THE HORRORS OF SHOPPING

My daughter says I should shop on line.  That's too much like the catalog shopping my family had to do when I was a kid.  Nothing looked or fit quite the same as it did in those pictures.  Unfortunately, I don't seem to do much better wandering through malls. 

Take Saturday as a case in point.  I set out to find a dress to wear to my grandson's wedding which is coming up in a little more than a week.  I tried all of the big stores, Dillards, Nordstrom, Macy's, Sears, Penny's, some place that has initials for a name, and several smaller shops.  What I found were shirts masquerading as dresses, flimsy tissue thin fabrics, plunging necklines, ugly colors, rude sales people, and very few actual dresses.  It seems jeans and shirts are the only women's apparel most stores stock. The few dresses available are incomplete.  The buyer must buy something to go over or under each dress to avoid being charged with exhibitionism. 

I have bad knees and enclosed malls have become an uncomfortable place to shop.  It's not just the miles of long corridors to wander along, but the crowds of unruly, loud people who clog the area making freedom of movement difficult.  The more open malls have fewer crowds of people just hanging out, but it's just a nuisance to keep finding and moving my car.   

I miss my mother, for many reasons, but especially when it comes to clothes.  She could sew anything and as a child I had cute dresses made from flour and feed sacks.  As I got older we picked out fabric together, then she added inches where needed and eliminated inches where not needed, making my clothes fit and feel comfortable.  I can sew, but I don't like to and it's a guaranteed way to turn me into a frustrated wreck.  Unfortunately I can't afford a personal tailor.

Some of the ridiculous things I discovered  was the same dress at one of the high end stores as I found at Sears.  It was $32.00 at Sears and $189.00 at the other store.  I wanted a drink, preferably water; coffee was easily found in several places, soft drinks at a couple with huge long waiting lines, but no water.  I saw people walking around with Dasani bottles, but never spotted anyone selling it.  Just a simple drinking fountain would have been welcome.  There were more people milling around in the mall hall than in the stores, making me suspect most people don't go to malls to actually buy anything, but just to be part of some kind of mob action. 

Okay, I'll admit it; shopping just doesn't appeal to me.  I've always been the sort that if I wanted something, I just went in, bought it, and got out.  That doesn't work too well any more. I may have to take a second look at online shopping--or maybe I can convince my daughter-in-law to shop for me.  She's good at it and she actually likes it.