And why or why not?
Not me. Yesterday I bought myself a much needed new jacket. And I’m very pleased with the purchase and price. Normally I’d say I hated the crowds, inconvenience, difficulty finding what I wanted, etc. - but yesterday’s shopping trip went like a breeze in terms of quickly finding what we wanted. But as my wife and I were walking through the mall I realized that I disliked being in stores mainly because it made me want things I otherwise wouldn’t.
Yes but it’s frustrating. I am very picky. And also as a tall woman finding pants is just painful. Sometimes too I have a “bad shopping day” where I actually have money and time to shop and need clothes but cannot find ANYTHING or I feel everything I try on looks like crap. Now I am out of work and cannot shop so I really just hate going into stores because I can’t get anything.
Hate it. If the UPS man can’t bring it to my door, I don’t need it.
I’d rather be dragged asshole backwards through a knothole.
About once a year my wife goes nuts and drags me to a store to get some more pants or shirts. I usually make it in and out in ten minutes or so. She takes an entire day to buy one item.
I do much of my shopping online. I don’t like crowds. When I grocery shop, I try to plan it when there are few people there. I *do *like Borders, but only go once a month because I spend too much there.
I like the idea of shopping - as in, I like the thought of having time to take a leisurely stroll through a shop or through the mall all while looking at the pretty things they have, but when I actually have to do it… Ugh. I hate it. I’m usually as direct and specific as possible, and engage a salesperson as soon as possible to help me get in and get out.
For example, shopping for maternity clothes and some shoes a couple of weeks ago took me about an hour, including drive time. I walked in, stated exactly what I needed, tried everything on, amassed a “hate it” pile and a “can live with it/like it” pile and got out. Then I went to the department store, said, “I need something with a kitten heel or lower in black and brown, plus these boots in brown,” gave them my size and, 15 minutes later, I was out. I wish shopping were always that fast.
I vote no because it’s frustrating. I’m not even tall (maybe tallish depending on who you ask), and finding an inseam that works for me is a never-ending battle. I’ve actually found jeans (Levi’s 545 low-rise, to be specific) that actually work for my leg length, and whenever I want new jeans I go to Amazon and buy another pair in a different color. I’ve found no such thing with dress pants, however, and simply lucked into what I have now. I’ll wear them until they’re in tatters!
Did I mention my shoe size is 9.5 or 10, depending on the shoe? I posted in another thread something about my typical shoe shopping conversation going a lot like this:
Me: I need a shoe that is cute, is comfortable enough to walk in for 20 minutes straight, and in a size 9.5 or 10.
Shoe Lady: Good luck with that.
I’ve decided I like hang bags now. No matter what your inseam, or shoe size, or how difficult it is to find a button-up shirt that fits you and the twins, you can always find a purse that fits. Just bought this bad boy in red two weeks ago.
I’m not a girly girl. I swear!
Nope nope nope nope nope. I hate it. I only do so when it’s absolutely necessary, and I do it in a get-in-get-the-item-get-out sort of way.
Once per year I do the dreaded buy-new-socks-and-underpants thing (and it’s coming up next weekend :eek: ), and you can rest assured I’ll be in and out of the store in 10 minutes.
Mrs. Homie, OTOH, will spend hours in the store in the search for one item. She’ll look through each and every thing on each and every rack in each and every store looking for the ultimate deal of all time. We’re going on vacation next month and she expects me to go with her to buy three new shirts for me. Can’t wait. :rolleyes:
I just went shopping this weekend. I hate it. Hate spending money, hate the crowds, hate having to see myself in an endless parade of unflattering and ill-fitting clothes, and most of all, I hate knowing *exactly *what I want or need and not being able to find anything remotely like it (or at least not for any amount of money I’m willing to spend).
And I also hate women’s sizing. The inconsistency actually seems to be getting worse. I’m having more and more trouble just figuring out which sizes to try on. And if I guess wrong, it’s more trips to the dressing room.
For instance, I normally wear an 8 or 10 in bottoms and a medium (6 or 8) in tops. This weekend, I bought two pairs of pants from the same store, one a size 8 (!) Long, which are just long enough, the other a size 4 Long, which are too long, and I’ll have to hem them. Then I went to another store, and bought a blouse and a sweater, sizes 10 and 12, respectively. Third store, two sweaters, both small.
I then went home and stabbed myself in the eye with a hot poker, to relax.
For me, it depends. If I know exactly what I want and where to get it, I’m fine. Likewise, if I vaguely need something, but there’s no time pressure so I can scout out options (for things that I want to see in person, like, say, curtains- otherwise I look online), I’m also fine.
It’s that middle area, where I actually need something and I know mostly what I want, but not where to find it, that drives me crazy. Unfortunately, probably 80% of my shopping is that category. For example, I need a plain white blouse that fits overall and doesn’t gap at the boobs. I have one, and it’s perfect so I know they exist, but hell if I can find another one and my current one isn’t going to last forever. Stores have a frigging ton of white blouses, and none of them fit quite right. Oh, well.
It depends on for what.
I hate clothes shopping. I hate having to try things on with a passion. Nothing looks good like it does on the shelves, and I just get all hot and sweaty and my hair gets to be a mess from pulling the shirts on or off, and I end up just unhappy.
I don’t particularly like shoe-shopping because there are so few of the styles I like.
I love curtain shopping, go figure. And shopping for electronics? Sign me up!
I just read Vihaga’s post and it seems to be she’s nailed it. It’s that “I need a white blouse that can go with several things” set that I HATE.
