Valentine's Day Shopping

Here's a little something I noticed a couple of days ago.

I work part time in a make up store. Understandably, we don't get a lot of male customers. And the few male customers who come in regularly probably know more about make up than most women. Which brings me to the minority- Straight men.

Quite a few of them come into the store during Christmas, and of course just recently we celebrated Valentine's. So the day before and the day of Valentine's, we had a sudden influx of straight men dashing in. All looking for gifts for their wives/girlfriends etc. We have lots of things women would like. We sell make up and beauty products, nothing out of the ordinary if you think about it...

So, Why the hell do the (straight) men always have this hunted look in their eyes when they walk in?? They shuffle around, asking what's popular and what's good to buy. You point out what's hot and what's new but in the end, they just end up getting a gift card. In that case, why ask in the first place?! And why do they always have to look so uncomfortable? It's just make-up. It's not going to hurt you and we're not going to try to put it on you (unless you ask).

And of course, while the men are walking around looking dazed and confused, the rest of women in the store are smirking. By chance, I overheard a female customer smirking to her friend, "you can smell the desperation in the air."

It's true and it was amusing to watch all the men scrambling to find appropriate gifts for their better halves... even if 85% ended up with gift cards.