Holiday shopping and I have a love/hate relationship. I love to shop, and I love to give gifts, but I greatly dislike trying to pick out gifts for other people. I don't buy into the saying "it's the thought that counts", because if you give someone something they do not like or will not use, that is all they are going to remember. "So and so gives the worst gifts! It's as if the don't know me at all!". I hate getting horrible gifts, and even more so I hate giving horrible gifts. It's a lot of pressure.
There are many phases of receiving a gift you hate -
1. what were they thinking?
2. what the heck am I supposed to do with this?
3. feelings of guilt because you hate the gift
4. who can I give this to that may like it and the giver will never find out? (I am not a re-gifter, I think that is horribly tacky. In this instance I simply mean "hey, I am never going to use this and I thought you might be able to")
5. in the instance it is simply too horrible to pass along, how long do I need to keep this dust-collector before I don't feel bad about throwing it out?
The worst part is that someone at some point in time (I believe many horrible gifts are actually tacky re-gifting I mentioned before) actually spent hard-earned money on the gift. So sad...
Throughout the year, there are definitely signs of what to buy your loved ones - little mentions of interests or desires that you make mental notes of to be tucked away and conveniently retrieved just at the perfect moment when you finally have time to shop for them. Funny how they are nowhere to be found when you are standing in the mall with credit card in hand. Then major stress sets in, because you are starting from scratch. And the clock is ticking.
So what's the solution? Gift cards? Yeah, I hate those, too. But people love getting them, like it's a get out of jail free card. "Yay! Now I can go buy something I actually want!" OK, that's understandable. However it does not satisfy the love of shopping, nor the love of gift giving. It kind of leaves you empty and hollow inside, instead of that warm fuzzy feeling when you know you picked just the right thing.
Oh, holiday shopping - how I love and hate it!
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
HELLO!
In order to introduce myself into this blog-crazy world, and for you to get to know me better, I'd like to share the story of how I got my first job in online marketing. This is relevant because it has to do with online shopping, which generally is my more preferable shopping channel.
Time: Circa very late 1999 - very early 2000
Obsession: A pair of black leather, calf-high Via Spiga boots with the perfect heel height
Major Dilemma: Could not live without them
It all started when I spotted the perfect pair of Via Spiga boots in a store and they didn't have my size. Don't you just hate that?
Well, if this had been in, let's say 1996, what options were there? Not many, as we may all remember. Driving to 10 different malls and stores with our fingers crossed that the next one was going to be the one? Fun? Not so much.
Well, lucky for me it was late 1999 - early 2000 and this wondrous little thing called the INTERNET was really catching on like wild fire! It was just nuts! And what was the best thing on the Internet? GOOGLE!! OK, so I have to admit, it wasn't like I put the name of the boots in the search bar and voila! It was more like, how many different ways could I enter search phrases that would give me something *close* to what I wanted. And then, the patience to click on all those links, search the sites, to see if maybe, just maybe, my boots were there. Well finally, because I AM NOT A QUITTER, I found a store in some town in Florida I had never heard of, but I didn't really care because they had my boots in my size. Oh happy day!!
What on earth does this have to do with my first job in online marketing? Well, as you also may remember, that was the height of the dot-com bubble and I was in the midst of an early mid-life crisis involving a major career change. The Internet sounded like an interesting opportunity, so on my very first interview, which was with an online marketing company, I was asked the question "do you have any experience with the Internet?" Online talent was pretty sparse at that time as you can imagine. My answer? I told that story. That, my sparkling personality, intelligence, and kick-ass interview skills got me the job.
Whoever said shopping was not a productive, life-altering activity has no idea what they are talking about.
Time: Circa very late 1999 - very early 2000
Obsession: A pair of black leather, calf-high Via Spiga boots with the perfect heel height
Major Dilemma: Could not live without them
It all started when I spotted the perfect pair of Via Spiga boots in a store and they didn't have my size. Don't you just hate that?
Well, if this had been in, let's say 1996, what options were there? Not many, as we may all remember. Driving to 10 different malls and stores with our fingers crossed that the next one was going to be the one? Fun? Not so much.
Well, lucky for me it was late 1999 - early 2000 and this wondrous little thing called the INTERNET was really catching on like wild fire! It was just nuts! And what was the best thing on the Internet? GOOGLE!! OK, so I have to admit, it wasn't like I put the name of the boots in the search bar and voila! It was more like, how many different ways could I enter search phrases that would give me something *close* to what I wanted. And then, the patience to click on all those links, search the sites, to see if maybe, just maybe, my boots were there. Well finally, because I AM NOT A QUITTER, I found a store in some town in Florida I had never heard of, but I didn't really care because they had my boots in my size. Oh happy day!!
What on earth does this have to do with my first job in online marketing? Well, as you also may remember, that was the height of the dot-com bubble and I was in the midst of an early mid-life crisis involving a major career change. The Internet sounded like an interesting opportunity, so on my very first interview, which was with an online marketing company, I was asked the question "do you have any experience with the Internet?" Online talent was pretty sparse at that time as you can imagine. My answer? I told that story. That, my sparkling personality, intelligence, and kick-ass interview skills got me the job.
Whoever said shopping was not a productive, life-altering activity has no idea what they are talking about.
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