Yep. I enjoy shopping if I know what I need and where such things can be acquired for a non-insane amount of money. And I like ‘browsing’ for things I don’t need right now but could use. For these things, I often hit thrift shops (I LOVE to find a bargain; nailed a London Fog coat with zip-out all-weather lining, in my size, yesterday, for $4.00!!!
I also enjoy browsing around with friends when there’s nothing I particularly need, but I have some extra cash and I’m just “window shopping”. That’s how I landed my latest hand bag. It’s a Fossil bag I’ve gotten tons of compliments on. Found it at an outlet store. Retail, $90.00; outlet price, $60.00, but it was on the clearance shelf and I got it for $40.00, and it matches just everything. Happiness.
Yes to this, too. I’ll have a pair of pants/shoes/fill-in-the-blank, that I adore and would love to replace, but I just cannot find a replacement! Drives me insane!
Fortunately for me, most of my shopping does not fall into this category.
The happy flip-side to this (which has happened to me several times) is when, on a whim, I try on something that I know is not my style/will not fit/will not look good on me, and it turns out to be perfect and look wonderful, and I happily wear it until it falls off of me in tatters!
As for electronics, I don’t need to worry about them. My hubby buys so many that if I bought them as well, we’d have to buy another apartment! Good thing because, except for the fact I’m a Doper, I’m not a geek.
This is true for me, too. But it occurs to me now that I don’t think of either of these things as “shopping”. In my mind, the former is basically just “buying”, while the latter is something more like “browsing”. Shopping, to me, is needing a specific thing in a now-ish timeframe, but not knowing for sure where to find it or whether it even exists. That awful middle area you so perfectly described.
Yes! Endless options that would work, and all you have to do is pick your favorite.
Hate it. In addition, I can be a bit childish about the whole concept. Sometimes I “feel up to it” so I drive to a mall. Once I begin shopping, my mood changes and I abort the whole deal.
I hate shopping with a passion. I hate having to buy anything where they actually want me to buy something. Kill the salemen, advertisers and marketing folks and I would be really happy.
I only marginally like parting with my money. Give me something worth the price and I’ll happily pay, but most things are priced in the “$50 turd” basket.
Every person affiliated with any store anywhere is attempting to take more of my money in exchange for crap I don’t want.
Every aspect of the environment, from the cheesy music to the layout of the store, is designed to get me to spend more money.
“Advertisement” is another word for “blatant lie designed to get me to spend my money foolishly”.
2-4 above costs the store money, making them raise prices and do more manipulative things (like 2-4 above) in order to squeeze more money out of me. This is a vicious cycle.
Occasionally, I actually get some small amount of consumer surplus out of the things I buy, which makes me happy. Waffle House and White Castle are both consistently cheap and tasty restaurants. Compare Red Lobster, which is like an amusement park for fat people, with Waffle House, where the only manipulative advertisements there are pictures of their food. An average dinner for my wife and I at RL costs $40 while it probably costs under $10 at WH. And Waffle House tastes better! These are the reasons I go to Goodwill instead of the mall, or buy cars off of the side of the road instead of from a dealer. I recognize, however, that I am far from average.
I will admit – don’t flame me too hard – that I place Walmart into the “good” category because it is focused almost entirely on the product and price instead of looks, style, sex appeal or the bandwagon. I don’t shop at Walmart to boost my ego or fit in with the hip, Walmart crowd. I shop there to buy toilet paper and shit. Shopping at Walmart doesn’t make me happy; but it doesn’t make me want to kill myself like shopping almost anywhere else.
Apparently, for most companies marketing is the only really justifiable cost. Who cares about product quality or price when you can put a half naked chick on a billboard and print money?
Did this phrasing amuse anyone else, or was it just me? 
yes and no.
I love shopping for food - I want to pick the best meat and produce, and really do enjoy exploring new and interesting ingredients.
I detest shopping in malls with the burning hate of a million novas. Started with my mom. She would go into a mall, and go to pretty much every single fucking store, and look at every single rack of whatever. didnt matter if all I needed was a single pair of jeans or a new winter school wardrobe. EVERY FUCKING STORE AND EVERY FUCKING RACK. It is a pair of fucking 501 jeans, in my size. Go to the fucking rack, get a pair, try it on, proceed to the checkout. Her way, all fucking day. my way, maybe 30 minutes if there is a line.
I like to shop IF I have a lot of time AND a goal - like new sneakers… I hate to shop if I have to run out to buy, say, black pants that I need NOW. There are never any black pants. Anywhere. (that I could possibly wear/buy).
I also suffer from indecision. I spent over an hour in Burlington Coat Factory one afternoon trying on leather jackets - I tried on every jacket in my size, and narrowed it down to six, then to four, and then I tried on those four again and again and again and again…finally, a saleswoman with a wary look on her face (they must have been watching me on a hidden camera) approached this OCD weirdo and asked if I needed any help. Ya think??? I tried on the four jackets and asked her to give me her honest opinion, and we finally settled on a winner.
I despise clothes shopping, and only go shopping when 1) I know I need something, 2) I know WHAT I need, and 3) I know where I’m going to get it. Usually it’s black pants (I wear black cotton flat-front pants every single day) or bras - things I cannot buy online because I have to try them on to see if the size and the cut fits me. Right now, the pants I have on have little frays on the bottom cuffs that are very hard to see but are an indication that I need to go stock up again and haven’t because I dread it so.
Every other piece of clothing (skirts, shirts, sweaters, shoes) I buy online. I know my sizes and what styles I like that flatter me, and send things back that end up not fitting.
Book shopping, on the other hand? All day, easily.