Sometimes they are needed...
(That is the freezer, in case it's not obvious...)
The Relay Race of holistic care
2 years ago
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
(That is the freezer, in case it's not obvious...)
During two years of counselling I've discovered many things about myself. Some things have been good and some have been... hmm... somewhat more challenging. My most recent discovery has surprised me a little - I've discovered that I have opinions. I know, that sounds nuts, doesn't it? Everyone has opinions. What I haven't known until recently, however, are MY opinions. This is not to say I've never had an opinion on anything - in fact I'm sure there are plenty of people who would call me very opinionated - but I've never been confident in my opinions and have always been easily swayed to other opinions, partly because I haven't trusted myself and partly from fear of rejection. Those things are still there to a degree, but I'm slowly discovering what *I* like and what *I* think... and sometimes it surprises me.
So today I did some clothes shopping. It was a spur of the moment thing (most of the 'spurring' coming from one friend who recommended a fabulous shop and another friend who came with me and 'encouraged' me to buy the things I did) and I spent waaay too much money, but I don't care. I bought things I would never have bought a year ago or even six months ago because I didn't really know what I liked and I feared wearing anything that might draw attention to me. This, of course, led to some boring fashion choices. Here are todays's choices... far less boring than previous choices and for the first time I really know that I like them and want to wear them:
This one is actually a birthday present from a friend (but I don't have to wait until my birthday, which is not until next month). The red is darker than in the photo.
This is from the same store, which has some truly fabulous stuff. (First photo is the front, second is the back.)
Also from the same store... it's actually striped, not grey, but it doesn't show up well in the picture. The second pic shows the detail.
Trust me when I say that this one looks a LOT better on!
On to another store... I saw these months ago but they were too expensive. Guess what? They were $40 cheaper today AND in my size!
And what are shoes without a handbag? (It's not leather and it's a darker red than the photo.)
I also bought this in black but it didn't photograph very well. It's a long, swingy coatish thing which I'll probably wear with jeans.
Another casual one...
See the lovely royal blue on this one? It's actually a dark purple but my silly camera didn't want to co-operate. The top itself is also black and not that weird, faded, greyish black that it appears here.
Last photo - this is also a darker black than in the photo.
In addition to all of this I bought a couple of plain tee shirts (one black, one white) and a couple of singlets to go under the more revealing items.
All up, a very nice day. Hooray for shopping and hooray for starting to find my voice. It's a great feeling.
.
So today I did some clothes shopping. It was a spur of the moment thing (most of the 'spurring' coming from one friend who recommended a fabulous shop and another friend who came with me and 'encouraged' me to buy the things I did) and I spent waaay too much money, but I don't care. I bought things I would never have bought a year ago or even six months ago because I didn't really know what I liked and I feared wearing anything that might draw attention to me. This, of course, led to some boring fashion choices. Here are todays's choices... far less boring than previous choices and for the first time I really know that I like them and want to wear them:
This one is actually a birthday present from a friend (but I don't have to wait until my birthday, which is not until next month). The red is darker than in the photo.
This is from the same store, which has some truly fabulous stuff. (First photo is the front, second is the back.)
Also from the same store... it's actually striped, not grey, but it doesn't show up well in the picture. The second pic shows the detail.
Trust me when I say that this one looks a LOT better on!
On to another store... I saw these months ago but they were too expensive. Guess what? They were $40 cheaper today AND in my size!
And what are shoes without a handbag? (It's not leather and it's a darker red than the photo.)
I also bought this in black but it didn't photograph very well. It's a long, swingy coatish thing which I'll probably wear with jeans.
Another casual one...
See the lovely royal blue on this one? It's actually a dark purple but my silly camera didn't want to co-operate. The top itself is also black and not that weird, faded, greyish black that it appears here.
Last photo - this is also a darker black than in the photo.
In addition to all of this I bought a couple of plain tee shirts (one black, one white) and a couple of singlets to go under the more revealing items.
