Ross: Dress for Less, or Less than Less

Just after spending $60 on a new swim team suit, Nik mentions that M and S have cute dresses that sparkle and she doesn't. Her BFF is having her birthday this weekend and her parents are taking her and 4 of her friends to see The Phantom of the Opera with dinner first. So it's bling time! I'm an indulgent mother and I love seeing my girl decked out and being cute but we are on a budget, big time. I said, lets go but cheap or nothing! Off we head to Kohls. They had some sparkly dresses but frankly, I don't want my daughter to look like a hooker and that's all the special occasion dresses they had in Jrs. So off we go, Marshalls -nothing, Nordstrom Rack, nada. Then we see Ross. I don't like going into Ross. It's kind of shabby and the customers and staff always are rude (ok, maybe not always but every time I darken the door). The racks are all too close together and I hate having to try and slide by all the skinny gals who seem so put out that I ask them to scoot their cart over.

Nicole and I maneuver ourselves to the dresses and start sorting thru. They had a few very small dresses (Nicole is very petite, until she came around, I had never looked in a size 00 rack before) She finds 2 dresses that don't look like a street walker or Las Vegas showgirl might own and we head over to the fitting rooms. Nicole is in there about 30 minutes. It's 2 dresses, come on! I start texting her - do you need help? are you dead? wtf? Finally she's out and she loves this little black dress with a big rhinestone decoration just under the bust. It's all floaty and very nice. We head to the racks again to see if we can find some kind of coverup. We did find a wispy chiffon scarfy thing that's beaded.

We finally get in line and what a line it is. Everyone in front of us has a cart filled up and while we are waiting, they have family members adding to their ever growing pile of stuff. Our clerk is in no hurry and doesn't seem to know how to count cash. So she counts the cash she is given 3 or 4 times. I think one person gave her about 80 one dollar bills. Doesn't anyone use plastic anymore. I felt like I was in that Visa commercial where everything comes crashing to a halt when the idiot brings out cash. We waited another 30 minutes in line before we finally get there. I'm nearly comatose and my feet are achy. The clerk rings us up, I pay and off we go. As we head home, I asked Nik what the total came to. Yeah, yeah, I don't always pay attention. She says, $17. Wait a minute, the dress was $14 so what about the scarf? Nik, "oops, she didn't ring it up." So with the help of the clerk, we just sorta shoplifted from Ross a $10 scarf. And no, I didn't go back right then and there. This morning I asked Nicole where the receipt was and the tags from the scarf. In the trash, outside, at the curb, and just moments ago I heard the truck. I'm a poor excuse for setting a good example.