I was at the bookstore today and I was in line waiting to check out, and of course they have that whole area crammed with stuff for impulse buying.  I try to control myself in those situations, because it’s obvious they’re just trying to make a buck off a captive audience, that’s why I REALLY hate ads in the movie theatres, but I digress.  CRAFT magazine was featured on the same stand as Business Week and Allure and some other magazines by the wait area, and the cover looked pretty hip and cool.  I love handmade stuff and, even though I’ve never bought the magazine before, having a project to do sounded fun, so last minute I give the magazine to the lady as I’m checking out and….IT’S 15 DOLLARS FOR THE MAGAZINE!!!

Ok, any rational person, seeing that ring up and expecting 3.99 or 4.99 to pop up would be assertive enough to say, “Actually, I don’t want that, thanks.” But…

As I was walking out, new magazine in-bag, I was SO KICKING MYSELF!  I mean, come on, I’m OLD!  I should have just said I didn’t want it!  But I have weird money hang-ups, and for some reason, the slightest hint of the cashier judging me like I’m poor or something made me follow through with the transaction.  And it’s not the first time I’ve done that!  I’ve actually bought clothing items accidentally WAY out of my budget and returned them the next day with another cashier because for some reason I turn blank-brained when something unexpected happens like that.  The WOW analogy would be “scatter shotted.”

I read this great book about “People Pleasing” last year, endorsed by Oprah so it had to be good.  There were many sections about never saying “Yes” until you took a moment to think about it, weighing if you really wanted to do the task, if you had time, etc.  It helped a lot and I and haven’t help host as many baby showers or done as many free student films since, but I guess I need to concentrate on extrapolating those lessons to the retail sector.

Well, goddamnit, I AM using that pattern for a party dress in that magazine no matter what!

Oops, I don’t have a sewing machine.