1 post tagged “shopping favorite”
What's your favorite thing to shop for?
Submitted by JadedButterfly.
How about, what is my least favourite thing to shop for? The answer: winter coats. I am always nervous when making an expensive purchase that isn't on electronics and especially when it comes to clothes because it seems so frivilous and weird and I could probably put that money to good use on something like DVDs of television shows from my childhood or more books on the GRE. A good coat is one of those big investments that makes me super anxious.
The problem is I've gotten into a five year cycle of, having lost/ruined/left behind mine from the previous year, I wait until the weather turns overnight from Spring/Fall into Winter/Winter and then get panicky and run to Old Navy or Costco and buy some ill-fitting piece. I curse it all winter long and say that I'll never do this again next year. I always do.
However! Because I am now kind of a grownup, and Christ it's cold out, I've decided to break this cycle. Since I hate shopping in stores (trying stuff on always makes me all flustered and sweaty), the Internetz was to the rescue. Specifically, Amazon.com
I like Amazon because I am lazy and they are heaven for the lazy person. Also, I find it amusing to receive packages filled with both books and groceries. What a crazy mishap! Either way, under the "Outerwear / Ladies Coats" sections there were about 3000 items. I have no patience for 3000 items so I figure if a good one doesn't come up on the first thirty page generations it wasn't meant to be.
I learned a lot about Amazon.com during this time. I am not really a picky shopper. I wear big shoes but 99% of my time is either spent in a work uniform or pajamas. I pretty much knew what I was looking for: a long-ish, not heinously coloured wool coat with a decent lining for under two hundred dollars. Something like this (I have not renamed the images, so please deal with it accordingly):
I did not think this would be hard. I figured since it was good looking enough, the market equilibrium would be high enough so that there would be one for me somewhere. I thought wrong! They were all sold out! Every thing that wasn't ridiculous looking on thirty pages of Amazon.com browsing! WTF? It's only October! Most of the country isn't THAT cold yet. How is this happening?
I did learn two very important lessons. One has to do with the Amazon.com item generation script--it sucks. I learned that if sorted by "Most Popular," under, I remind you, "OUTERWEAR / LADIES COATS" I receive options like this
This is neither a ladies coat nor anywhere near appropriate! And yet it suggested it to me no less than four times out of the thirty pages I viewed. It made me feel, if nothing else, really really uncomfortable. Children in turtlenecks tend to do this to me.
I also learned something about the users of Amazon.com and their taste levels, as it also continued to suggest something like this as well:
I did not look into it further, but I can only assume that this dog somehow follows you around and licks you warm during the winter months? I have no idea. Actually, I think it is screened on the back of a classy denim jacket. Awesome!
Either way, I ended up ordering some bland thing with big buttons from Overstock.com that will hopefully arrive before I lose a digit to the randomly freezing weather we're having here. Maybe next time, Amazon!
