Recently, I conducted two experiments. The first was not to shop for clothing for one year, which I wrote about on this blog previously http://naturaliscoolenough.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-one-year-clothing-shopping-hiatus.html. The second was to be Vegan for a week, after watching a film about how animals are treated in America before slaughter for human consumption. While doing both, I learned a great deal about myself. My shopping hiatus began in November of 2012, as a result of my dismay with a store where I did most of my shopping. On a visit to this store, the customer service was awful and I decided not to shop there again and then extended that to shopping in general for one year. When I decided to finally shop, in November of 2013, I actually felt odd in the Mall. I had decided that I would only shop in department stores where I felt the clothing was particularly of good quality, namely at Macy's and Nordstrom and other small, high end shops. I also decided to shop only with cash so as not to incur any interest as a result of my spree and to ensure that there would be an end to the process, based on the amount of money I bought with me for this two-day venture. I also made a very detailed list as over the year, I gave away a great deal of my clothes including shoes, boots, dresses, blouses, pants, etc. Anything that had been in my closet for the past two years and I had not wore it during that time, out the door it went to Goodwill and other organizations where I felt people would appreciate receiving the items with hopes that they will enjoy them.
So, I put my locks up in a high ponytail, put on a loose fitting easy to put on and take off in the fitting rooms dress and I was good to go. Surprisingly, when I entered the first department store, I didn't know where to begin. I kind of lost touch with the shopping feel and had enjoyed limiting my purchases to natural hair products (very minimal), household items such as new linen and other things that I had ignored in the past for awhile and the big bonus, which was saving. I also ventured more, during my shopping hiatus, into hats, scarves and glasses and other items that I allowed myself to enjoy as accessories were not part of my shopping break. So, my goal this time during my shopping spree was quality and optimal customer service. I found just that at the first department store. I bought blouses and skirts, underwear, pants, etc. It took me hours to get going and I was a little annoyed when I realized that everyone seemed to be working on commission and had all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. For example, the following were frequent inquiries: "do you want me to hold your items for you while you shop" or "shall I start a dressing room for you." I literally had to tell these individual NO so they could get off my back and let me shop freely because I realized that when I said YES, they were attached to me like glue and when I went to the register the question was "was someone helping you while you shopped." Uggh! Don't feign genuine concern when it is all about the commission. Just say "ok, I'm getting commission for your shopping so I will help you but it is not about you at all, but me." On second thought, I guess that would not have worked. So anyway, since I did not want to be part of the counting of every item that I bought for retail marketers to add me to the statistics of determining the degree of holiday shopping that people participated in, I got all of my wardrobe shopping done in early November, in two days. Subsequently, I have also budgeted the exact amount of cash that I will spend for my holiday gift recipients and will take the same approach...cash only...no interest made from me during the holiday season, quality only and the customer service better be good or I'm out. Please check out some of the samples of my new digs below along with my natural hairstyles for each and look forward to my next blog post about being a vegan for a week. That was indeed a trip! For all of my fashion choices, Natural Is Cool Enough!
So, I put my locks up in a high ponytail, put on a loose fitting easy to put on and take off in the fitting rooms dress and I was good to go. Surprisingly, when I entered the first department store, I didn't know where to begin. I kind of lost touch with the shopping feel and had enjoyed limiting my purchases to natural hair products (very minimal), household items such as new linen and other things that I had ignored in the past for awhile and the big bonus, which was saving. I also ventured more, during my shopping hiatus, into hats, scarves and glasses and other items that I allowed myself to enjoy as accessories were not part of my shopping break. So, my goal this time during my shopping spree was quality and optimal customer service. I found just that at the first department store. I bought blouses and skirts, underwear, pants, etc. It took me hours to get going and I was a little annoyed when I realized that everyone seemed to be working on commission and had all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. For example, the following were frequent inquiries: "do you want me to hold your items for you while you shop" or "shall I start a dressing room for you." I literally had to tell these individual NO so they could get off my back and let me shop freely because I realized that when I said YES, they were attached to me like glue and when I went to the register the question was "was someone helping you while you shopped." Uggh! Don't feign genuine concern when it is all about the commission. Just say "ok, I'm getting commission for your shopping so I will help you but it is not about you at all, but me." On second thought, I guess that would not have worked. So anyway, since I did not want to be part of the counting of every item that I bought for retail marketers to add me to the statistics of determining the degree of holiday shopping that people participated in, I got all of my wardrobe shopping done in early November, in two days. Subsequently, I have also budgeted the exact amount of cash that I will spend for my holiday gift recipients and will take the same approach...cash only...no interest made from me during the holiday season, quality only and the customer service better be good or I'm out. Please check out some of the samples of my new digs below along with my natural hairstyles for each and look forward to my next blog post about being a vegan for a week. That was indeed a trip! For all of my fashion choices, Natural Is Cool Enough!
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