Friday, April 13, 2012

Misadventures in Pajamas Shopping


It seemed so simple a plan: I just wanted to buy a pair of pajamas where the top and bottoms matched.  Here’s what actually happened:

Today I went to Zeller’s in the Hillside Shopping Centre in search of pajamas shopping.  While looking for the pajamas section I accidentally knocked down a shirt and realized I actually wanted one of that type. I found two of that time that fit me and two that were almost as nice so I grabbed them.

I asked someone where the pajamas were, noting I was only able to find the bottoms separately. She didn’t work that area but promised to find someone who did.  While I was waiting I did find some sets of tops and bottoms that were packaged together, but they didn’t really match (they top and bottom were of different material and texture and in terms of look had the same colour but different design).  The woman I needed to speak to came over and I asked I was looking for a matching pair. Her response was “And…?”  She seemed annoyed when I explained that I wanted the top to look like the bottom , as if that was a strange request (which is interesting because at once once I had bought that type of pajamas from that particular Zeller’s). She even made a point of referring to what they had as matching to indicate that she disagreed with me about the degree to which the tops and bottoms matched.  Since she seemed annoyed and frustrated with me the whole time I made of asking when else I might find what I was looking for and she begrudgingly answered Sears.

I went to buy just the shirts and the cashier kept asking me a lot of questions such as if I was off today and if I lived in Victoria, etc. She also asked about three or four times in a row if I had a credit card when I presented by debit card for payment.

I went to Sears and got directions for the pajamas section. Sears had the type I wanted but UI needed it in large and the ones I found were small, medium, and extra large.  There was no one in that area to help me. There were two cashiers but they were helping customers.  Eventually there was no one at the men’s wear till including customers so I went to grab a place in line.  Unfortunately by the time someone returned to the till a bunch of customers ready to make purchases had swarmed the section, so they couldn’t help me until the fresh batch of customers were taken care of.

I found the person who gave me directions at first, as she was still nearby. She said she worked for Levi’s but would try to help me.  I took her to the area and explained my dilemma. She agreed to check the back stock.  While I was waiting for her, one of the people at the till finally came over. Since it was his section I explained the matter and he said that they only had what was in that area. I didn’t want to leave without telling the other person who was doing the search for me so I tracked her down… and contrary to what the one guy said she had actually found what I was looking for in another section! She doublechecked but there was only the one pair. Good enough. I made the purchase and finally escaped from my Hillside Mall pajamas hunting misadventure.

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