My Mom’s Personal Shopper
On Saturday morning I closed out my Bank of America savings account that generated almost no interest for me. I’m keeping that money in my checking until I pay off this month’s credit card bill and my rent due 1 May. Because my mom’s name was also on the account, I wrongly assumed that she had to go with me. It turned out that she didn’t, but it still worked out well for me because we went shopping afterwards.
Both of my parents hate clothes shopping. My dad dislikes the hassle of going somewhere where other people are waiting to annoy him by shopping near him. My mom dislikes shopping because she can never find anything that fits (more on this) and when she comes home with something, it’s usually twenty years too old for her or twenty years too young and my dad is not shy about telling her so.
My mom said that if I came shopping with her, Dad said that she could buy me “something”. “One thing or lots of things?” I asked. She confirmed that she could buy me whatever I wanted (within reason), so I jumped at the chance. I consider that any clothes they buy for me on an outing like this is actually payment for being a personal shopper. It didn’t take too long to find what my dad wanted: two pairs of pants and a couple button-down, short-sleeved shirts…except he’s particular on colors and they had only one shirt that I deemed acceptable. This is why my dad likes for me to go: I’m not going to let my mom buy him shirts that he won’t like just so that she can say that they didn’t have anything better. The rule is not to buy unless you really like it / will wear it a lot, etc.
I don’t know why my mom has horrible taste in clothes or where she got it from. Firstly, she wears a petite size and this particular department store had a reasonable, but not extensive section. She told me her size and we found a bunch of things for her to try on–nothing fit, but one shirt.
“Well, I’m just going to put all this back and go to Penney’s,” she said when I insisted that she try on everything again in a larger size. I responded that she’d have the same problem at Penney’s and I wasn’t going to spend another two hours helping her find too-small clothes to try on and nix in the end. We ended up finding a few of the things she tried on in her true size and she bought those. I felt bad that I didn’t sound more understanding. I do understand how hard it is to shop for clothes because you’re too big for the ones that you have; I don’t understand being okay with looking like crap until you can fit into your smaller size again. My mom actually tried on a pair of skintight khakis and told me that they fit…convincing her that they didn’t is what earned me the expensive sweater I got!
All in all, I picked up a summer sweater, blouse, pair of brown flats, a dress, a couple summer nightgowns, and a few pairs of underwear. I put away two skirts, even though Mom said I should get them, because I thought that she was spending too much on me (everything was on sale, though!) and the skirts are the kind that flare out at the hip, making a woman with hips look even hippier…and I am a woman with hips.
If I’d known that my dad was seriously okay with all the money spent, I could have gotten free gas and maybe a new purse, too, but all in all, I did all right. This will help me be less tempted to spend my own money, too. I hope.
