I am addicted to shopping. I will go to extreme lengths to get the latest fashion trend. But nothing compares to what I did for my latest fashion fix.
I was at lunch with friends in the city and we decided to stop in at the local boutiques for some retail therapy. We entered a very expensive store that always had something fabulous and that day was no exception. I was instantly drawn to a beautiful coat in the window. My friends also started hustling for the coat and asking for sizes from the shop assistant. They only had one in stock but it was my size. I tried it on and fell in love with it. It was gorgeous!
I was very nervous to look at the price tag. The lovely coat cost $1500. I couldn’t believe it. There was no way I could afford it. But I just had to have it.
That night I went home and tried to think of ways to get the money for the coat. Like I said, I was addicted and convinced myself I needed the coat. I wanted to buy it before anyone else could. If I had the coat, I knew I would be the envy of all my friends. The problem was, it was so out of my reach.
A couple of days later my friends and I met up for coffee and as we walked past the boutique I noticed a ‘staff wanted’ sign. I suddenly had a thought. Once my friends and I parted ways, I went to the store and enquired about the job. It was a casual position, mainly weekends. I turned on my sales persona and told the manager I was interested in finding a second, casual job and had a lot of sales experience. I apologised for not having a resume on me as I had only noticed the sign as I was walking by, but the manager was quite eager to give me a trial anyway.
I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. Well, I was in a way, but I couldn’t believe I was actually contemplating it. So I went for my trial, fake resume in hand. The manager gave me a few tasks and then gave me a set target to try and reach before the end of the day. It was really busy and funnily enough the only thing I was nervous about was if one of my friends happened to walk by. That would surely thwart my plan. Thankfully, no familiar faces showed up. My next challenge was to figure out my plan of attack.
Lunchtime showed that opportunity. The manager told me she would be leaving for lunch but would only be 20 minutes or so. She took some large bills from the register and said that she was going to get change from the bank. I watched her walk into the bank as I could see it from the boutique. The rush had died down and there was no one left browsing the racks. I knew this was my chance. The coat had been removed from the window dummy earlier as someone was trying it on and it now remained on a centre couch. I quickly picked it up, folded it and stuffed it into a large bag I had ready. I peeped at the bank to see if the manager had left. She was still in there. I had parked my car just around the corner. I grabbed the bag and ran to my car, leaving the store unattended. I didn’t care at this point. All I knew was that I needed to get the bag out of the shop.
I was in and out in less than a minute. I took a quick glance around the shop and everything seemed in place. I composed myself and waited for the manager to return. At this point I was getting very nervous. I had a fair idea of what I was going to say but wasn’t sure it would work. By the time the manager walked in I had put on my frantic face and even managed some tears. I was carrying on in a hysterical panic and she told me to calm down and explain why I was panicking. I told her that a customer had come in and asked for another size in a particular top. I’d gone out the back and when I’d returned the girl was gone and so was the coat.
All the manager could do was scream out a huge “What?” I explained that I had only been out the back for one minute but the manager said that I should never have left the front in the first place. I was very afraid she was going to make me pay for the coat, so I said I was only trying to reach budget and that I didn’t want to lose out on a sale. The manager looked distraught.
She called the police and told me that I would have to give a full statement of what the thief looked like. I already knew they didn’t have cameras installed. The police asked me to give a description of the girl and I gave the best description I could of my imaginary thief. I kept picturing a girl who I despised so my description would be consistent.
After the police left, the manager told me that under the circumstances the trial had not worked out. I put on a devastated face and once again said how sorry I was. I walked to my car and couldn’t believe what I had just pulled off or what I’d done for a coat.
I never told anyone what I did. I still have the coat tucked away secretly in my closet. I haven’t even worn it because I am scared the manager might see me in it. Being a small city, it’s quite possible I could bump into her on one of my nights out with the girls. I am waiting until next season to wear my beautiful coat but I have now become quite paranoid that I will get caught. I feel guilty for what I did and of course ashamed that I was so desperate. If I eventually wear the coat and my friends ask where I got it, I am going to say it’s from eBay.
Since then I have stopped shopping so much and am considering talking to someone about my compulsive shopping behaviour. When I was younger I used to joke about how much I liked to shop and being a typical shop-o-holic. But after what I stooped to, somehow it doesn’t seem so funny any more.
Picture posed by model
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