The woman's version of "No friends on a powder day"
I went to the day-after-Christmas shopping excursion with my wife today. In skiing, there is a saying: "No friends on a powder day." The saying alludes to the notion that on the best skiing days, the skiing is so good that you don't wait around for your friends to catch up - if they're too slow, sorry, see ya in the lodge tonight and learn to ski better for the next powder day.
The day started off on the wrong foot- Saks opened at 7 instead of the traditional 8, which meant that others had already gotten a lot of the good stuff in the shoe department, where the best deals (~70% off!) were to be had. Nevertheless, a few bargains were still picked from the wreckage. A quick pass through the clothing area at Saks revealed there wasn't much to buy there, so it was on to Neiman Marcus, which opened at 9.
Unlike Saks, there is a men's department at Neiman Marcus. The women scattered through the store, and the first call came from Katie, Mary Ann's Mom: "Come down to the men's department, great stuff down here." I abandoned my post as sherpa/helper and went down to the basement, where Katie introduced me to a guy who could help me. I should preface this whole thing with the fact that Mary Ann had told everyone that I needed clothes for Christmas, and I even agreed that after 2.5 years with no salary and a low burn rate mentality, that my wardrobe could use some help. The guy that Katie pointed me to pointed me to the other end of the store and told me to look around and he'd "be right with me." I got to the other end of the store and nervously looked around - the racks were filled with $400 army pants and things which looked like they were torn and spray painted on. To me, this stuff looked like it came from the salvation army. I wandered around for a bit, and when the guy didn't show, I went back upstairs to get Mary Ann's help.
A short time later, Mary Ann's friend Charlotte showed up. She hadn't planned on going shopping that day, but wanted to see the spectacle, so stopped by. Mary Ann sent Charlotte back downstairs with me. Her idea was to find the best looking salesperson down there and see if he could help me. She did that, and I described what I needed. He brought a bunch of pants which were too tight on my fat butt, so round 2 fit better. Charlotte went to work finding some cool shirts. Mary Ann eventually came down with about 15 bags for me to bring to the car, and started yelling at me for trying stuff on too slowly.
After trying a few things in a frenzy, so as not to waste one moment (the sales end at noon!!), we chose a few things and the tailor came over to mark where to let out the butt in the pants. I was left behind to pay. The damage was $1500 - ouch!
This evening, we looked through the stuff I'd gotten. It turns out the pants were NOT on sale and cost $595 plus $24 in tailoring. Clearly I had sucker written on my face for the salesperson. I knew when I was there that I was getting jacked by the way he was only somewhat attentive, acting like I was poor and out of place. It's true. I do not want to spend my money on $600+ pants. Ever. If I had $100M, I probably still would not. I bitched about this to Mary Ann, as I put her partly at fault for not helping me through the process. I want her to stop whatever tailoring is happening and return the $600 pants, as I am already proven to be bad at dealing with these sorts of things. Her response: "You need to learn how to deal with this stuff." In other words: "No friends on a powder day!"
My plan for dealing in the future: do not deal. I don't want any more clothes for Christmas or birthdays or whatever. I will get my own clothes my own way. Maybe I won't look quite as good, but at least I'll won't have to learn a $600 lesson, and the day after Christmas will be much more relaxing next year.
The day started off on the wrong foot- Saks opened at 7 instead of the traditional 8, which meant that others had already gotten a lot of the good stuff in the shoe department, where the best deals (~70% off!) were to be had. Nevertheless, a few bargains were still picked from the wreckage. A quick pass through the clothing area at Saks revealed there wasn't much to buy there, so it was on to Neiman Marcus, which opened at 9.
Unlike Saks, there is a men's department at Neiman Marcus. The women scattered through the store, and the first call came from Katie, Mary Ann's Mom: "Come down to the men's department, great stuff down here." I abandoned my post as sherpa/helper and went down to the basement, where Katie introduced me to a guy who could help me. I should preface this whole thing with the fact that Mary Ann had told everyone that I needed clothes for Christmas, and I even agreed that after 2.5 years with no salary and a low burn rate mentality, that my wardrobe could use some help. The guy that Katie pointed me to pointed me to the other end of the store and told me to look around and he'd "be right with me." I got to the other end of the store and nervously looked around - the racks were filled with $400 army pants and things which looked like they were torn and spray painted on. To me, this stuff looked like it came from the salvation army. I wandered around for a bit, and when the guy didn't show, I went back upstairs to get Mary Ann's help.
A short time later, Mary Ann's friend Charlotte showed up. She hadn't planned on going shopping that day, but wanted to see the spectacle, so stopped by. Mary Ann sent Charlotte back downstairs with me. Her idea was to find the best looking salesperson down there and see if he could help me. She did that, and I described what I needed. He brought a bunch of pants which were too tight on my fat butt, so round 2 fit better. Charlotte went to work finding some cool shirts. Mary Ann eventually came down with about 15 bags for me to bring to the car, and started yelling at me for trying stuff on too slowly.
After trying a few things in a frenzy, so as not to waste one moment (the sales end at noon!!), we chose a few things and the tailor came over to mark where to let out the butt in the pants. I was left behind to pay. The damage was $1500 - ouch!
This evening, we looked through the stuff I'd gotten. It turns out the pants were NOT on sale and cost $595 plus $24 in tailoring. Clearly I had sucker written on my face for the salesperson. I knew when I was there that I was getting jacked by the way he was only somewhat attentive, acting like I was poor and out of place. It's true. I do not want to spend my money on $600+ pants. Ever. If I had $100M, I probably still would not. I bitched about this to Mary Ann, as I put her partly at fault for not helping me through the process. I want her to stop whatever tailoring is happening and return the $600 pants, as I am already proven to be bad at dealing with these sorts of things. Her response: "You need to learn how to deal with this stuff." In other words: "No friends on a powder day!"
My plan for dealing in the future: do not deal. I don't want any more clothes for Christmas or birthdays or whatever. I will get my own clothes my own way. Maybe I won't look quite as good, but at least I'll won't have to learn a $600 lesson, and the day after Christmas will be much more relaxing next year.
posted by Chris at 6:29 PM
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