All up, a very nice day. Hooray for shopping and hooray for starting to find my voice. It's a great feeling.
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It's happened. I've reached an age where I looked at a particular product and thought, "Hmmm... there's a handy little item..."
The item? It was this:
The item? It was this:
Yep, I bought a "tv tray". Actually it's called the Table-Mate II. I have no idea how it differs from the Table-Mate I but I'm sure it's infinitely superior. I bought it so I can comfortably use my laptop whilst sitting on the lounge and it's great for that purpose. However... the pictures on the box are a little off-putting.
They all look a bit sad, don't they? One lonely little person, sitting there all alone on a HUGE lounge, eating a solitary meal or reading a book, using their handy tray table.
When I start eating TV dinners by the comforting blue glow of my television I'll know for sure that buying this table was the beginning of the end.
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It's finally here and the very nice delivery boys from Fantastic Furniture also carried my old lounge suite out to my garage, for which I was extremely grateful (especially as they didn't charge me for it).
This sort of shows the colour although it was hard to get an accurate picture. It's a little darker in real life.
This sort of shows the colour although it was hard to get an accurate picture. It's a little darker in real life.
Here's the whole room (yes, you can indeed see two cat beds AND a cat tunnel...) The purple cushions won't necessarily be staying; they were just on the old couch.
And because I have a need for completion, here's the rest of the room... (yep, that's a scratching post... it's like kitty Disneyland around here).
What's that, I hear you ask? Could you get a closer look at that fantabulous wallpaper? Why, of course...
Yeah, outstanding, huh? The photo doesn't do it justice; it's awesome. Oh, the joys of renting. Actually it's not really that bad... or at least, it's grown on me and I'm no longer startled when I walk into my loungeroom. Fortunately it's the only room with wallpaper.
So, that's been my day. It's been 13 years since I bought a new lounge so I'm feeling very grown up. I'll feel even better once I get rid of the excess furniture... so let me know if you know anyone in Melbourne who would like a chair like this one... (the frame is ancient - I bought it when I was 18 - but the cushion is only a year old).
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I admit it; I'm unfaithful. Instead of grieving my red couch for a respectable time I went right out today and bought a new couch. I'm worse than Scarlett O'Hara dancing at that ball when she was supposed to be mourning her husband. Except that Scarlett never really loved Charles Hamilton whereas I really loved the red couch. I went to visit it at Ikea and everything.
Aaaaanyway.... as I mentioned in my previous post, after discovering the red couch was no longer available I went to various big-name furniture stores and discovered that couches are EXPENSIVE. Wow, I had no idea that Ikea is really much cheaper than many places. I went home discouraged by the knowledge that it would take me at least another year to save for two couches. Oh my, how depressing. And then last night, I remembered Fantastic Furniture. I had hesitated initially because they have a lot of medium-quality furniture, a depressing amount of low-quality furniture and a few quite-good-quality items. Their wooden furniture (coffee tables, tallboys etc) is actually pretty good, as are their bed frames but I wouldn't buy a mattress from them and I was unsure about couches. When you buy a $300 couch it's not usually an item you'll be handing down to your kids, you know what I mean? Nevertheless, I took a trip out to Fantastic Furniture today and sat on every single couch in the place. Let's not mince words - many of them were rubbish. Ugly, cheap looking, uncomfortable and feeling like they will be broken in six months. Others were very sturdy and well-made but not in my price range or simply not what I wanted. Eventually I settled on the couch pictured below - let me stress that I did NOT buy it in that hideous colour.
