CRANKY SHOPPER

There was a time when I loved shopping.  I could spend hours in stores looking at everything, touching the

fabrics, slipping on clothes in the dressing rooms.  There was a time when salespeople were abundant, helpful and attentive.  I never could afford the really high end retailers, but Nordstom was so service oriented it was my favorite place to shop even if I couldn't buy much.  I always hoped that all the stores would see their example and follow it - but instead, it seemed to slide the other way.

Before there was even online shopping, I shopped catalogs.  It started when I was pregnant with the twins in late 1987.  I tried shopping in a mall when I was 7-8 months pregnant; my doctor forbade me anymore trips to the mall when he saw what was going on with the monitor I was required to wear to detect early labor.

After they were born, well, try shopping with a double wide stroller - I was the entertainment for half the shoppers at the mall.  It was still a bit unusual to have twins back then and the sight of those two babies drew a crowd.  I am not kidding.  My sister can attest that people literally grabbed the stroller to stop and take a look and comment.

So the catalog shopping continued.  As we all know, if you get on a list for one or two of them, the mailbox fills up really fast after that.  And then when stores started having websites and I could safely shop online - well, let's just say that years went by without trips to the mall even without the excuse of  pregnancies, babies, toddlers, kids and, later,  full time employment.  I'd say about 98% of my holiday shopping is done online.

There has been much discussion about the malls being empty this holiday season and the online retailers raking it in.  Wonder if the brick and mortar stores will pay attention now?

I went to the mall on December 1 and couldn't find a single salesperson at Macy's to ask about  stock or a style I was looking for. The aisles were crowded with racks, clothes were on the floor and heaped on the shelves, it was hard to figure out the organization of the merchandise or to find sizes. I did find a couple of things I liked and after lunch with my sisters (and I had birthday money in my pocket) we went back.  They approved the sweater so we got in line.  It didn't seem to be moving so we walked around and found another register and another line.  There was a woman who was returning 2 bags of things she had previously purchased and re-buying them with coupons.  It was ridiculous.

Rather than try to find another register, I dug deep for my patience and waited to make my purchase.  That is when I realized I would rather shop online than wait in line. The former love of seeing all the merchandise, touching the fabrics and trying things on just pales in comparison with the irritation I experienced.

Anyone in the business of customer service knows the axiom "Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part."  Yet there has been a week of news reports over the failure of Fed Ex and UPS to make all their Christmas deliveries "ruining" the holiday for people all across the country.

If these folks didn't care enough to get their shopping done in the 11 and 3/4 months before Christmas - how is it the fault of the delivery service that their holiday was spoiled?

And now I hear that recycling centers are "overwhelmed" with cardboard boxes following this online shopping frenzy.  It's always something - isn't it?

I will now remove my cranky pants and get ready to go do a couple of errands, including making a return to a real store..

HOLIDAY WEEKEND

I have to admit I have been so excited for this long weekend.  It has been a couple of years or so since I had 4 days in a row off work and I had a very long list of things I wanted to do - it filled a whole page of notepaper.

Love this sculpture of seahorses!



When Tom said we should get away from the 7th straight day of  103+ heat I balked.  I just wanted to be home getting stuff done, but it was so hot and we barely slept on Wednesday night so Thursday morning I went along. 

We packed the bikes up and headed for Monterey Bay.  The first whiff of that cool sea air brightened my mood and energized me.  We had a wonderful ride - dodging the pedestrians, their dogs,  bikes and rollerbladers along the multi-use trail.  We stopped frequently to enjoy the views and take in the day.  We even locked up the bikes and walked along the wharf, stopped in a bar and had margaritas and a spicy ahi tartar. At that point we contemplated breaking into our son's apartment  and making a weekend of it (he was out of town.)  Instead we rode down the beach, found a shady spot and took a nap!

We stopped at a BBQ joint in Gilroy on the way home; no fireworks, but a really nice holiday.  Plus the heat wave broke that night and we got a good night's sleep.

I hit my list pretty hard and am happy to say I did pretty much everything on it. Including getting an eye exam and some much needed prescription sunglasses.  I also cleaned out a couple of  closets and took a carload of donations to the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop. 

I even got some time to finish the tile on a mosaic plaque I have been working on and got started on a new pot.  I hope next weekend I get time to grout the two pieces I have done up to that point.  Grouting is the messy part of making mosaics and is something I tend to put off until I have multiple pieces to do at the same time!

I have a new list started and hope it doesn't get as long as the last one...