Can I get this excuse gift wrapped?
You know, I have never given it much thought until now but I am pretty sure, at some point, especially when we first started buying our own things, we all had an "excuse" as to why we were buying something from the female section of whatever store we were in. A shopping list, a note of some sort, the "it's for my GF/wife and she wears a size ___" all the way down to the almighty, Do you have a gift box?
Just as I feel we have kept the pantyhose industry alive, I am wondering if we haven't kept the "gift Box" people going also? I know it's more common around the holidays to be able to get things in a gift box but most places do it year round if requested don't they?
So what excuse have you used in the past? How did you feel about using the excuse? Any negative reactions after presenting the excuse to whomever? Where are You TODAY with excuses?
In the past, when I first started buying for myself, I used the shopping list, buying something as simple as a pair of pantyhose was always expensive because it usually contained about 5 other items of 'whatever" whether I needed them or not. Never really used the GF/Wife excuse but If I saw an AD in a catalog or newspaper for something I wanted, I would clip it and handle it to an SA to help me find it though the guessing the size was usually wrong.
A few years or so later and it was the rack "fly bys", forget the notes, You know, where you saw something you wanted and would just grab the front one and throw it in the cart, without stopping, size be damned and more money wasted.
For the last 4-5 years though, I am at the "I don't care who sees me" place. Now I shop. I will look through the racks, shelves, or the hosiery section and not care about it, who sees me there, or what they think. If I need some pantyhose, and nothing more, that is the only thing taken to the cashier. While I will admit that I will use the "U scan" more times than not, if there is a line with no one in it, I'll go there also if faster.
On another note, My SO is accepting and we do shop a lot together now, She tends to make a lot more excuses than i think I ever did and we are working on that because I tell her what I should have been telling myself all these years before..."It's none of their business who anything is for". I will admit though, shopping with her is more fun and a lot easier :D
Joanne
Can I get this excuse gift wrapped?
I did similar things when I started. I would go to Target and pick out a half dozen other manly or child related things then go to a line where the cashier was a younger lady. In other stores I would walk through the aisles quickly, and make a few passes before I could see the items I wanted, then quickly go to a non busy checkout counter. I found another trick in that I would make a phone call as I was browsing. The call would occupy me and I would forget the small fears. I began to thaw when I was at Ann Taylor a sales person saw me and asked me if she could clear a dressing room for me. I was in a hurry and could not take her up on her offer, but I wanted to go back. These days I have come to ease with it. I usually do not go shopping dressed. I love dressing, but I dress for night life, and do not find the outfits and contoured makeup the most comfortable for a shopping trip. My recent shopping was at MAC and Victoria's Secret for a bra. I just simply find the quickest sales person, tell them what I am there for, and that it is for me. You would not believe how simple it is.
