Goodbye, Old Friends

I said goodbye to a couple of old friends recently.  The first to go was my Motorola Nextel radio.  After more than 10 years, I finally got fed up with the quality of my Nextel two-way service.

When I first signed up for Nextel, I was amazed at how much easier it made my life.  For a flat monthly rate and with the push of a button, I could talk all I wanted to all I of my subcontractors and suppliers.  I didn't have to use precious cell phone minutes or wear a pager, and I never had to beep someone and wait for them to return my call.

In its heyday, Nextel revolutionized the construction business.  At 7 o'clock in the morning, I could be enjoying a cup of coffee in my robe and pajamas and give instructions to the framer, painter or roofer.

My sons and their friends used to mock me.  "Hey, Billy.  We need a load of lumber up on Lot 51.  10-4."

In the end after Sprint bought out Nextel, the quality of the service began to rapidly go downhill.  I couldn't have a conversation in the comfort of my kitchen without losing the connection, so I finally decided that I could take that $50 a month and add it to my cell phone plan, which has always been with a different carrier, and still be ahead of the game.

With the arrival of the September catalog, I also decided that it was sadly time to say goodbye to Talbots.  I have worn Talbots way longer than I owned a Nextel radio.  In fact, I used to order from their catalog long before they had a store in my town.  I hate shopping for clothes in department stores.  I wear petites, and department stores never have much of a selection.  What they do have is crammed in a haphazard mess into a small corner of the store that's hard to find.

But over the last couple of years, Talbots began changing the focus of their marketing to attract the "thirty-somethings" and kicked Granny to the curb.  When their September catalog came about a week ago, I didn't see a single thing that looked like me.

Look closely at this description of their "Heritage Fit" pants.  It says, "Sits comfortably at the waist."

Wrong.  Did you know that Talbots takes the fabric that they used to put at the waist of their pants and adds it to the length?  True.  So now the petite pants that used to fit me perfectly have to be cut off 4-6 inches in length.

Truthfully, I like my pants to sit slightly below the waist.  However, even though I'm in construction, I do not want to look like the plumber when I bend over.

So it's goodbye to Talbots and hello to J. Jill.  Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with the $10.74 credit on my Talbots account.

I know it's probably cheating to link up with Laurie's Favorite Things, since these "old favorites" have dropped out of favor.  But I'm going to cheat and do it anyway.  Be sure to visit Laurie where you'll probably see lots of things that bloggers really do love.