Wednesday, December 13, 2006
This just in: Shopping still sucks
I'm beginning to think that I'm a curse when it comes to shopping. And why not? All those blissful years of finding good bargains (and accidentally stealing pieces of swimsuits) had to come back to haunt me sometime. That's just shopping karma.
In the wake of Saturday's debacle, I decided to turn to a new source in the search for Dave's Christmas present: my old friend eBay. Sure, eBay can be a bit of a risk sometimes, but at this point, I figured it beat another fruitless day spent pounding the DC pavement. Now, during my one and only previous eBay adventure, I didn't actually bid--it was one of those deals where you can either buy the item straight out, or bid and hope you get a lower price. Since the item in question was only like $15, I didn't feel it was worth the trouble of bidding. Which was probably a good idea, because I have now seen firsthand just how tumultuous the bidding process can be. The other night, I watched an item I was considering go up in price nearly a hundred dollars in approximately 10 minutes. Going into this, I was fully aware how crazy things can get at the end of the auction, but come on. That's just insane.
My bad shopping karma isn't just restricted to eBay, either. I have recently begun my annual search for cute cookie tins, an endeavor that has never been particularly successful in the past. In fact, I don't think I've ever been able to find a cookie tin that I considered aesthetically pleasing (save the one Kristen sent me a few years ago--if only I had the capabilities to clone it!), and have always had to make do with alternative forms of cookie packaging. And yet, every year I renew the search.
This year, I decided to take advantage of my (relatively) more IKEA-adjacent location and look there. They have cute stuff! Why not cookie tins? So last night, I swung by the College Park store, only to discover that the one night I had earmarked for an IKEA visit was also the one night that IKEA was closing early due to their employee Christmas party. Great.
At that point, the collective weight of my bad shopping luck led me to declare that the remainder of the people on my gift list would be receiving random stuff from my house for Christmas. Sure, I felt bad that some friends and family members would get swell gifts that had been thoughtfully picked out for them, while others would receive, say, an old sponge. But consider what I was up against here, people! What else could I do?!
Fortunately, through a bit of online research this morning, I seem to have found a solution to the cookie-tin dilemma, although it will require a bit more creative effort than I had originally wanted to expend. Dave, on the other hand, has already put in a request for and may well be receiving one of my dessert forks for Christmas.
I'm beginning to think that I'm a curse when it comes to shopping. And why not? All those blissful years of finding good bargains (and accidentally stealing pieces of swimsuits) had to come back to haunt me sometime. That's just shopping karma.
In the wake of Saturday's debacle, I decided to turn to a new source in the search for Dave's Christmas present: my old friend eBay. Sure, eBay can be a bit of a risk sometimes, but at this point, I figured it beat another fruitless day spent pounding the DC pavement. Now, during my one and only previous eBay adventure, I didn't actually bid--it was one of those deals where you can either buy the item straight out, or bid and hope you get a lower price. Since the item in question was only like $15, I didn't feel it was worth the trouble of bidding. Which was probably a good idea, because I have now seen firsthand just how tumultuous the bidding process can be. The other night, I watched an item I was considering go up in price nearly a hundred dollars in approximately 10 minutes. Going into this, I was fully aware how crazy things can get at the end of the auction, but come on. That's just insane.
My bad shopping karma isn't just restricted to eBay, either. I have recently begun my annual search for cute cookie tins, an endeavor that has never been particularly successful in the past. In fact, I don't think I've ever been able to find a cookie tin that I considered aesthetically pleasing (save the one Kristen sent me a few years ago--if only I had the capabilities to clone it!), and have always had to make do with alternative forms of cookie packaging. And yet, every year I renew the search.
This year, I decided to take advantage of my (relatively) more IKEA-adjacent location and look there. They have cute stuff! Why not cookie tins? So last night, I swung by the College Park store, only to discover that the one night I had earmarked for an IKEA visit was also the one night that IKEA was closing early due to their employee Christmas party. Great.
At that point, the collective weight of my bad shopping luck led me to declare that the remainder of the people on my gift list would be receiving random stuff from my house for Christmas. Sure, I felt bad that some friends and family members would get swell gifts that had been thoughtfully picked out for them, while others would receive, say, an old sponge. But consider what I was up against here, people! What else could I do?!
Fortunately, through a bit of online research this morning, I seem to have found a solution to the cookie-tin dilemma, although it will require a bit more creative effort than I had originally wanted to expend. Dave, on the other hand, has already put in a request for and may well be receiving one of my dessert forks for Christmas.
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