I bought some socks today and it was an extremely irritating experience. For some reason, socks, the seemingly simplest item of clothing, are very difficult for me to shop for. There are a few reasons for this.
The first is that just about everything is becoming difficult to shop for at big-box stores where is likeliest to find socks. They are so low on inventory and nobody is ever around to help you. They've been hit hard by online competition and Covid and it shows. It's a self-perpetuating downfall: The fewer customers they get, the more they cut, and the more they cut, the fewer customers get. Going into a big-box store now is like going into a really bad art museum--there's nothing really there but a massive amount of open space, a few roaming patrons, and one security guard in the corner with an earpiece who doesn't talk.
Another big problem I have shopping for socks is that I can almost never find my size. Almost every pack of men's socks you find in the store has shoe-size range 6-12. I usually wear between an 11 and a 12, so you would think, based on the range, that most socks would fit me. But you would be wrong. I have yet to find a sock that can actually accommodate the seven sizes they claim to accommodate. Every time I buy socks in this range, and I've done it a few times, thinking maybe it's different for different brands, they are too small -- not way too small but too small nevertheless. So, then I have to do that thing where you wear them anyway, because you bought an eight pack, and you tell yourself it's fine, but your feet are actually quite uncomfortable, so eventually you have to give in and put them in a donation box because life is too short to wear socks that are too small. I hate that. Never again will I be duped by the 6-12 range.
Lastly, finding the style I want can be a problem. This was especially frustrating today, as I just wanted plain white ankle socks. That's it--nondescript white socks that stop at your ankles. I didn't want those super low-cut liners that make it look like you aren't wearing socks at all; I didn't want those "ankle" socks that resemble baby booties and actually come up to your lower calves; I didn't want them in black; and I didn't want a visible Nike swoosh or any other corporate logo. (I haven't worked out the terms of my endorsement deal yet.) I went to three -- yes, three -- stores today trying to find socks like this in shoe-size 10-13. I couldn't do it. The best I could do are ones that say PUMA across the top. They didn't have just plain white.
And this is why Amazon is taking over the world.
I mean, I definitely don't like seeing the demise of the big-box store, but it's hard to pass up a 15-second search and a swipe of a button, when the alternative is a multi-stop excursion that takes up my entire lunch break and still leaves me with something other than what I really wanted.
In other news, S is visiting a friend for the weekend, so I have the boys to myself. Naturally, I get two invitations to do things that I have to turn down. Some neighborhood dads are getting together for beers tonight and my friend R asked me if I want to go to the DC United game tomorrow. Weeks -- nay, months -- go by without me doing anything social that doesn't involve my family. I'm almost always free, and then when I'm not, this happens. It's like rain on your wedding day.
Until next time...
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