trying to do some last-minute shopping for Christmas.

THE GOOD: I Love Christmas

I adore the decorations and the store window displays in the malls. I always smile when I see them and I see the wonder in the children’s eyes at all the toys—dolls, trucks, blocks, books, trains—you name it.

I like to dress in Christmas colors at work, so on this particular day I wore a bright red dress with a full flowing skirt that came below my knees. I even wore ruby red earrings in each ear and an additional emerald in my earlobe with a double piercing.

After many packages and a couple hours, I needed to find a restroom. In this case, it was on the second floor on the back wall. I had to pass the pianist, decked out for Christmas in a suit with a red bow tie, playing on the black baby grand in an area of the store featuring higher budget women’s wear.

Well, everyone knows that when shopping alone, you need to maneuver yourself into one of those little stalls and make every effort not to set your bags on the floor. I managed that, and came out, washed my hands, and refreshed my lipstick. Only slightly frazzled, I gathered my packages from the sink counter and headed out the door, happy that I only had to search for one more gift.

 

THE BAD AND THE UGLY: Can you guess?

I had to wend my way around racks of clothing and lower display counters, past the grand piano with the man playing Christmas music, and then past an assistant at a podium in this specialty area in order to make it to the elevator. As I passed him, he called to me, which I ignored, since I was thinking about the last gift I needed to find. A few more steps and I felt his hand on my shoulder as he urgently pulled me back and leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“Your skirt is tucked in your panty hose!”

I am sure many of you have been there. Not the men, of course, but if any men are reading this, I am certain there have been times in your lives when you have left your zipper down and someone used some odd expression to try to tell you. One that comes to my mind is…

“Buddy, you left the barn door open.”

And there are many others. So we have all been there. AWKWARD!!!!

Needless to say, I hustled back to the restroom, fixed my skirt, splashed some cold water on my face to cool my cheeks, and left. I uttered a heartfelt thank you as I passed him on my way out of the store. I had done enough for this trip and decided I would live again to shop another day. Christmas was still a week away.

 What about you? Any moments like this in your shopping life? Did you survive?

 

Dari LaRoche contacts

For more info about me and my writing, check out my website at https://darilaroche.com where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter. Follow me on Facebook at Dari LaRoche Author and Instagram at @darilarocheauthor.

What to do with this old jacket?

 by Diana McCollum

My husband and I like to spend time going through thrift shops. We have found some spectacular deals, and have bought some things that turn out to be duds.

My husband likes to barter with the people, and in thrift shops you can sometimes get the cost down by quite a bit, especially if the item has sat in the store for a long period of time.

Here in Paradise there's Snoop Sisters Thrift shop, Jeanie's Thrift shop, and five more Antique and thrift shops. So as you can imagine we can spend a whole morning or afternoon just browsing!

This post is about Jeanie's Thrift shop.  Last weekend we browsed through the shop. There is a table with a local farmers produce already bagged up and ready to be bought. That was our first item. A bag of mixed fresh fruit, nectarines, peaches, plums (two kinds).

After looking through the store I found the item I wanted. 

The Department 56 ornament box caught my eye. If you are a collector you know these items are very spendy brand new.

I excitedly opened the box.

There inside was the sweetest jeweled dashound Angel! The top opens up to a little jewel box with a silver colored heart. 

And it was marked $12.50. I couldn't believe the price for such a precious dashound.

When we got home I looked up on e-bay to see how collectable this little dashound was, and low and behold he is selling for $75.00!!

I won't be selling him as he will be a Christmas present for someone. 

So best shopping trip ever! I got quite the deal. And I know the person who is getting this dashound for Christmas will be thrilled!

Forgive me, for some reason I've messed up the settings and my typing starts in the middle of the page. 

The worst thrift shop buy was on the same day at a different thrift shop. My husband bartered with the lady for a reel and old fishing pole. She knocked $10 off the price and he bought both. When we got home he realized the fishing pole was unfixable. Therefore, he never got a deal at all. 

Now to address the title of my blog "What to do with this old jacket?".

 I never knew this till I read it in one of the newsletters I receive, there are thrift shops online. One called Thredup you can shop on that site, but you can also send a box of clothes, purses etc (no household goods) free of charge and they list the clothes and sell them. They keep a percentage and you are mailed a check when your items sell. It doesn't cost you a thing except time to sort through your clothes. If they can't sell the clothes you can pay to have them sent back to you or they will donate or recycle in some other way. 

What a great way to keep clothing out of the landfills. The other ones you can sell on yourself are e-bay and Etsy . Donate those old clothes or recycle or get a little cash for them, it's up to you. Please don't throw in the garage as our landfills don't need them!!

Have you ever sold anything online?

Shopping: A Necessity, Not a Pleasure

 Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights and choose love and light.

This is an easy topic for me.

Best: when I easily and effortlessly find what I’m looking for and it doesn’t include clothes, furniture, etc. because I’m never sure what I’m looking for, or size, or color or …

Thankfully at my stage in life, there isn’t much to purchase other than what I use on a regular basis. Also, while not set in my ways, I have my preferences and know where the products I use are located in the stores I frequent.

Worst: All other shopping experiences. My latest “worst” shopping experience was finding and purchasing a flight to a conference in St. Louis. No direct flights available on the airline I preferred to use. And since I’ve not flown since 2018, other things have changed.

Before I more than muttered bad words, I called customer service. An extremely nice, competent woman held my virtual hand and led me through the process until I’d booked both flights.

What I will add about best and worst shopping experiences is so much of it depends on the businesses employees. Over the years I’ve been ignored, talked to like an imbecile, condescended to among other. When it’s something I need (like getting my car serviced due to a Recall), the luxury of walking out isn’t realistic.

Moonpower

When a 60 – 90 minute servicing of my car due to a recall had run on to almost 3 hours, I approached the service manager and calmly explained that I was fully capable of throwing a major tantrum thus creating a major scene and that I was more than willing to do that if that will get me the service I’ve been waiting for. The service manager told me my car would be ready in 20 minutes and it was ready in 15. No tantrum or scene needed.

I want to end on a “best experience” note and I’m struggling to come up with one that I consider “shopping”. I know in the early 1990’s I started using a service to lease/purchase my car. I’d call Brian up and say I’m looking to lease or buy whatever make/model/color/features I wanted. He’d call me back in a few days at most having found my car. I’d go to his office, sign paperwork and drive away.

Brian has retired and I’ve lost track of his company.

Moonpower, who is 15 years old, is going strong with just over 116K miles. She gets serviced every 3K miles. Since I’m semi-retired, I don’t put the miles on her like I used to. And, while I don’t plan on not driving any time soon, I’m closer to that reality than I used to be.

I don’t expect to get another car. For one thing I’d go Hybrid or EV and those vehicles cost more than I paid for my house in 1975! Well, Moonpower did also. That’s a story for another day.

You can find all of my books at your favorite e-book vendor. Be sure to ask your local library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource. If you want to read about shopping experiences in my books, check out Elizabeth’s shopping sprees in Ireland. Gabriella’s adventures in buying a wedding gown might also entertain you.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshley.net

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2023 Judith Ashley