Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Most excellent timing

Last night I headed to the mall with a list of items to pick up in hand. One such item, a bra of a particular brand, could only be found at Nordstrom.

I parked outside Nordstrom and attempted to enter to find the doors locked. How odd! Another patron who walked by informed me that they were having "a special event" but it didn't start until 7.

So I went in another entrance and decided to acquire the rest of the things I needed first. I accomplished this task in nearly record time. I headed back to Nordstrom's mall entrance only to find it locked up. Huh?

I left through another store and noticed a sign outside Nordstrom's door. It said to please use the north entrance. Intrigued, I headed north.

Outside the north entrance sat a woman at a table with a list. It felt like trying to get into an exclusive club. The woman informed me that they were holding a "special event" (so much vaguery - I half wondered if there was to be an execution inside). When I asked if I could enter to purchase something, I was added to the list as a write-in and shown through the door.

Behold! Hors d'ouvres! Wine! Beer! Martinis! And I hadn't eaten dinner yet. What luck!

I bumped into an old friend inside who'd actually been invited to the shindig, apparently held for Nordstrom's big spenders. Funny story - my friend needed a fair amount of frequent flyer miles to book a trip to South America. So she buys a $10,000 pair of earrings, books the trip with the miles, and then returns the earrings. Quite ingenious.

Today I realized how fortuitous my timing actually was. My "egg retrieval" cycle starts today. That means no booze for the next month, or more like the next year if things go as hoped.

All hail Nordstrom.

6 comments:

chelene said...

I've always wondered if stores had those types of things for their special customers. Maybe I should buy a few Gucci bags and see if I can score an invite.

Metro said...

My god--the simple brilliance of buying an expensive-yet-returnable item for airmiles!

Reminds me of Dave Phillips


Hmmm ... think they'd take them back if I said that my wife had run off with another man, just as our tenth anniversary turned up?

Runs off to price out flights to Australia.

BeckEye said...

Alcohol is the only thing that would make shopping bearable for me.

justacoolcat said...

I also hail the mighty Nordstroms! Though, they'll never invite me to one of those things because I shop Nordstroms Rack and get 1000 bucks worth of stuff for a few hundo.

Slave to the dogs said...

Eek, please excuse my absence.

Metro - I don't see why it wouldn't work if you book your mileage flights before you return your item. I suspect the airline would put you in a negative balance for your miles at that point.

I remember hearing about that guy with the pudding and the miles. That was truly brilliant.

Beckeye - it makes just ab bout everything more bearable! ;)

Cat - Nordstrom Rack is most awesome indeed. Got the spousal unit a $600 leather jacket once for 75 smackeroos.

Slave to the dogs said...

Oh, and Chelene - any excuse to buy some Gucci is a good one, even if it's only temporary. :)