Tonight, Beth wanted to meet to chat, and since I hadn't seen her in a while, we met at Tysons to go to Subway.
We got to Subway just in time, because about four tour buses appeared, flooding the mall with a bunch of teenagers, who I sarcastically referred to as "the Future of America." We got our sandwiches, and sat there and ate, and she told me about the latest drama in her life: Robbie, her fuck buddy or whatever she calls him (but don't DARE call him a boyfriend!) is in jail for not paying child support. Now, even though Beth is unemployed, she is trying to scrape money together to get a lawyer for Loser Boy. Ah, young love.
After we ate, I asked if we could go to Abercrombie & Fitch to look around. A few posts ago (here) I wrote about the fact that they took the big himbo picture prematurely and replaced with a big black sign with "WINTER CLEARANCE" in white.
After poking around, I found a nice long-sleeved t-shirt. A photo is on the left.
Now, the last thing I really need is any more casual clothes. But it is extremely comfortable, and it was marked down from $46 to $20. And the fact is, I have been very good with my eating since Wednesday. My clothes are starting to feel like they were before. I have been through a rough week or so (today was an absolute nightmare), and I got through it. Getting back to the idea of rewarding myself with something other than food seems like a good idea.
One difference I have noticed at Abercrombie & Fitch: the service has improved dramatically since the first time I bought anything there. The salespeople (called "models") are actually giving customer service, and are smiling and being friendly while doing so. I know that they, like the rest of the retail world, had a lousy holiday season, and I know that their stock is about one-quarter of its value from a couple of years ago (it used to be over $80/share, now its a little more than $20; sounds like its stock got marked down on Winter Clearance as well). Who'd have thunk that perhaps the way to increase foot traffic in the store is to not only sell clothes for a real value, but be nice while doing so?
After parting ways with Beth, I came home and threw the shirt into the washer (to get the "Fierce" stink out), and it will be ready to wear when I go to Pennsylvania this weekend. I wonder if my aunt would notice if I wore nothing but pink shirts the entire weekend?
I knew that I had picked a good shirt when Julie said it didn't look good, accusing me of buying a woman's shirt. I showed her the price tag, which clearly stated it as men's. And let's not forget that I wouldn't even get one of my arms into a woman's shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch. It certainly keeps my ego in check that I wear a medium or a large in most clothes, but still have to wear XL from A&F.
Tomorrow, all of the inauguration hype will be done. Thank heavens for that. Justin is still going into DC for this, and I gave him two pieces of advice: first, carry his wallet in a side pocket, not the back pocket. Next, keep a $10 bill in his sock. That way, if he gets his pocket picked or robbed, he will have ten dollars to get home. You can tell I'm a bit paranoid, eh? I plan to watch President Obama's inaugural address on TV (or listen to it on the satellite radio; I don't know for sure), and then after that, who knows?
But needless to say, I am looking forward to having tomorrow off. I will, of course, worry about work, but that is nothing new. It's always amusing to me when I have a day off after working a long stretch of days, I wake up in the morning and think I have to go to work until I realize I don't have to.
Eric Out.
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