So I pretty much hate shopping for jeans. I hate it so much that I don't like even saying the word (if you couldn't tell from the title of this little post). I hate it because there are so many different styles and sizes and lengths and widths and there is always at least one thing wrong with them. I could be perfectly fine never wearing jeans ever again just so that I wouldn't have to shop for them, but I've been told that they are a necessity, so it had to be done, I guess.
My general dislike for shopping for jeans came a few months back. My wonderful girlfriend Nikki (who suffered through much boredom and traveling and walking just to help me) and I embarked on a jean-shopping journey that I had no idea would be as hard as it turned out to be. We drove all over town going in at least 10 different stores, taking over 4 hours, and not a single pair was found that was wearable by myself. I don't understand how out of all the different stores and all the different styles and all the different sizes, not a single one fit on me. There was so much walking back and forth between dressing room and store, changing the size a little bit to try to see if it would fit, each time being reminded of how I'm a failure at wearing jeans. And on top of that, if there was one that happened to fit (and didn't cost more than $60), it either had holes everywhere or was some crazy color or had buttons instead of a zipper. Why in the world would anyone prefer buttons over a zipper? It just puzzles me. But I was so discouraged after that day, I never wanted to go jean shopping again.
So fast forward to yesterday. It was suggested by Nikki that we go jean shopping once again. All I could do was moan. What's worse is that she suggested we go to American Eagle of all places. If there is one store I would avoid, it is American Eagle. The fact that they have a terrible music selection which they decide to play as loud as they can and have preppy clothes to the max just make that store a huge turn-off to me. I normally can't stand to even look at that store for more than 30 seconds let alone actually shop there. The only thing that enticed me to go was the fact that all their jeans were on sale and Nikki had a coupon for 15% off the entire order.
So here we go into American Eagle, blaring music and all, to get some jeans. They actually played "Can't Stop" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers while I was there, so that made it a little better and was actually a good sign that we might have success. So I quickly grabbed a pair that might fit me and asked for a dressing room. The lady asked me if I like my jeans looser or tighter. "Uhhh, looser..." is what I said, because I didn't trust what her definition of "tighter" was. So she gets me a dressing room and gets some looser jeans than what I had apparently picked out and flung them over the door while I was in there changing, which isn't normally something I appreciate. So I tried on the two pairs I now had and I was a bit surprised, actually, because AE's jeans seemed to fit. There was just a little bit of size tweaking needed, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as it had been in times past. The little helper lady came back while I was in there and knocked on the door to see if I was okay. "Well I was." I don't understand why they can't wait until I am out of the dressing room before they ask how I am doing. No, they have to wait until I am hopping on one leg, half in jeans and half in boxers to see if I'm okay. It made for an awkward experience in my opinion. Well after that there wasn't much trouble and I found which sizes fit me best. I ran it by Nikki, of course, who has much better experience at this whole shopping thing than I do, and she approved. So I got myself 3 pairs of jeans in the hopes that I won't have to do this again for another 5 years. So I was, in fact, successful, and the best part was that I saved $35! I guess it's not impossible to find a pair of jeans that fit me after all. I just hope that the button industry doesn't take over the zipper industry any time soon.
