It's that special time of the year, the annual Secret Santa gig, for people you basically don't know and therefore, haven't got a bloody clue what to buy them. WTF? Who's responsible for this contrived, devious ritual? Ever heard of a Christmas list? Have the employees fill those out and turn them in, at least we'd have a clue where to start. Those actually really come in handy. I certainly don't have a problem buying Christmas gifts, that's not at issue, but usually, I know ahead of time, what I'm buying and who I'm buying it for. And if all else fails, just give them money. Unfortunately, that's not permitted.
Memo to my Secret Santa recipient: Why don't you just tell me what you want, I don't give a shit if you break the "Secret Santa Rules," at least you'll get something you actually need and it will honestly relieve alot of my stress, this time of year. Therefore, I won't be sitting around for a week, trying to read your mind, and figure out what to get you, especially since I've only met on a few occasions. Why does everything have to be so tight-lipped and cryptic? We fortunately don't do this annual ritual back home in OZ (thankfully it hasn't made it that far). I can barely shop for myself, let alone strangers.
Since I haven't got a clue what to buy, I ran to my neighbor and dragged her ass with me shopping, to conquer this task. Fast forward. We end up at Macy's. My friend told me to just buy her perfume, clothing, or maybe some nice jewelry. Wait a minute, jewelry? I'm not trying to date this person, I just want to complete my end of the agreement, that's it. Well the clothing option was also definitely out of the equation. I'd personally never let anyone else buy my clothes, even my own mum. I just decided on the perfume route.
Holy crap! The aroma of literally dozens of different bottles of perfume, being blasted into the air, every 3 seconds in the perfume department, is unbearable. The store was an absolute zoo, as expected. There's no cohesion with respect to customer service, it's just a free-for-all. The first employee you find, make sure to hold her tight, because some other shopper will try to swoop in and steal her.
Luckily, we had a really cool employee who was willing to show us the different perfumes. But after the first few I smelt, they all start to smell alike, really confusing and nauseating. I just told my friend to pick one out that my collegue would like, since I'm not a connoisseur of fine ladies perfumes and I'm now becoming light-headed. So my friend picked a perfume called J'adore by Christian Dior. She said that my Secret Santa recipient would love it. She also mentioned that it's the perfume commercial with Charlize Theron rips off her dress, well in that case, get a bottle for yourself as well ;)
Other than the crowds which are inevitable at Christmas time, the customer service was actually not that bad. Plus I honestly didn't realise that there's that many freakin perfumes on the market. However, as usually, the parking sucks at Northridge Fashion Center. There's honestly people yelling at each other over parking spots, ready to fight, just ridiculous. And no, I wasn't one of them. read more