The Highlight of My Day

I have been doing well with reselling Tommy Bahama shirts.  Most of them are not my style but they are really well made, quality products and retail for over $100 each.  The one above was an excellent score.  It is a limited edition embroidered back, 100% silk, and never worn (new with tags).  I got it for $3.50 and it sold for $41.00 so I made a terrific profit and the buyer got a great deal -- success all around right?  Well the story continues.  After the customer got the shirt she left me positive feedback and also sent me an email.  In her email she stated that her husband was a pilot and he had this exact shirt that he wore all the time when he hung out with his other pilot buddies.  Unfortunately he passed away when he was involved in a crash a year ago.  His shirt meant a lot to her son so my customer gave it to him.  In the meantime she has been on the hunt for more in order to give to her husband's pilot friends as a "memory gift".  Long story short she told me all that in order to let me know if I come across another of this exact shirt she is still looking for more.  I know this all sounds odd but I was thrilled by it all.  I sell a lot of items and they go all over the world and because I am so curious by nature I do wonder sometimes why the customer bought the item and what is going to happen to it.  So to get this message volunteering this info pleased me and it was also a touching story.  I did reply back and in short I said that I was sorry for her loss, I never know what I will come across but will keep it in mind, and that I am sure her husband is happy with the "memory gifts" she is tracking down for his friends.  I figured that would be the end of it but no.  I got an email right back.  I made her cry.  She thanked me profusely for speaking of her husband being happy and using the present tense.  She said it has been difficult to let him go but even though she has his essence still exists and always will so it meant a lot for me to recognize this and use the present tense.  It was nice.  It was good.  It definitely was not an interaction that I imagined would be taking place today.  I am glad my message made her happy as her message made me super happy too.  The highlight of my day.

Be Careful of the Dress Hags

Ok this post might be a bit negative but I will do my best to keep it light.  My dignity went out the went out the window long ago.  I have a job where I literally make 13 cents and hour - seriously 6 year old kids in turn of the century sweat shop textile mills made more than I do.  But you know what - I am doing what I need to do, I am surviving and I am taking care of myself.  It is the slow season for retail so I pick up hours in any department that I can, again dignity is a long lost concept for me.  Today I was schilling women's dresses.  I have no problem with this but I do have a problem with the bitches in that area, or more to the point they have a problem with me!  I get that we all have numbers which adds to the pressure but what these so called "ladies" have not figured out is that regardless if we individually get 150% or 350% of our sales goal, we at the end of the day we are still just making 13 fucking cents an hour.  In men's we work together so we can all make a good individual goal instead of one person having 350% and the other having 25%.  It is called teamwork.  Long story short if I even looked at the register today then I was pounced by the lionesses. Seriously, again we are not on commission.  If I help 5 women pick out flouncy overpriced dresses in an hour or 50, well I am still only getting paid 13 cents for that hour.  End of the day I was glad it was only a 4 hour shift.  I smiled at all the my bitchey coworkers, said yes and ok to every insane piece of BS they said to me and privately did my eye rolls as I picked up the 15,0000 articles of clothing off the floor (what is the deal with women's clothing that it is not made to be on a hanger???)  I did help one lady by veering her away from this atrocious peach cotillion dress into a sharp and sleek black and white number that  was so much more flattered her age and figure.  With that one dress I made my sales goal and so had no problem staying clear from the hags at the register (serious why would a customer buy a $500 dress from a female sales clerk that has no make up on or could not even run a comb through her hair that morning?).  It is very often that woman say they do not like to work with other women -- I kinda get that now.  Its all good - I made the pennies I needed today and damn that lady looked good in the black and white dress.  She even gave me a hug!