Aaaaanyway.... as I mentioned in my previous post, after discovering the red couch was no longer available I went to various big-name furniture stores and discovered that couches are EXPENSIVE. Wow, I had no idea that Ikea is really much cheaper than many places. I went home discouraged by the knowledge that it would take me at least another year to save for two couches. Oh my, how depressing. And then last night, I remembered Fantastic Furniture. I had hesitated initially because they have a lot of medium-quality furniture, a depressing amount of low-quality furniture and a few quite-good-quality items. Their wooden furniture (coffee tables, tallboys etc) is actually pretty good, as are their bed frames but I wouldn't buy a mattress from them and I was unsure about couches. When you buy a $300 couch it's not usually an item you'll be handing down to your kids, you know what I mean? Nevertheless, I took a trip out to Fantastic Furniture today and sat on every single couch in the place. Let's not mince words - many of them were rubbish. Ugly, cheap looking, uncomfortable and feeling like they will be broken in six months. Others were very sturdy and well-made but not in my price range or simply not what I wanted. Eventually I settled on the couch pictured below - let me stress that I did NOT buy it in that hideous colour.
The couch pictured is a two-seater. I bought a three-seater and a three-seater sofa bed. Essentially the same as pictured but a bit wider. The fabric I chose is a rough looking fabric kind of like corduroy but the lines aren't as smooth and ordered as cord. Hmmm... it has just occurred to me that it might make a perfect kitty scratching post. Oh dear. The colour is called 'fudge' but it doesn't look like any fudge I've ever eaten. It's a fawny/tan colour... darker than cream but not yellowy, and lighter than brown. All up, including delivery, it was roughly $1750, which is a tad more than I had available to spend, but... la la la... not listening.
When it arrives - in four to six weeks - I'll take a photo of the real thing and post it.
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Almost a year ago now I joined the gym and (unrelated to the gym) fell in love with a red corduroy couch at Ikea - I blogged about these things at the time. It's taken me a while to get my act together and start saving but in the last couple of months I've made a real effort and I estimate that I'm only three or four months away from being able to afford the couch at last. I decided to encourage myself to continue by going on to the Ikea website and having a look at my couch. The website had a number of problems and wouldn't show me pictures but a few days later it was fine. Oh look, there's my couch. Blue, cream, striped, pink... wait, where's the red one? Maybe it's a problem with the website again... I'll just email the store.
The red couch has been discontinued. MY red couch has been discontinued!!
I'm SO SAD.
Okay, I'm sad, but I rallied. I thought, "I'll just take this as an excuse to go couch shopping at a few other stores. Yeah, it will be fun. Shopping!" I did that today. It wasn't fun. Apparently, Ikea charges a LOT less for couches than most other stores. I can't even afford to buy ONE 2.5 seater couch, let alone the two I had planned to get from Ikea. It was extremely depressing. Now I'm in a quandry about whether to keep saving for a couch or to put my savings towards my $3,500 credit card debt. Yes, I know, I should get rid of my debt first. The problem is that it's going to take me a long time to be able to pay it off - although I have a plan and I'm reducing it slowly - and I was just finding it depressing never to buy any nice things for myself. My whole life became about bills and debt reduction and it made me cranky and discouraged, so I decided to slightly reduce my credit card payments and redirect some of that towards my savings. It felt so good to be saving for something fun. Sigh. I want my red couch!
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The red couch has been discontinued. MY red couch has been discontinued!!
I'm SO SAD.
Okay, I'm sad, but I rallied. I thought, "I'll just take this as an excuse to go couch shopping at a few other stores. Yeah, it will be fun. Shopping!" I did that today. It wasn't fun. Apparently, Ikea charges a LOT less for couches than most other stores. I can't even afford to buy ONE 2.5 seater couch, let alone the two I had planned to get from Ikea. It was extremely depressing. Now I'm in a quandry about whether to keep saving for a couch or to put my savings towards my $3,500 credit card debt. Yes, I know, I should get rid of my debt first. The problem is that it's going to take me a long time to be able to pay it off - although I have a plan and I'm reducing it slowly - and I was just finding it depressing never to buy any nice things for myself. My whole life became about bills and debt reduction and it made me cranky and discouraged, so I decided to slightly reduce my credit card payments and redirect some of that towards my savings. It felt so good to be saving for something fun. Sigh. I want my red couch!
