I bought some pretty boxes today

[madoka]

Went to the mall today to buy gifts for family.

As a man who has been repeatedly mistaken for a hobo on the street, I'll be the first to admit I'm not into fashion. With that said, fashion and jewelry have got to be the biggest ripoffs on earth.

But they do make pretty boxes/packaging.

I know that this phrase has never been said before in the history of mankind, but the cheapest thing I bought at the mall was from Hermes. The sales lady from Bulgari was the only sales person who took the time to explain why I should be paying $700 for a scarf. The sales people from Chanel and Cartier didn't even bother approaching me, but their security guards sure did follow me around.

 

[momeNt]

Went to the mall today to buy gifts for family.

As a man who has been repeatedly mistaken for a hobo on the street, I'll be the first to admit I'm not into fashion. With that said, fashion and jewelry have got to be the biggest ripoffs on earth.

There are ways to dress comfortably and frugally without looking like a hobo. Can you link me to some typical articles of clothing you wear or an example outfit?

 

[zinfamous]

when in your hobo costume walking into these stores, do you make sure to keep all of your money in the form of large cash rolls that you stuff in your underwear, and pull out at the desk when confronted by security?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Burberry was an OK store when the wife and I visited it on London back in 2014. We had more fun, though, in places like Selfridges and Harrods. Even the flagship VS store in London.

 

[pete6032]

Dressing nice makes you feel like a million bucks. There is no reason not to dress nice. I dress-down when I'm at home, but if I am going out or going to socialize with someone, I will dress sharp.

Skinny jeans and blazer with a white collard shirt and brown wing-tip oxfords today.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Dressing nice
Skinny jeans

DOES NOT COMPUTE

 

[nakedfrog]

Dressing nice makes you feel like a million bucks. There is no reason not to dress nice. I dress-down when I'm at home, but if I am going out or going to socialize with someone, I will dress sharp.

Skinny jeans and blazer with a white collard shirt and brown wing-tip oxfords today.

Dressing nice makes you feel like a million bucks.
I feel best when I'm naked, personally.

 

[MrSquished]

First job as a busboy at a Greek diner in Northern NJ, we had a regular customer, a dirty looking guy with a long unkempt beard who sat at the counter. He almost looked homeless. The regular staff told me he was pretty loaded. Not Bill Gates loaded, but definitely a millionaire and a bit.

 

[dullard]

As a man who has been repeatedly mistaken for a hobo on the street, I'll be the first to admit I'm not into fashion. With that said, fashion and jewelry have got to be the biggest ripoffs on earth.

I do believe strongly in this line:

“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” -- Oscar Wilde

I have also been in many business meetings with outside personnel where I was dressed okay and others when I was dressed better than anyone else. The difference is night and day.

When you are the best dressed, the outside people (who don't know anyone very well so they don't have any biases yet) will greet you first, will sit facing you, will address most of their comments directly to you, etc. You can get deals done faster, more in your favor, etc. I've learned that NOT being fashionable is an even bigger ripoff than fashion. You get worse jobs, lower pay, etc. That doesn't mean that you have to pay a fortune, but you should dress well. But settling for a middle income life when you could have had a much higher income simply because you didn't want to pay $30 more for a shirt is where the real problem lies.

 

[pete6032]

DOES NOT COMPUTE

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Exactly my point, fashion not found.

 

[ponyo]

People will pay you money for empty designer label boxes and shopping bags. Wife told me that and I was like what? I don't dress like a hobo but I'm usually in t-shirt, gym shorts, and flip flops when I go out. I look pretty average and poor. So people usually leave me alone when I go into those kinds of stores. I usually just sit on the couch while wife shops. I only have to get up when it's time to pay or leave the store. But they definitely judge you in those stores based on your looks.

One of the guy I know dresses like a hobo. He rarely showers and dresses in old dirty t-shirt with holes and shorts made from cut sweatpants. And he usually stays and sleeps in an one bedroom apartment with nothing but a old mattress on the floor. That's it. Nothing else in the apartment. Yet the guy is worth millions and have homes everywhere. He drives an old Toyota Corolla and sleeps in an empty apartment.

One of my relative is on the other extreme. Every designer sales people in town pretty much know him and his wife and they get the VIP treatment when they visit. They always get invited to private shopping events and they spend probably close to six figures a year on designer bags, clothing, and shoes. They dress sharp and drive around in Rolls Royce, Ferrari, McLaren, etc so it looks like they're rich. He's rich and have money but the hobo guy has more. It's all about what you're comfortable with. I don't like the attention so I prefer the regular guy look. The hobo and the rich guy look draws too much attention.

 

[zinfamous]

2 of those dudes are carrying purses.

 

[madoka]

There are ways to dress comfortably and frugally without looking like a hobo. Can you link me to some typical articles of clothing you wear or an example outfit?

