Ann Taylor needs to get her act together
Yesterday, I went to the mall. (Cue the screechy violins.) I had an Ann Taylor LOFT gift card (my mother who loves me sent it for my birthday), and they were having a 30% off everything sale, and I found an outfit. Went to the counter, asked about my gift card, and found I can’t use it in the store. It’s an e-gift card, and I can only use it while e-shopping. Not a big deal – I wrote down exactly what I planned to buy and continued my shopping (Target, Home Depot, other stores in the mall to find shoes for this new outfit I couldn’t buy, etc). When I got home, I hopped online, found the website (30% and free shipping on the website!), put the skirt in my shopping cart, found the top, and that’s where I got stuck. Turns out the top isn’t available online. In stores only. Really? REALLY? SO irritating. I ordered the skirt anyway. Today, I went back to the store. I was in and out of the mall in less than 10 minutes, maybe less than five.
But just because my return trip was relatively painless doesn’t excuse Ann Taylor’s behavior. Why would any retailer NOT sell everything online? Yes, I know malls are endangered, and yes, they got me to visit their physical location TWICE in two days, but they also made me a tad less likely to order from them again. A tad. A teeny tad. That was a good sale. And free shipping. Who am I kidding? I’m still irritated, though.
I heard something a little (a lot) ridiculous that made my mall visit more palatable. On my way out, I went through the shoe department in Nordstrom and listened to the pianist by the escalators. I heard the opening chords of something familiar, but I couldn’t place it for a minute. Then he got to the chorus and all of a sudden I recognized it. Why would anyone bother to arrange a piano-only version of Justin Bieber’s “Baby”?
Why do I still ask these questions? A quick search on YouTube found lots of piano versions of it.