How can ladies make shopping less painful and more enjoyable for men?
Let them stay home.
The first word that springs to mind is beer.
The second is fellatio.
Naked mannequins?
A fabric store near me has a comfy sofa and a lot of issues of Popular Science.
Assuming this is serious…
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Plan ahead. Do your window shopping online and have an idea of what you want before taking us along to the store. It’s cool if you see a few other things along the way, but there aren’t many men who enjoy long perusals of the racks.
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You know what size you are. No, seriously you do. We understand that sizing isn’t consistent, and that certain issues always crop up, but there is no need to take any more than two sizes into the fitting room.
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Call ahead if you are a weird size to check for availability.
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Avoid the make-up and perfume counters please. There isn’t much for us to look at there, we can’t help out with any sort of informed opinion,(other than do we like a color or scent), and this is stuff best generally shopped for alone or with your girlfriends anyway.
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Let There Be Chairs. When we ask to sit, we mean it. Our feet are tired, or we are just done with shopping for a while. Feel free to carry on and grab us when it’s time to pay or exit the store. We can play Angry Birds on our phones.
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It’s okay to split up. This is not an episode of Scooby-doo. We don’t need to be right there all the time. If you really don’t require us, then leave us in the tools, men’s sections, or gadget section/stores for a bit to chill for a while. This way we won’t be fatigued when you DO want out opinion. It is a lot easier to be objective when that is the third outfit I’ve looked at as opposed to the thirtieth.
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Food always helps. Men are just overgrown babies at times, but sometimes a treat from the food court is all the doctor ordered. Don’t comment about this or the choice of item. Just ask him if he’d like a bite or a drink and happily go along with whatever he chooses.
Contrary to popular belief, men do like to shop. We just don’t like tagging along to watch our women shop. We’re still like little boys in that we love toy stores. Drop us off in whatever kind of store we consider that to be, and we’re happy as clams.
Just don’t complain when we’ve spent next month’s rent on some gadget that you think is useless.
I hate shopping. That said, even I know these two things aren’t true. You have no idea how incredibly weird women’s sizes are; there’s plenty of reasons to bring more than 2 sizes into the fitting room. I’d take the whole fookin’ rack if I could sometimes. And I desperately miss the days when there were fitting room attendants who would go get you a different size because despite taking in what you thought might fit, you were wrong, and you’d really rather not get totally dressed again to go get the next size.
As for #3 - WTH? First off, you don’t know what size you are if you’re a woman, and second off, unless you know exactly what piece of clothing you are and what size, what can calling ahead do? If this was possible, I’d be able to buy all my clothes over the Internet, and I’d never have to go clothes shopping again. I wish it were true, but it’s not.
Wait, is this a real thing? In 2012? I thought it was just a funny-but-untrue stereotype that was only found in commercials.
You have no idea. My feet hurt just reading this thread.
I used to hate when my wife dragged me along for her shopping. I would usually play with my smartphone while waiting, but I would quickly get bored.
But one day it dawned on me: Holly crap, this place is packed with hot women!!! So while my wife was trying on clothes, I would start chit-chatting with the staff (usually women) or other customers.
Needless to say, my wife was not amused and never took me for shopping again. But either way it was a win-win situation for me!
Men are hunters. We spot our prey, kill it, haul it home and eat it. Quick and linear.
Women are gatherers. They have to explore every possible place their object could be hiding, and then they have to compare the products so the best one may be selected. Lengthy and decidedly non-linear.
Shopping is best done on-line, with beer in hand. Og bless technology!
Either way, our preferred method of shopping is point-and-click.
I do much of my own shopping online. Then again, if I buy shoes that are a little too small, I walk around in pain.
My gf shops when I am otherwise occupied. Seriously, does anyone need accompaniment to shop?
“Call ahead to check sizes for availability.”
“Yeah, we have that size.” :: click ::
My dad taught me to always call ahead to any store to make sure they had whatever item I was after. I stopped doing it after about the hundredth time that someone put the phone down for a second, checked inventory on their computer, and then came back to the phone to tell me the thing was in. I’d get to the store, Thing not on shelf. Where is it? Am I stupid? No, if there’s one or two Things left, and shoppers are going into the store in the time it takes you to get from your house to the store, often, the Thing can be long gone by the time you get there. Nobody will ever take the time, in any busy retail establishment, to go pull a specific item and hold it for you or even walk out on the floor to LOOK at the display. If it’s in a computer somewhere, it exists.
Also, at stores like Old Navy, I might be this size or that size depending on how the item is cut. I need to try things on, even if I have to take two or three sizes in with me.
What interests me is who actually brings men along on shopping trips? I don’t even shop with my girlfriends. I get tired of waiting on someone else too. I don’t even like shopping with men when they ask me to come along. (This happens. “Will you come with me to help me pick out a belt that goes with these shoes?”) I prefer solo shopping so I can either let my little eye wander to any shiny thing it sees or I can get in, grab what I need, and bail before the Indy race starts.
Oh I’ve a very good idea. Nashiitashii is both tall and large busted; two things that conspire to f-up every women’s sizing chart. I’ve been shopping with her plenty and yet despite this, she knows her size (more or less) and is able to narrow it down quickly. It’s like this: If you are a 12 in most brands, then you *might * be a 10 in a store with generous cuts, a 14 in others. Start there. If you need extra time, most men are pretty understanding. What we are NOT understanding of is trying to cram yourself into an 8, then spending twenty minutes arguing about how the sizing is just crap. Yes, there are those stores with absurd vanity sizing, and we understand just fine. Don’t kid yourselves though.
As to the second point, as mentioned above Nashiitashii knows very well that most stores in our area do not carry her size, or only carry it in limited quantities. She isn’t so tall that she needs a big and tall store, but certainly doesn’t fit the south florida “average” of 5’2-5’6. Most stores just don’t have much on hand for a a big chested woman who stands nearly 5’10 in bare feet. So she calls ahead sometimes. Why go to six Banana Republics if only the one in Boca carries the tall girl pants? If you are average, then by all means shop on. If you are bigger or smaller than the average bear and KNOW that you usually have trouble locating your size, then calling ahead is a courtesy to your partner that you will him extremely grateful for.
Wow, you must have crap service where you live. I call around all the time for stuff and only rarely will have an associate refuse to put something aside for me. Even when they do, I usually can overcome that by invoking timeliness. “It’s cool, I’m not asking you to hold it all day or anything, I’m on my way NOW and I’ll be there in 20 minutes, my name is Acid Lamp, If I’m not there by then, by all means sell the (thing) to the next person who asks for it.” Occasionally I’ve had to ask for a manager of some stripe to get that courtesy, but it’s never been a fight or an issue.
- That rule does NOT apply to sale items, hot tickets, limited quantities etc… I’m not that sort of asshole, and wouldn’t do that to an associate. Just on everyday stuff that I know won’t be regularly stocked in any outlet I might happen to swing by.
Women need to stop doing stupid shit like this (“dragging” men along shopping) so that men stop thinking that all women do stupid shit like this. Actually, I’m fairly disappointed in both the men and the women in this situation.
Women ask me to go shopping with them all the time (I’m a woman). I say “no” and that’s it.
This is the best response.
Tell the men to grow a pair and not go if they’re cranky and if they do go, be an adult about it.