Happy St Patrick's Day

This is a real doorway in Ireland.  I like that it is open to an amazing and thoroughly different world.  This is where I am on this St Patrick's Day, standing at a doorway to a different world.  I am going to walk through it.  I do know that once I go through I still have to make my way.  That is where I hope the luck of the Irish comes in.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and are in a wonderful world.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 6th Year Anniversary to me since I made my first blog posting.  I know that I have been awful lately but I was not sure what I had to say.  Seems like it is the same thing daily.  I am just focused on working out my finances and being able to support myself.  I have a plan that I am working on but it is taking time to get there.  In the meantime I have been helping support myself with eBay.  It is the most exciting things I do as of  late.  I try my best to stay away from any purchases for myself but I fail every so often.  This is a vintage Benrus watch that I picked up yesterday.  I works perfectly and was only 8 bucks.  I just could not pass up this swanky grandpa style, love it.  It was mangled but I fixed it up.  I polished the glass and got the scratches out and also reconditioned the leather band.  There is plenty of life left in this classic -- just like there is plenty of life in me (also a classic).  I promise I will be blogging more often.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How awesome is this mural???  You know I LOVE found art so you know that when I found this, I just knew that I would be happy on Valentine's Day --- and I am.  I hope you are all happy today too.  Enjoy a wonderful day with your loved ones.  MUAH MUAH MUAH to you all.

Men Cannot Dress Themselves

I worked tonight and helped 3 separate guys pick out outfits for Valentine's Day.  I am not a fashionista but men are really stupid when it comes to dressing themselves.  One guy was a bricklayer and he wanted to look casual but dressed up.  He brought in is navy blue suit coat and picked out a white oxford and jeans to with it.  It was atrocious.  He kept wanting me to say they all went together but they did not at.  He was a super night guy but I just could not lie and just agree with him.  The jeans were way to casual to pull off that look with the coat he had.  I told him that he needed a sports coat to make that look work not a suit coat.  I said he try this.  I got him an awesome Lauren sports coat (reg $275 on clearance for $60) and sent him into the dressing room with his jeans, a white oxford and a Michael Kors tie.  He came out an told me that he owes me big time.  He said that it was exactly the look he wanted but it did not look like someone dressed him.  I even showed him how to properly tie and fix his tie.  Another guy was this slim latino probably about 24 years old.  He picked out a nice dress shirt but he had a size 17 1/2 -- wtf that is my size and yet his waist was only a 28??? Guys refuse to dress in their sizes - it kills me as he was this young, trim, fit guy, what the hell.  I said hold on.  I measured him - he was a 15.  I got him a the same shirt in his size, a slim Calvin Klein tie and proper fitting Kenneth Cole dress slacks.  He said that he could not believe it when he looked in the mirror (I tied his tie too).  I told him that he was young and fit and his clothes should reflect that.  The last guy was in his late 50's but real tall and trim.  He said he wanted Levi's but not his 501's as people make fun of his Dad Jeans.  I got him a pair of real dark blue 513's and a casual yet age appropriate colorful button down.  He was pleased too.  Later tonight as I was at home I was thinking about how I got 3 guys all set for their big Valentine's Day plans but I have no plans.  I am working all day.  It does not bum me out.  I do not feel lonely but I did think it would be nice to have someone to dress for.  But for now I have bigger things to take care of.  I need to work my plan and get my life back before I can focus on finding someone to spend time with on I accomplish my plan.  It is a nice thought though.  I will line it all up.  I will get there.  Forever a work in progress.

I Was in Xanadu

I did not fall off the face of the Earth.  Odd times for me for sure but all is ok.  I am going to start posting again.  I am still obsessed with the muzak at work, mostly because I cannot figure it out at all.  The selection is so incredibly random.  It is the most bizarre mix and it constantly distracts me.  It plays plenty of current music, even alternative stuff and then comes on "Xanadu" by Olivia Newton John???  As I have said before Brent is my favorite at work to share my muzak obsession but only because he always laughs the hardest at me.  He is only like 22 at most so he does not know most the songs.  The day they started playing Xanadu must have been the worst day of his life.  And he is incredibly baffled at how I know all the words to these songs.  I must admit I am too as I can barely remember to take my keys with me in the morning when I leave the house.  He is also my favorite since he does competitive dancing so he is the only one I can get to move even a little bit.  I sent him this video and he was like WTF, how much drugs did people do in the 80's.  Sure Adele and Lorde are great but I want to know when the world became so serious?  I think it is the fault of the internet.  Everyone wants to be such a hipster and are too cool for fun.  Screw that.  Check out this video, this is the world I choose to live in - there is plenty of time to be serious when I am dead.