Famous Feet and INforMAtion. Hmph.

I have had some difficulty finding something to wear for Matt and Amy's wedding, which is, as I begin writing this, exactly a week away.

I finally found something to wear at the outlet stores up the road. A turquoise-y colored skirt with inset lace panels and a white shirt with a lace inset. I will need to go grab a camisole, as it's not exactly a heavy shirt, but it's nice enough.
The girl in the clothing store asked me for my phone number. I asked, "Why?Are you going to call me?"

"Oh no, we just get your phone number and email address and stuff to tell you about special deals!"

I wasn't sure if she was stupid or she thought I was. Either way, um, no.
"Well, I'm not giving you my email address," I told her.

She looked surprised and I think a little insulted. Not that I care.
I managed to pay for the transaction without giving blood or email address.
Then, Lyssa and I wandered over to Famous Footwear. I'm not sure why it's famous. :)

As we were walking over the store, we got behind some people who were loitering along with cigarettes. I started to feel sick from the smell. We stopped a couple times to let them get ahead of us, but for some reason they took that as a signal to stop TOO. And blow out more clouds of foul odor. Yuck.

When I walked into the shoe store, the smell of rubber and leather hit me like a wall. Within three minutes, I had a full blown migraine. Goodie.

So we picked out some sandals.
Lyssa found hers quickly.
Not me, though.

Writing it down is a lot easier than the actual activity. I had to try on four or five pairs to find something that works. I wear big orthotics and men's shoes most of the time. It's not as unwieldy and clumpy as it sounds, though. I found some New Balance shoes that are mostly blue, added some tie dyed laces in pink and blue and they're quite comfortable. If you don't know that they're men's, you'd never guess.

But. Because of the amount of time I've spent wearing them, my feet are wider than they used to be. Problematic when shopping for womanly shoes.

So I found some. They're not the right color, I wanted white, but they will be comfortable for me and I'll be able to wear them all afternoon and evening without discomfort, which is far more important than having them be a certain color. Only someone who's had horrible foot pain would understand. If you haven't, I hope you never do.

So we got in line. Along with about 6 other people. ONE line. One register open.
And she was trying to get everyone ahead of us to sign up for their frequent shoe fucking card. "You can save FIVE percent!!" she chirped. "That's a great deal!!"

And son of a bitch.. they were doing it. I stood there trying not to barf on my shoes while a guy with a heavy accent tried to get her to spell his name properly and then waited another agonizing three minutes for her to get his email address right.

I figured in my head that I'd save about $2.50 if I were to sign up. It was worth a 20 to me to just get the fuck out of there, but she tried anyway.
"No, thank you." I told her.
"Are you sure? You can save FIVE PERCENT!!!!"
"No. Thank you. Let's just get done."

Annoying as hell.

I don't worry about giving out my personal information, I'm sure there are a few people out there who don't have access to it, but for the most part, we're all out there, ya know? My objection is to the process itself. There were at least six people waiting in line to complete their transactions. Harassing each one was taking TIME...and I was trying to maintain long enough to get outside and take more than the flat and shallow breaths I was taking to avoid sucking more of the horrible smells into my lungs. Heat is really, really bad for migraine pills, and I don't carry them in my car for that reason. I knew I was going to have to drive home after I got my damn shoes. And the perky little bubblehead behind the counter wanted INforMAtion!

I also don't like the assumption that we're going to just hand over our email addresses etc. If I want something, I will go and buy it. I don't generally buy anything that I don't need. If I have an impulse to buy, I'll handle it.

Don't get me started on the whole catalog thing, either. I hate that when I buy something from Amazon or another online retailer, they take it as a license to bury me in catalogs. Those catalogs go straight into the recycling. I wonder if they knew that, would they continue to pile them on?

So anyway, I have something to wear. I will find the jewelry that belonged to my grandmother and wear that with my sort of dressed up outfit.

I will look almost respectable when my son gets married.