I was wearing sweat pants, a novelty t-shirt, and slip on shoes. It's the most comfortable outfit for me, but it does make me look like a homeless person.

when in your hobo costume walking into these stores, do you make sure to keep all of your money in the form of large cash rolls that you stuff in your underwear, and pull out at the desk when confronted by security?

It was interesting to see the security guards reposition themselves to get a good look at whatever I was doing. I first went in holding no shopping bags and then about an hour later, I had an armload of bags from designer stores. In both cases, the people at Cartier and Chanel acted the same way: sales people ignored me and security guards followed me.

 

[momeNt]

I do believe strongly in this line:

“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” -- Oscar Wilde

I have also been in many business meetings with outside personnel where I was dressed okay and others when I was dressed better than anyone else. The difference is night and day.

When you are the best dressed, the outside people (who don't know anyone very well so they don't have any biases yet) will greet you first, will sit facing you, will address most of their comments directly to you, etc. You can get deals done faster, more in your favor, etc. I've learned that NOT being fashionable is an even bigger ripoff than fashion. You get worse jobs, lower pay, etc. That doesn't mean that you have to pay a fortune, but you should dress well. But settling for a middle income life when you could have had a much higher income simply because you didn't want to pay $30 more for a shirt is where the real problem lies.

He's made more money than he can spend in a lifetime. While your information is helpful for those who are not done with their earnings, no importance for him.

 

[madoka]

People will pay you money for empty designer label boxes and shopping bags. Wife told me that and I was like what?

Yeah, I noticed that some of those boxes I got fetch up to $50 on ebay! Of course, it only cost me thousands of dollars of merchandise to get them.

That's the thing about buying designer stuff as gifts. There's so many knock-offs, that you can't trust third party sellers or places like ebay. So you're left with buying it directly from their stores at full-price. But you do get those nice boxes out of it.

 

[sdifox]

I was wearing sweat pants, a novelty t-shirt, and slip on shoes. It's the most comfortable outfit for me, but it does make me look like a homeless person.



It was interesting to see the security guards reposition themselves to get a good look at whatever I was doing. I first went in holding no shopping bags and then about an hour later, I had an armload of bags from designer stores. In both cases, the people at Cartier and Chanel acted the same way: sales people ignored me and security guards followed me.

should have turned around and told the security guard "here hold this for me. Since you are going to follow me, you may as well be useful."

 

[Imported]

The new LV box is a nice change.

Wait.. why should I even know this?

 

[madoka]

The new LV box is a nice change.

The lady at LV acted as if I was going to return my purchase. She was pretty snotty. I asked to see other colors and she said that they sold out of a lot of stuff over the weekend, which I thought was her excuse to not have to go into the back room. Then I asked, "Oh, did you have a sale?" and she said, "We never discount our merchandise" with this look of disgust.

I bet someone with a lot of free time could theoretically buy a bunch of stuff, return them, but then keep the gift boxes for resell. I would guess you could make a couple hundred a day doing this if you only do it once a month.

 

[madoka]

I bet someone with a lot of free time could theoretically buy a bunch of stuff, return them, but then keep the gift boxes for resell. I would guess you could make a couple hundred a day doing this if you only do it once a month.

Went to ebay to see if people already did this, and I guess some are.

Seller has empty Chanel box for $290:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chanel-Empt...611883?hash=item3f776d9cab:g:qbgAAOSwTM5Ywlw8

Same seller has an empty Hermes box for $250:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hermes-Empt...287607?hash=item3f73799577:g:HYkAAOSw-0xYeH3R

That's insanely expensive!

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

2 of those dudes are carrying purses.

With them skinny skinny jeans, the balls gotta go somewhere

 

[purbeast0]

As expensive as Louis Vuitton stuff is, man that stuff holds up quality so well. My wife has 3 purses and a wallet, and I remember I bought her the wallet before we were married, and we got married September 2008. The wallet still looks and feels basically brand new. The purses are the same and she uses one of them pretty much every day. I was very tempted to get a Louis Vuitton wallet a couple months ago but I just couldn't do it since they were like $500. I ended up getting a Tumi which is a nice leather one and about 1/3 the price of the LV but how long it will hold up for I won't know. The leather quality between the Tumi wallet and the LV one my wife has is definitely noticeable. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it feels different.

 

[Darwin333]

Two of those guys have friggen purses....

 

[Darwin333]

The lady at LV acted as if I was going to return my purchase. She was pretty snotty. I asked to see other colors and she said that they sold out of a lot of stuff over the weekend, which I thought was her excuse to not have to go into the back room. Then I asked, "Oh, did you have a sale?" and she said, "We never discount our merchandise" with this look of disgust.

I bet someone with a lot of free time could theoretically buy a bunch of stuff, return them, but then keep the gift boxes for resell. I would guess you could make a couple hundred a day doing this if you only do it once a month.

Don't they generally get commission? I think they do and just on the assumption that they did I wouldn't have bought shit from her.

 

[LevelSea]

2 of those dudes are carrying purses.

Purse on the left is filled with dildos.