Shop it like it's hot

I have never been a mall fanatic. Between the kiosks selling fake hair and the ladies who want to spritz me, I am such a definitive shopper that there is very little lingering and lollygagging. Even on days I want to play around in Shoeville, I know quickly what I want. JohnnyMac loves shopping with me for this reason. And internet shopping? Come to Mama. What do I feel when I can clickity clack away and have things deposited on my doorstep? LOVE I tell you. There is a powerhouse of internet shopping I have recently found: CSN Stores of which their shopping family includes over 200 stores and sites. Seriously. I am doing a product review for them in the next week or two and am looking quite forward to it. I am loving scrolling through their stores looking at every imaginable product from bakeware to patio furniture including these speaker stands that would make a great gift for someone in my family.

But do you know when I do love to go to the mall? When I am paid for it. Oh yes. A girl’s dream come true? Call me Spendarella. For several years I was a mystery shopper. The assignments were easy breezy. The company would send me a store location with a checklist of items to either see or hear from the sales associates. Not only was I paid to shop, the company paid for my purchases upon the submission of a detailed final report. Typically the assignments were high end retailers or restaurants. But of course, sometimes the mystery is where you end up. Case in point:

I get an assignment one day for Frederick's of Hollywood. Va va va voom. I hadn’t been to this store since I was a young college student with my first serious boyfriend and believed that furry undergarments would be a big, big hit. Guess what? They are not. Unless you like the image of someone wearing a bikini that looks like it is made of ferrets. But, this assignment was to observe the customer service and look for certain specific phrases and customer offerings. The assignment also requested I have a bra fitting.

Ummm…what?

Yes, part of the shopping assignment was a fitting. I need a fitting as much as a flat screen TV needs a fitting but ok. It isn’t like I was asked to wrestle in jello. The good news, I had been wearing the wrong bra for years. I think my last fitting was at 16 and I didn’t think there was much gray area in the A cup sector besides “capital A-cup" or “lowercase a-cup" but I was wrong. Lucky me, learning a little something in Frederick's of Hollywood! And after that moment or two of personal time, I did happily report excellent customer service and top marks for all the necessary criteria which was the primary interest of the corporate office. And they no longer carry furry undergarments. That is a good thing.