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I have a confession... I'm a sucker for stationery. (Shut up - it's NOT an addiction! I can stop any time I want!) Ahem. Anyway, yesterday I spent the day catching up with a friend who was visiting from Sydney. It was a great day; she's a very dear friend and I haven't seen her in a long time. So, we did what any long-time friends would do... we shopped! I was, of course, unable to go past one of my favourite stores, Kikki.K. Oh, it's a treasure trove of things that I'm sure I need. No, really. It's like Ikea but with only stationery. God bless the Swedes.
Do I sound more organised as I'm typing this? I should - here's what I bought:
Do I sound more organised as I'm typing this? I should - here's what I bought:
It's a bit hard to see, but it's a weekly planner 60-page notepad with 'to do' and 'to buy' sections on the side, plus a section to jot things down for next week. And then, still not feeling quite organised enough, I bought this:
It's a meal planner, which is great for me because although I'm not feeding anyone else and therefore could in theory just do whatever I like, I like to plan my meals in advance because it helps me budget and it stops me grazing on chips while I'm trying to decide what to eat.
Because I am both a stationery nerd and an organisation junkie, I am delighted with these purchases. I've even crossed two things off today's list. Clean litter tray - tick. Go to gym - tick. (Write blog post about my geekiness - tick...)
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Various things that have passed across my mind and horizon this week...
* Ducted heating is possibly the most wonderful thing ever invented. It's been COLD here. If I had a job where I could work from home I don't think I would have left my bed all week. There was at least one night where I got into bed with a book, stuck my feet under my hot water bottle (with its fleecy cover), picked up my cup of tea and sighed happily... aaaahhhh. Wow - who knew I would turn into a little old lady so early?
* Last night I cooked risotto for my home group (Bible study group). It was very delicious... but possibly less so after I threw in a large handful of shaved parmesan and then realised it was green. Euww! Thankfully the risotto was about porridge consistency so it was easy to scrape a layer off the top and remove it.
* I've been watching Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren. She is sublime. Enough said. I've also been re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Really, could they have found someone who looks less like a hobbit than Elijah Wood? He's far too pretty to be a hobbit.
* My new (temporary) boss is lovely but doesn't know the meaning of the phrase 'personal space'. Unfortunately I hate having my personal space invaded without invitation, which means we do this little dance where my boss comes to speak with me, I back off because he's standing too close, he comes closer because I've moved away, I back off again, he comes closer, etc etc. I suppose it's good exercise, if nothing else.
* Yesterday my cat took her toilet fetish one step further and stood on the unopened packet of toilet paper in order to stick her head and paws right inside the bowl. As I watched her leaning in with her head directly under the bit where the water is released into the bowl I have to confess it took all my willpower not to press the flush button. (I promise that if I do succumb to the temptation I shall wait until I have my camera handy...)
* The new Star Trek film was immensely satisfying, but I realised the extent of my geekness when the camera panned across the prow of the Enterprise and I smiled in delight to see 'NCC-1701'. Hmmm... yeah. Geeks ahoy.
* Shopping, shopping, shopping... this week I bought three pairs of jeans for $75. Total, not each. Fabulous. I'm also going to a favourite wool shop on Saturday and then to Ikea on Tuesday. Be still, my beating heart.
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* Ducted heating is possibly the most wonderful thing ever invented. It's been COLD here. If I had a job where I could work from home I don't think I would have left my bed all week. There was at least one night where I got into bed with a book, stuck my feet under my hot water bottle (with its fleecy cover), picked up my cup of tea and sighed happily... aaaahhhh. Wow - who knew I would turn into a little old lady so early?
* Last night I cooked risotto for my home group (Bible study group). It was very delicious... but possibly less so after I threw in a large handful of shaved parmesan and then realised it was green. Euww! Thankfully the risotto was about porridge consistency so it was easy to scrape a layer off the top and remove it.
