Thursday, September 3, 2009

"Discontinued"...The Worst News A Woman Could Hear

We all have our favorites. Whether it be foods or beverages or clothing lines or colors. Furniture styles, movie genres, entertainers, sports teams. Sometimes we find them quickly. Sometimes our tastes require time and trials. Choices are extremely personal. Some are forever. Some are not. When we make our decisions, change can be very disturbing. Upsetting. Downright unacceptable.

Monday I was at the grocery store. In our Sunday paper circulars was a coupon for one dollar off any Cover Girl product. Fabulous. Timing couldn't be better. I wanted a back-up tube of lipstick so I added #936 to my shopping list and cut out that coupon. Make-up is not inexpensive and that dollar would be very helpful.

Made my way through the produce section, stopped and selected three birthday cards, grabbed some pop. Pushed the cart down the row of mascaras, powders and eye shadows to my focused destination. Reached out my hand to slip the silver metallic case from the display and noticed the sale tag directly over my favorite color. Woo-Hoo! I silently rejoiced. Mine is on sale. What luck!! Maybe I should grab another. Then I noticed the twelve-letter word on the price tag. Discontinued.

What?? Discontinued!!?!! What do you mean Discontinued??!! You've got to be kidding me. It CANNOT be. It took me 29 years to find this particular shade and you just can't withdraw it from your line. You can't arbitrarily take it from me. I just stared at that stupid little red and white sign. I was so disconcerted that I even leaned down to take a double take and made absolutely sure I hadn't misread it. Sure enough. My fate was sealed. Don't panic I told myself. Don't sweat. Think of your alternatives. The obvious would be to find a new favorite shade of course. But remembering all of the numerous brands and colors I had tried over those years was disheartening and the idea of going through that effort (not to mention the money) to find another one was daunting. So I did the next best thing. The second choice. Sort of a treasure hunt of sorts.

I have gone to four stores as of yesterday and now own seven tubes. I've got a plan. I am building an arsenal of #936's to last me for a while. I called my neighbors and friends asking for their coupons. They gladly handed them over. And in my search I discovered that one chain had discounted this selection by 50% and with that dollar off to boot I am making out like a bandit. I just hope my husband doesn't discover my stash. Don't think he'd understand how dear to a woman's heart her lipstick truly is. Nor my desperation. Nor why one would want to run around "wasting time and gas" to search for for it. And between you and me I'm not through yet. No sirree bob. After I'm done completely scouring the area I will staved off the pain of searching for a new fav for quite some time. Yep. Quite...some...time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is like the end of the world. actually, the end of the world would be better.

what brand? i'll keep an eye out for you and scoop up whatever i can find. really. i will. i thoroughly understand this!

That Argo Dude said...

The only time I'm looking for lipstick is when it's on my face, neck or shirt collar.