Every once in a while the good folks at WordPress inform me somebody new is following my blog. I am grateful of course for anybody following my scribblings and musing. However the announcement is usually along the line of “Dicky Purdy along with 108 others are now following your blog”, which makes me giddy. When I sit down to type out my tidbits I now feel 108 sets of eyes upon me. I feel compelled to “put out” as it were. The Board of Directors Here at Spo-Reflections is in a swivet over my recent entries for being too short, too lurid, or too gravitas. There is no pleasing them.
Recently I had a patient tell me she was addicted to shopping for the way she described fit the model for such. She would resist the craving to shop only to succumb, experience euphoria and ‘crash’ into depression and guilt with a vow ‘never again’. She stated shopping would make her salivate and flushed; the rush was positively orgasmic. Lucky her, I thought. She didn’t mean groceries but clothes.
I find shopping for clothes a very tedious task. Many of my patient regularly get panic attacks waiting in line at the check out and I don’t blame them. I have myself come close to madness in department stores to the point I could barely restrain myself from knocking over the display cases. I recently tried buying a new suit and couldn’t find anyone to help me. This is called the “Urspo paradox”: if I am ‘just looking’ I am mobbed by staff but if I am earnest to buy something hell could freeze over before one puts in an appearance. In Costco I encounter a myriad of salesladies wanting to sell me various foodstuffs but none seem qualified to tell me where is the ramen.
Smaller shops are quieter and the customer/salesperson ratio more pleasant but I tend to buy something out of guilt and obligation. Sometimes I come out with something I had no interest in having in the first place but it gives me a careful satisfaction I may never have to go shopping there again.
Spo-Reflections 
16 comments
February 25, 2015 at 10:47 PM
Colonel Panic
I’d have thought an urbane fellow like you would have your patterns on file on Savile Row, or perhaps you fly to Hong Kong for the weekend to have a couple of Silk suits run up..
February 26, 2015 at 6:37 AM
Urspo
As Noel Coward once said : “Well, darling, go on thinking that if it comforts you.” 🙂
February 26, 2015 at 12:12 AM
Jean
We had a very good local small department store when shoppers could have died waiting for service and only the cleaners would notice after closing.
The store itself is now closed and I rather miss it. The stock was good quality and now we are left with the numerous chain stores selling cheap wear twice and throw away Asian sweat shop goods.
February 26, 2015 at 1:40 AM
anne marie in philly
I despise shopping for clothes, but don’t mind the groceries.
February 26, 2015 at 5:32 AM
Michael
I recently was forced to buy a couple of pairs of pants when one pair developed gaping holes in the seating area and the other had frayed so much around the cuffs that they were beginning to look like a dust mop. I don’t know why I hate to shop for clothes so much. Well, I hate paying the prices for things that don’t fit and I can never find anything that fits well. Plus, I am frugal (AKA, cheap) to a fault.
February 26, 2015 at 6:39 AM
Urspo
I tend to wear everything down to the point they have to be replaced. As I am regular going through things this means when I have to replace something, ALL needs replacing. Time to buy 15 new T-shirts or 2 dozen socks , that sort of thing.
February 26, 2015 at 8:49 AM
Michael
I am the same way. So two pairs of jeans, three pairs of socks. And today I realized I needed to have bought five pairs of socks. Well, seven to be honest. And I got jeans but did not replace the casual slacks that wore out. And shoes! I really must get some shoes.
February 26, 2015 at 5:51 AM
David
I don’t go shopping, I go buying. When I decide I need something, I am a man on a mission to buy it and get out. I have the worst luck with customer no-service at Best Buy.
February 26, 2015 at 6:36 AM
truthspew
I’m one who really dislikes the whole crass commercialism that is shopping here in the U.S. It’s why I tend to do hit and run shopping excursions or say holiday shopping where EVERYTHING was ordered online and shipped to the destination.
February 26, 2015 at 10:47 AM
jayinrva
I hate clothes shopping, and have decided that unless I need tailored clothing such as a suit (nothing fits me off the rack), then I will use the Internet to get my stuff. So far, so good. My style is “frumpy”, so I can get by with khakis and chinos, golf-style shirts (not bowling like Charlie in 2.5 Men), and comfy shoes. JC Penny, Duluth Trading Co, and REI handle 95% of my clothing needs.
Peace ❤
Jay
February 26, 2015 at 12:56 PM
Old Lurker
I am quite fortunate in that thrift store clothing fits me. The reduced selection at thrift stores helps a lot; it makes it much easier to decide to purchase or not. I will never be stylish, though.
One cannot purchase underwear or socks at thrift stores, however, so every few years I buy some horrible sweatshop product in bulk, further condemning me to an eternity in hell after I die.
February 26, 2015 at 2:22 PM
Ron
I used to love to go clothes shopping in my previous life. Not so these days, I tend to were the same outfit for a week or so, until I tire of it. The only time I order clothes now is if I need a new shirt or pair of pants for my job. Having said all this though, for some unexplained reason I’m still hanging onto my overstuffed closets of clothes “just in case.” Of course that “just in case” day never comes.
Ron
February 26, 2015 at 10:12 PM
Practical Parsimony
My ex-husband would let all his clothes get in a state of disrepair and then need three suits at the same time. Our budget could not handle so many new things at once. So, I became in charge of clothing him. I would shop sales and when I found a suit that was right or shirts or ties on sale, I would shop. My method of buying was less costly. Every suit needed two shirts and two ties when I shopped my way.
I might only buy one suit a year. Or, I might just replace things as they began to wear. Then, I might buy four blue shirts if they were on sale. He did not understand buying clothes or the problem of keeping one blue shirt clean when he wore it every time he found it in the closet.
February 27, 2015 at 2:36 AM
larrymuffin
I did a lot of clothes shopping in Italy. My suggestion is to fly there and do your shopping in their fine men stores and I will be your helpful shopping advisor. No need for check out counters and all that nonsense. PS
You should not admit in your blog you shop at Costco. I could hear readers around the planet whispering how shocked they were at that admission.
February 27, 2015 at 6:46 PM
fearsomebeard
I shop at Costco weekly for groceries. They have great fresh fruits and veggies. The way we go through them in our house Costco is the only place to go. The two of us use almost 10 lbs of spinach and a case of oranges a week just in our smoothies for starters.
February 27, 2015 at 6:39 PM
fearsomebeard
A panic attack while standing in line at a sales counter? Wow, something that never even entered into my thoughts. Wow. When I can’t decide between two colors I just get one of each. Problem solved.