* I've been watching Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren. She is sublime. Enough said. I've also been re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Really, could they have found someone who looks less like a hobbit than Elijah Wood? He's far too pretty to be a hobbit.
* My new (temporary) boss is lovely but doesn't know the meaning of the phrase 'personal space'. Unfortunately I hate having my personal space invaded without invitation, which means we do this little dance where my boss comes to speak with me, I back off because he's standing too close, he comes closer because I've moved away, I back off again, he comes closer, etc etc. I suppose it's good exercise, if nothing else.
* Yesterday my cat took her toilet fetish one step further and stood on the unopened packet of toilet paper in order to stick her head and paws right inside the bowl. As I watched her leaning in with her head directly under the bit where the water is released into the bowl I have to confess it took all my willpower not to press the flush button. (I promise that if I do succumb to the temptation I shall wait until I have my camera handy...)
* The new Star Trek film was immensely satisfying, but I realised the extent of my geekness when the camera panned across the prow of the Enterprise and I smiled in delight to see 'NCC-1701'. Hmmm... yeah. Geeks ahoy.
* Shopping, shopping, shopping... this week I bought three pairs of jeans for $75. Total, not each. Fabulous. I'm also going to a favourite wool shop on Saturday and then to Ikea on Tuesday. Be still, my beating heart.
.
Today I went with a friend up to Olinda, in the Dandenongs. It is a lovely little spot up in the hills with some delightful crafty shops and tea houses. We found a new shop called Treasures of Istanbul, which was loaded with the most wonderful hand-painted Turkish plates and bowls, as well as rugs, bags and some truly outstanding lamps. The guy who owns it has just moved to Australia to be with his Australian fiance so the store is fairly new, but he seems to be doing okay. My friend and I could have spent hours in there - not to mention thousands of dollars, if we had that kind of money.
Given that it's a new shop, and the owner has just moved to Australia, it would have been unwelcoming not to buy something, right? Right - I knew you'd agree. I bought this bag:
Given that it's a new shop, and the owner has just moved to Australia, it would have been unwelcoming not to buy something, right? Right - I knew you'd agree. I bought this bag:
The photo doesn't quite do justice to the beautiful rich colours. I really love it... it makes me smile just to look at it!
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Yesterday I went to the supermarket to buy something for lunch. I admit, I wasn't looking my best. Although it was a work day I work in a pretty casual environment so I wear jeans most of the time. I was wearing them yesterday, and my top was clean but maybe a bit slobby. My hair was scraped back and I admit my grey regrowth should have been dealt with about two weeks ago. Still, I was feeling okay... until I got to the checkout, where the girl serving me greeted me cheerily with, "Hi, how are you today? You look dead!" Not "you look dead tired", just "you look dead".
I was a little taken aback but was prepared to believe I might have misheard her. I said, "I beg your pardon?" She repeated it more loudly, "You look dead!" I said, "Oh." At this point she may have realised she wasn't winning any points with me so she asked, "Umm.. have you had a busy day?" I could have put her out of her misery but I was a tad snippy by then, so I stared her down and said, "No, not particularly."
Strangely, the conversation ceased at that point...
.
I was a little taken aback but was prepared to believe I might have misheard her. I said, "I beg your pardon?" She repeated it more loudly, "You look dead!" I said, "Oh." At this point she may have realised she wasn't winning any points with me so she asked, "Umm.. have you had a busy day?" I could have put her out of her misery but I was a tad snippy by then, so I stared her down and said, "No, not particularly."
Strangely, the conversation ceased at that point...
.
...because I bought an evaporative cooler. The air is not as icy-cold as an air conditioner but it's about ten thousand times better than sitting in front of a fan that's pushing hot air towards you. Last night I went out to the shopping centre because it was cool there, and when I came home and walked inside I started to cry because the air in my house was considerably hotter than outside (and it was already uncomfortably hot out there). The air from the fan honestly felt like the air being blown from a heater, but leaving it off was far worse. While I was at the shops I went into a few stores in the vain hope that they might have an air cooler for sale but I was out of luck. Most had lots of fans and a couple of portable air conditioners, which are out of my price range and aren't really that effective.
