*Disclaimer- To most people shopping once or twice a week seems like a lot and it is. I am lucky enough to have that luxury but it's also because I work for it.
Moving on. I used to love getting all dolled up to go shopping. It just made me feel confident to have makeup up on and a cute outfit while shopping. Like I've said a million times now, having two jobs takes a lot of time and energy from me so these days I just throw on a pair of jeans (Paige- Skyline are my favorite), a t-shirt or Wildfox jumper with my hair up in a messy ponytail and no makeup. While I don't look appealing to the eye, I'm still wearing "nice" clothes. I have found that I get a lot less if not NO attention from sales associates when they see me. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have been at Nordstrom, my favorite department store, and had sales associates ignore me when I came in to shop...Like, HELLO! I'M THE REASON YOU HAVE A JOB. Most of the time the younger sales associates just look at me like some teenager who can't afford anything there so they don't bother to acknowledge me. Which, BTW, I'm 26 but because of my height, 5 feet, I tend to look younger. Anyway, I have worked in retail in the past. I actually have a current part time job in retail so it baffles me that I get ignored. Even if you don't think I'm gonna buy anything, greet me, ask me if I need any help. It's just plain rude to ignore ANYONE. I especially get annoyed by the young associates who are totally snobby about the fact that they work at Nordstrom or wherever. Yet don't recognize that I'm wearing designer from head to toe. I know a lot of people who would just walk out of the store without purchasing anything but I came to shop so I'm gonna SHOP! I'll usually find a nice sales associate to ring me up for my purchase because I sure as hell am not gonna give rude people the commission they would make from my sale.
Now on to the reason for this post. I was feeling pretty down last Monday and Tuesday so I decided that a great way to cheer me up would be to go for a run at an outdoor location that's conveniently close to great shops. Don't judge me lol. So when Wednesday came around I did just that. I had a great run and was excited to get my shop on. I had been on the search for a great pair of Chelsea boots since winter time. I decided to pop in to Zara and take a look around. I found a few pairs of boots that I liked and happened to be on sale, however, my size was unavailable. I spent a good 20 minutes walking around trying shoes and jackets on and I was not greeted once. NOT ONCE. In fact one of the male sales associates there kind of kept following me around watching me as if I was going to shop lift. Mind you, I was wearing head to toe Nike workout gear and had a tiny Rebecca Minkoff Mini Mac cross body purse. My belongings barely fit in my purse, how the f@c* was I going to shoplift??? I finally just left and went to Madewell. I love the basics from Madewell for obvious reasons. I did't really go in there searching for something specific but I figured I could pick up some of my favorte Slub V-Neck T's from there. I walked around the whole store which only had one other person shopping to the 3 sales associates I saw working there and surprise, surprise, NONE of them greeted me. At this point I was annoyed at the fact that this was the second store I was ignored at so I decided to leave. As I was walking out I decided that I wouldn't end my shopping trip there and let those rude people stop me from doing what I came to do. I walked over to Urban Outfitters which is almost at the end of the shopping strip. I was greeted the moment I walked in to the store. I casually looked around and noticed a huge sign that read "Additional 30% OFF Sale" They had me at "sale" lol. I looked through and couldn't really find anything I was interested in. Then I spotted a Joe's Jeans shoe box and I just knew I found something. I pulled the box out of the shelf as if someone was going to snatch it from me. Mind you, there was only one other girl looking through the sale section lol. Anyway, I took the shoe out of the box and was extremely surprised to see they were the Chelsea boots I'd had my eye on. I was really close the purchasing them online for a sale price of $150, Regularly $225. But for some reason I couldn't pull the trigger on them before. Maybe it was the fact that I'd never actually seen them in person and just online. I immediately looked at the size and saw they were a whole size bigger than I typically wear but tried them on anyway. They were a little loose but nothing some thick socks couldn't fix. Now for the highlight of the night, the price. Remember Reg. $225 and Sale $150 online at UO. I was SHOCKED when I saw that magical little orange sale tag that read $19.99. TWENTY freakind DOLLAS! OMG! I knew there had to be a mistake so I walked around for a little bit being the pessimist that I am and just kept thinking that it was a cruel joke from the world. I just knew the moment I went to pay for them I would be told someone put the wrong sale tag on them. I finally found some cute shorts and decided it was time for the moment of truth.
I walked up to the register with my two items and was next in line when another associate noticed me waiting and quickly came over to ring me up. I was literally the only person waiting while the person in front of me was being rung up. So that was really nice of the associate to help me check out faster when there was no need or rush. After my earlier experiences at Zara and Madewell, I was so happy to be treated with not good but GREAT customer service. Ok, so back to the shoes! I put my items down and ask for a price check on the boots that are too good to be true. I explained to the sales associate that these boots are priced a lot higher on their website. The associate tells me that the tag might actually be smudged and could be $49.99. Which would still be a steal in my eyes. He scans my Urban ID (found on their app) and looks at me and says, "The moment of truth.......They ARE $19.99 and you get another 30% off because they're in the sale" I almost jumped over the counter to hug him. Did I mention it was a him...and he was CUTE! lol So now these shoes went from $225- $150- $19.99- *$13.99. I seriously could not believe it. I couldn't hide my big fat grin. I must have looked like an idiot but I could care less.
Lesson to be learned here is not to let any dumb sales associate's bring you down. If I would have gone home like I wanted to I would have never found my new Chelsea boots and been the happiest girl ever. Always remember who you are. Don't let anyone make you feel like you're not good enough or like you don't belong because a person who makes you feel that way is not worth your time or energy. Now do you want to see the boots??? I hope so because I'm going to insert a picture anyway lol
Unfortunately I just checked Urbanoutfitters.com and these are now completely sold out at but you can find similar styles at ASOS or TOPSHOP. I think my next post will be on how I style them and I'll also try to find links for similar pairs.
I know I rambled on for a long time and I'm sorry if I bored anyone but it's been a while since I sat down and opened my computer. I genuinely felt like sharing my experiences with you and I knew the moment I walked out of the store with my new boots, that I'd share this story as my next entry. I hope it's the first of many more posts to come, as I've been feeling really inspired lately.
XO- Claudia
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