Monday, February 7, 2011

a plan is only as good as it's implementation...

so today . . . i went shopping with rollie. just to clarify, I went with rollie--HE did not go with me...

friday afternoon, i went to rollie's new office to help him hang stuff on the walls. yes, even the kobe jersey. but as sometimes happens, one project led to another. we started looking around and rearranging things, and soon it became apparent that he might need some furniture for his office.

he inherited a huge desk and a giant leather desk chair from his predecessors. by the time we got done moving things around, that was just about all that was left. so i came home and started shopping online for a couch and a couple of chairs. but i quickly decided this time the internet was not going to be my friend. we were going to have to actually go into a furniture store. or six...

so today was the day. we knew what we were looking for--a black "leather" couch and two chairs. (i say "leather," because we didn't want fabric, but this couch isn't going to get a lot of wear and tear, so faux leather would probably be ok.) we walked into the first store. it was empty except for a lone salesman. and so we got lots of attention--way more than we wanted! while he was very helpful, i was ready to leave the store long before we were able to disengage. because once he found out what we were looking for, he did not want to stop showing us possibilities...

on our way to the next store, i said to rollie, "ok, we need a better story. we cannot tell them what we are looking for, or they won't leave us alone. so here is what we will say. we will say that we are going to be moving in a couple of months (true, i hope,) and are looking for some furniture (also true,) but we don't have a place to put it until we actually move (definitely true.) that way, they will know we are not going to buy anything today, and we will be free to look around without all the unwanted help." i thought it was a brilliant idea. and so we walked into the second store. "and what can i help you find today?" asked the very nice saleslady. "my husband needs a couch for his office." that was me talking. that was me, telling her what we really needed, instead of the brilliant story i had concocted. and so, she proceeded to help us...

on our way the the third store, i said, "ok, i don't know what happened back there. i don't know why i told her what we were really looking for. but don't worry, next time i will just tell them my story and we will be free to wander about on our own."

we made it through the third store without talking to anybody--fortunately the salesperson was talking to someone else! the fourth store was about the size of our living room. we probably wouldn't even have gone in, except the side walls were covered with mirrors, so the store looked huge! it wasn't. but it was very disorienting. the guy at the fifth store didn't even look up from his desk at us--and while i wanted to be left alone to look, i was just a little bit offended that he didn't even acknowledge us! maybe word was getting around...

we got to the sixth store (yes, rollie went to SIX furniture stores. he was probably starting to wish he hadn't asked me to come along. if i had stayed at home, he would have just bought something at the first store and been happy with it. in fact, i was beginning to think we were going to end up back at the first store anyway. apparently black "leather" couches are not really in style right now...) we walked in and were immediately met by two salesmen. it was a big store. this would be the perfect time to pull out my "we are moving" story. "what are you looking for today?" we were asked. "a couch," i answered, "for my husband's office."

what is wrong with me?!?!?! i formulate a perfectly good plan, but i can't seem to implement it! i spilled my guts and told the guy we wanted a black leather couch. he said, "oh, we don't have any of those." see what i mean? what kind of a furniture store doesn't have even one black leather couch?!?! apparently brown is the popular color now, but that doesn't help us--we need black!

it was not our lucky day.

fortunately i had taken pictures of all the couch possibilities. (i even took some video--although it was totally an accident. and i was going to post it, for your amusement. but blogspot still won't let me post video!! i am starting to get annoyed about it...) we went to eat dinner, thinking we would talk about what we had seen, and then make a decision. we looked at the pictures. we compared price and style and size. and i am still not sure which is the best choice.

wait. i take that back. i know which one is the best choice, but guess what? it is also the one that costs $1200! i am pretty sure that one is not going to be living in rollie's office (even though it would be perfect!) i think rollie is going to pick the couch we saw at the first store. i think. but maybe not. maybe he will pick the one from the fourth store. either way, he should have a couch and two chairs in his office by the end of the week.

which is good, because all that shopping and thinking and deciding was exhausting. i am going to need a place to sit...

2 comments:

mom said...

If you think looking for sofas was tough, I can hardly wait until you start looking for houses!!!!

Diandra Ann said...

Did you try big lots?? You'd be surprised what you can find there.