I resigned myself to waiting out the heatwave, but after another night of sweating, feverish nightmares and waking up every hour or so I decided I couldn't wait, even though the so-called cool change is meant to come tonight. We're still in for another week of temps over 30. So, I went onto eBay. There were lots of evaporative coolers, and lots in drivable distance - but the bidding was OUTRAGEOUS. Clearly, people are desperate so they're all bidding past the price of a new cooler just to be sure of securing one, because a second-hand cooler is better than no cooler at all. I can attest to that.
I bid on one but it went over my limit very quickly. I thought I'd either miss out on a cooler or have to pay more than I wanted when lo and behold, I saw one with a "Buy It Now" price of $60. ("Buy It Now" means you can bid, and hope that you get it cheaper than the Buy It Now price, or simply pay the asking price and know you'll get the item.) I think it had only been listed for a couple of minutes when I saw it. I didn't even hesitate; I knew I'd never get it for that price at an auction. There's actually an identical one on eBay now and the price is up to $60 already - it's had 35 bids and there's still 18 hours to go. The one on which I'd bid originally is up to $102.50. (**Update - it sold for $120 after 28 bids.) The one I bought is only about a year old but it's still second-hand - you can buy these things NEW for $100. Madness!
Anyway, so now I have the cooler. I no longer want to cry and I'll probably stop swearing too. I can't guarantee I'll stop having ice cream for dinner.
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I resigned myself to waiting out the heatwave, but after another night of sweating, feverish nightmares and waking up every hour or so I decided I couldn't wait, even though the so-called cool change is meant to come tonight. We're still in for another week of temps over 30. So, I went onto eBay. There were lots of evaporative coolers, and lots in drivable distance - but the bidding was OUTRAGEOUS. Clearly, people are desperate so they're all bidding past the price of a new cooler just to be sure of securing one, because a second-hand cooler is better than no cooler at all. I can attest to that.
I bid on one but it went over my limit very quickly. I thought I'd either miss out on a cooler or have to pay more than I wanted when lo and behold, I saw one with a "Buy It Now" price of $60. ("Buy It Now" means you can bid, and hope that you get it cheaper than the Buy It Now price, or simply pay the asking price and know you'll get the item.) I think it had only been listed for a couple of minutes when I saw it. I didn't even hesitate; I knew I'd never get it for that price at an auction. There's actually an identical one on eBay now and the price is up to $60 already - it's had 35 bids and there's still 18 hours to go. The one on which I'd bid originally is up to $102.50. (**Update - it sold for $120 after 28 bids.) The one I bought is only about a year old but it's still second-hand - you can buy these things NEW for $100. Madness!
Anyway, so now I have the cooler. I no longer want to cry and I'll probably stop swearing too. I can't guarantee I'll stop having ice cream for dinner.
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For a few months when I was studying I worked as a checkout chick at Safeway (Woolworths). Most of the time I enjoyed the job very much because it's fairly easy work and I loved chatting with the customers. We were instructed to wish the customers a nice day/evening as they left the store, but I admit I usually ignored that directive when I was there at 11pm and my customer only came in for condoms and lubricant... there's something a little creepy about putting those two items in a bag and cheerily saying, "Have a great evening!" Other than that, though, I was happy to chat with them and I had quite a good time.
What I didn't like about the job was how seriously the supervisors took themselves. These were kids of maybe 21 or 22 who thought they'd hit the big time because they had been promoted to supervisor. They really thought that this was their big break and that one day they'd move up the ranks until they were managing the entire chain. A simple calculation of the number of stores, each with 10 or so supervisors, versus the number of senior management positions Australia-wide should have crushed their dreams fairly early on, but apparently not. They blindly spouted the company line without question, at least in the store where I worked, and didn't approve of people like me (and 98% of the checkout staff) who treated the job as merely a way to get through their studies without being forced to sell a kidney.
