I love shopping. I love looking at the new fashions and hoping they'll look good on me. I love trying on clothes. I love the hunting for just the right thing, and I especially love the thrill of finding the perfect thing.
But it's best if I shop alone. Because I take foooooreveeeerrr! I deliberate when looking at the racks. I deliberate when I try things on. I deliberate whether the similar article at another store is actually better than the one at this store. I have actually gone between three or four different stores at opposite ends of the mall three times comparing clothes. And end up buying nothing.
And if I find something that is almost perfect, I will deliberate if I truly will wear it, agonize over whether I can truly afford it, analyze how I look in it, and end up fixating on whatever drawback there may be. Then I will put everything back after spending several hours picking and choosing the clothes. And end up buying nothing.
But I can still say I had a fun day shopping. Go figure.
Anyway, I recently purchased a business suit in the hopes of landing a receptionist position (or something similar). Gray and pink are a classic color combo, so I picked out a gray suit jacket and skirt, and a muted pink dress shirt. Luke was with, so I felt like I needed to make a quick decision because I didn't want to make him bored or frustrated if I went about my normal shopping deliberation. It was at the end of a long day, so I was tired, hungry and, at the time, hot. (Von Maur keeps their store very hot - I don't understand why...it's not good for a pleasant shopping experience, if you ask me...it only made me want to get out of the store).
The suit skirt fit great, but I wasn't crazy about the shoulder pads in the jacket. Now, they weren't the 80s I'm-a-linebacker-and-have-to-turn-sideways-to-get-through-the-door shoulder pads, but they were more than I liked and I felt like my shoulders were at my ears. The dress shirt was frustrating. I am apparently too busty for a small (how did that happen?!) and not busty enough for a medium. So the result was the bust of the shirt was too low, and left a gap that created too much of a, uh, view. But the necessary alterations weren't possible.
I was very skeptical that the shirt would work, but Luke and the sales lady (naturally) said I looked great and professional, and I was tired, hungry, hot, and didn't want to make Luke wait any longer, so we purchased the suit. Well, nothing came of any of my job interviews so now I have this expensive suit that I may never wear.
Today, after months of deliberating and trying it on several times at home, I brought the entire suit, in its nice blue Von Maur garment bag, back to Von Maur with the plan to return the shirt and perhaps find one that fit better, and try it on with the skirt and jacket. The store was the same uncomfortable hot. As I was searching the racks, I discovered that carrying around the Von Maur garment bag was a signal to all the sales people that I was already a satisfied customer today, and they didn't bother me. A nice bonus.
Apparently suits are a fall thing, or at least, long sleeve dress shirts are a fall thing, because the selection was very slim and I couldn't find anything that worked. So I left. Without returning anything.
Now here's the backward thing. I stopped in JCPenney before going to Von Maur and ended up buying a cute cami and a blousey shirt. Granted, both were on super sale to begin with, and I had a coupon so I didn't pay anything near full price, but wasn't the whole point of this trip to return something?
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