I Went, I Shopped, I Bought Stuff…

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imageAfter yesterday’s nonsense I decided that the only thing for it was to take myself off into town and have a shop. I’m going to a wedding on Saturday and needed a dress. At least, that’s what I was telling myself.

Now, while I can easily spend hours browsing through make-up and beauty products, I’m not exactly a patient person when it comes to shopping for clothes for a number of reasons:

1. Over the last five years I’ve put on quite a large amount of weight, which means that I now have a big ass to go with the large hips that all the women in my family have inherited from my grandmother, so finding something that a/ is in my size and b/ is flattering to my pear shape is quite difficult.

2. If I do actually find something, it’s inevitable that I can’t afford it.

3. I don’t particularly make an effort to look my best when I’m trudging around, so it’s a frequent occurrence that shop assistants are rude and unhelpful (make-up assistants at a very well known brand are particularly awful in my experience) and it’s not uncommon for me to be followed by some sort of security guard who has clearly made the assumption that I’m going to steal something and is waiting to pounce on me.

This morning I decided to adopt the ‘f*ck it’ attitude and after a quick wash and change I found myself standing outside The Bullring just as it opened. I looked a mess – my jeans, old running shoes, a t-shirt and my big padded coat that I like to refer to as ‘the sleeping bag’ were complimented with yesterday’s make-up (don’t judge), and in-need-of-a-deep-condition hair that was tied back in a manner that reminded me of Janet from Two Pints of Lager.

Gorgeous.

However, today I didn’t care. I was going to shop.

And shop I did! Ok, it wasn’t quite a ‘shop-till-you-drop’ six hour excursion that I’ve seen my mother do on countless occasions, more of a ‘shop-till-your-feet-get-a-bit-sore-and-then-sit-down-with-a-cigarette-and-a-sandwich-for-a-while’ type thing, but it was indeed a successful day. Why?

1. I’ve been successfully losing weight since the start of the year. Nothing major, just a lb or two a week, but this meant that the first dress I tried was too big and I had to go a size smaller! Yay! And it was in the sale! Yay! And it looked awesome! Yay!

2. I chanced my luck and went into a store that I haven’t been able to shop in for a while, simply because they don’t make clothes in my size. I tried on a skirt… And it fit! Yay! And was also in the sale! Yay!

You get the idea – the process was repeated with a beautiful top, which was also in the sale and fit really well.

There was one rather strange incident as I was walking back up towards the bus stop, however. A woman who was working on a small beauty counter stopped me. I couldn’t quite work out where she was from, other than she was middle eastern. This was genuinely the conversation we had:

Her: Hello! Your skin tone looks awful.

Me: Why thank you!

Her: I have something for you. You sit. (She pointed at a chair)

Me: No thanks, I’m happy with the products I use.

Her: No, you sit down.

Me: No thanks – I have to go but thanks anyway.

Her (really aggressive and angry): I give you this then if you rude. (She shoved a couple of samples at me – they were face creams that contained red wine)

Me: No thanks, I’ve got really sensitive skin.

Her: Go away then. (She made a shooing gesture with her hand.)

And the customer service award goes to… I couldn’t help but laugh. I’ve done a lot of work with beauty and hair consultants in the last year or so but this was certainly a new experience – I’ve never had anyone call me over and then tell me to go away before.

I spent a little more than I should have done. Ok, I spent a lot more. Oops. Totally worth it BECAUSE THE CLOTHES FIT ME!

And the wedding? It’s going to be at a zoo, so let’s see what I’ll decide to wear on Saturday morning! I’m thinking my skirt would match the chimps…

What about you guys? What have you been up to today?

57 thoughts on “I Went, I Shopped, I Bought Stuff…”

  2. How rude of the woman, report her to management! Weight loss is tough, I understand what you say from personal experience. Keep on being a loser hehe. 👍🏻❤️

  3. The stiletto-wearing, red-lipped, hair-painfully-scrapped-back-in-a-chignon beauty counter army terrify me.. 😳

    • It depends where I am. I buy most of my products from Organique – the manager is so friendly and helpful and I always feel relaxed around her… Big department stores are a different story…

    • Haha! I always try and be as nice as possible to people working in the retail industry because I’ve had many jobs that have required me to deal with the general public, but I’ll certainly be ignoring her in the future!

  6. OMG! How rude! And that shoo of the hand at the end! Gosh. Sometimes you have to just laugh it off as getting mad is not worth it to ruin your day. Glad you got the clothes you needed/wanted. I love shopping. Have fun at the wedding 🙂

  7. lol Suzie, you had me giggling, but seriously you look amazing (skin tone looks good from what I can tell), but finding something that fits and on sale, that’s a good day.
    Congrats on all you’re doing, weight, blogging, promotion, all the changes.
    I understand, I lost a lot of weight (and some more to go) and everything I’m wearing these days looks like it double for a cape too. 😉 But doing something about it would include shopping and trying on clothes (shudder). I guess we have to laugh.
    Enjoyed this post, as always, as for my day, just battling the lashing wind and rain made it interesting, bu other than that, good.
    Hope the rest of the week treats you well. 🙂

  9. Those skin care people are like a whole different species! I once accidentally got roped into hearing about a moisturizer (containing minerals from the Dead Sea, naturally), and the lady asked if I wanted to purchase it. I politely turned her down, and she grabbed my hand and said, “Dear, you need to start caring about your skin.” START?! Thanks, asshole! 😀 😀

    Also, I loved the line about you and your mom having different views of “shop-til-you-drop,” because it’s the same way with my mom and me. She’s in her sixties, and I simply cannot keep up with her shopping energy.

    • Haha! Mine’s the same – give her some vouchers for somewhere and she’s like a woman possessed!

      I’m lucky in that I’ve only had a few bad experiences on my make-up travels, bu I certainly won’t be going to this woman in the future!

  10. So much fun to read this, and very pleased for you about the weight loss. I need to get on that bandwagon and lose many pounds. Please post a photo of you in the new dress – want to smile about how lovely you look.

  12. That’s hilarious. (The makeup lady reminds me of a favorite scene in Mickey Blue Eyes with Hugh Grant.) I want to see that coat! So glad you got gorgeous stuff!

  14. Good to see you having a laugh and entertaining us in the process, Suzie. This is what I call a proper ‘Suzie Post.’ Loved it.

    P.S – I’m going to pour red wine all over my face before going to bed to see if that Beauty Therapist is correct.

  16. A sale and a dress which fits! Lucky day I must say. I can totally relate to that 😉 Sometimes you spend hours poring over dresses to find even one of them does not fit you to your expectations and the one which you remotely fit, the bank account gives a red light :\ Glad this one was rewarding ❤
    And that saleperson story !! Oh boy ! Is she for real ? O_o . I admire you to have handled that in a respectful way though 🙂

  17. There really is no better feeling than trying on clothes you’ve never been able to get into before and having them fit! I’m desperately trying to lose a bit of weight after over indulging way too much recently, reading this had reminded me to keep going 🙂 X

  19. I just read that with my mouth open in disbelief! I’d have give her a gob full that would have made old ladies cringe. I think you handled it really well. That sounds like such a lucky shopping trip though.

  20. Dislike it a lot when people are like this! You know the shows where bosses test their workers by going undercover? Great idea for a show but actually have a friend who did it. And then fired over half of his employees because they were so rude to the customer and also to their co-workers. Some people in some jobs think that they are royalty. They don’t realize that every customer pays their salary. They don’t realize that you don’t have to look like Paris Hilton in order to be able to shop…

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