I thought that Safeway supervisors were the ultimate in self-importance and self-delusion but I was proven wrong the other day. I walked past a candle store and noticed that Christmas candles were on sale. The only thing that makes these candles 'Christmas' candles is that they were red, white or green and had a label attached to them that said "Christmas candle". They were exactly the same as the other red, white and green candles in the store but because of the label they'd been reduced to half price. I selected a couple I liked and walked to the counter with them. I was greeted by a stern looking girl who subjected me to the following interrogation:
Stern Girl: Have you purchased our candles before?
Me: Yes, I have
SG: Oh. So you know about trimming the wick?
Me: Yes
SG: And using a snuffer to put it out?
Me: (like I'm going to fork out money for a snuffer when I can blow the candle out like a normal person) Yes.
SG: And you also know about creating a candle memory?
Me: (having no idea what she was talking about and wondering if this is some kind of test) Uh... yes.
SG: Do you have one of our Candle Care Kits?
Me: No, I don't.
SG: (with disapproving frown) Well, would you like to buy one so you can take care of your candles?
Me: (feeling like I've just admitted to using a pillow and gaffer tape instead of a car safety seat for my child) Ummm... no, I think I'll leave it for today.
Stern Girl realised at this point that I was an irresponsible candle owner who was clearly beyond redemption so she gave me my candles and let me go. I feel quite sure that she and the other stern looking girl behind the counter spent their lunch break talking about the customer who clearly didn't care about the candles she'd justadopted purchased.
And another little part of me feels sure that Stern Girl has had business cards printed in which she refers to herself as a Candleologist.
What I didn't like about the job was how seriously the supervisors took themselves. These were kids of maybe 21 or 22 who thought they'd hit the big time because they had been promoted to supervisor. They really thought that this was their big break and that one day they'd move up the ranks until they were managing the entire chain. A simple calculation of the number of stores, each with 10 or so supervisors, versus the number of senior management positions Australia-wide should have crushed their dreams fairly early on, but apparently not. They blindly spouted the company line without question, at least in the store where I worked, and didn't approve of people like me (and 98% of the checkout staff) who treated the job as merely a way to get through their studies without being forced to sell a kidney.
I thought that Safeway supervisors were the ultimate in self-importance and self-delusion but I was proven wrong the other day. I walked past a candle store and noticed that Christmas candles were on sale. The only thing that makes these candles 'Christmas' candles is that they were red, white or green and had a label attached to them that said "Christmas candle". They were exactly the same as the other red, white and green candles in the store but because of the label they'd been reduced to half price. I selected a couple I liked and walked to the counter with them. I was greeted by a stern looking girl who subjected me to the following interrogation:
Stern Girl: Have you purchased our candles before?
Me: Yes, I have
SG: Oh. So you know about trimming the wick?
Me: Yes
SG: And using a snuffer to put it out?
Me: (like I'm going to fork out money for a snuffer when I can blow the candle out like a normal person) Yes.
SG: And you also know about creating a candle memory?
Me: (having no idea what she was talking about and wondering if this is some kind of test) Uh... yes.
SG: Do you have one of our Candle Care Kits?
Me: No, I don't.
SG: (with disapproving frown) Well, would you like to buy one so you can take care of your candles?
Me: (feeling like I've just admitted to using a pillow and gaffer tape instead of a car safety seat for my child) Ummm... no, I think I'll leave it for today.
Stern Girl realised at this point that I was an irresponsible candle owner who was clearly beyond redemption so she gave me my candles and let me go. I feel quite sure that she and the other stern looking girl behind the counter spent their lunch break talking about the customer who clearly didn't care about the candles she'd just
And another little part of me feels sure that Stern Girl has had business cards printed in which she refers to herself as a Candleologist.
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