Recently I was downtown, and while there, I decided to visit the Nordstrom department store. Not that I needed or wanted to buy anything. It’s just that I’d never been in one before. I figured at the very least, it would have cool Christmas decorations. So, in I went.
And I quickly discovered why I’d never been in one before. I got that feeling that I get whenever I enter a rich people’s place. It’s as if someone is going to somehow figure out that I couldn’t even afford the socks in this store, and I’ll be quickly ushered out the service entrance and left on the loading dock like yesterday’s trash.
I wandered around, praying that I wouldn’t accidentally knock something over. The bejeweled wedding dresses were gorgeous, and had no price tags. No doubt they’d cost about a half year’s pay for me. (Not that I need a wedding dress. I can’t even get a date, even when I do the asking.)
The shoes, too, were stunning. Extravagant. Works of art. The kind of things you’d never wear in the rain. I didn’t even bother looking at the prices. I did go over to what looked like a sales rack, and sure enough, accidentally dropped a shoe. When I picked it up, the price on the bottom was 768 dollars. And I had just dropped the thing. Eeep.
This is why I’d never make a good rich person. How does one buy 768 dollar shoes, have them rung up by a cashier that doesn’t earn that much in a week, and then saunter out the door, past homeless people begging on the sidewalk out front? How do you justify paying that much for a shoe, which you’ll only wear a certain amount of times before it either wears out or goes out of style or gives you bunions? It’s just not in me.
Finally, I had to get out of there because I was being overwhelmed by a tsunami of income inequality, and I was afraid I might blow my stack right there amongst the Hermes scarves. I can’t relate to this type of consumerism. It makes me sick to my stomach. I was glad to make my exit and return to the real world, where my discount shoes are the norm.
And then I passed a Coach store. Amongst their outrageously priced handbags, there were really cute change purses in the shapes of animals. They fit in the palm of my hand. And they were 85 dollars each. They were probably made in china by someone who earns a dollar a day.
There’s a special circle of hell for people who sell these unnecessary things, and for the people who buy them, or even think there’s a need for them.
The fact that stores like this can thrive in Seattle is exactly why the majority of us can’t afford to live here anymore. Then who’s going to sell you your shoes?
At $15.95, my book is a much more affordable gift. http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
The View from a Drawbridge 
I don’t know that they’re *that* expensive—but then I haven’t shopped there myself. In my second quarter of college, one of the Nordstroms (one of the current heads of the company) was in one of my classes; I refuse to contribute in any way to supporting such horrible people. (The closest I’ve ever got was right after I got out of college, when my father insisted on taking me to Nordstrom Rack to buy a suit or a jacket or something. I’ve never spent any of my own money there.)
Well, we definitely have that in common.
And okay, you’re right. I just googled their wedding dresses, and they seem to range from 3 to 10k. Still outrageous, if you ask me, but not as bad as I thought.
I was right there with you. On occasion I would take my Mother to a Belk’s or Dillards, and squirm at the stares from the sales people. They like the church goers from my childhood that would stare at everyone that came through those hallowed doors to see what you were wearing, and they would turn their smug grin back to the front knowing they were indeed better than you by what they wore. I was once told that I was a revere snob, and it was obvious that I showed disdain for those that wanted the good things life had to offer. Not true, It is just I have gone hungry trying to work to feed my children and watched others brag about getting disability while buy their kids Air Jordan shoes. I still shop second hand stores and cost cutter grocery stores. I ignore dates on cans and jars. I am frivolous with gifts to family and friends on occasion but only because they have had to put up with me for so many years. I prefer to feed a few extra children or help a hospital bound child, They are the only ruby slippers I want in my life.
You are a good woman, Carole. And if anyone thinks they merely “put up with” you, they need their head examined. (I would urge you to not ignore dates on cans and jars too much, though. You can probably get away with it to a certain extent… until the one time you don’t.)
They are still eating chocolate from WW1. It is a marketing ploy by PEPSI. taken to the extreme.
A child of the 50’s we learned how to react during a bombing and air raid shelters and what to put into them. I’ve always wanted to research this, but when the thought flitters through my brain I am usually too tired from chasing some other piece of useless information. There is a movie “Matinea” (sic) a very funny movie in a movie about a very serious subject.
Well, I just remember accidentally eating a can of old tuna and spending the night vomiting up everything but the soles of my shoes. But I must admit I’m using a very old bottle of maple syrup. It just depends.
I think there is more information on the useful life of groceries to be found somewhere, and would link to it if I knew where. If any of you people like to beachcomb, here is an idea. if you find a shoe with a foot still in it, sneak it into one of those stores and surreptitiously put it in the display. Watch the result if you are disguised enough…
Yikes, Angi. Remind me never to piss you off. 🙂