Shopping Phobia

Yesterday, I went to return a coat I bought; now normally one would think this would be no big deal, right? You buy a coat and when you get home and try it on, you realize you don't like it. But for me, I dread the experience of returning it to the store; in fact, I dread the experience of shopping for clothes or anything where I have to deal with salespeople. Ever since I can remember, the only clothing stores I have ever frequented (if I shopped at all) have been those where there were few salespeople and I could try on clothes anonymously in a dressing room without someone coming in every five minutes to ask if I am "doing okay" or need another size. Whenever I am around salespeople, I tend to pick up the first thing I find, say it's fine and leave with something that doesn't fit or just plain looks stupid on me. Needless to say, I have a closet full of junk.

I have recently started trying to dress better; if you are a reader of this blog, you will know that this is the type of outfit I have been wearing for many years now. Beware when you click through, the clothes are not much to look at. I think that if you want clothes to fit, you have to deal with salespeople and if you want to look decent, you have to spend considerable time doing so. I have learned that many of them are wonderful and helpful and really do want you to look good and find things that you like. In fact, sometimes they make the experience more pleasant by knowing you, your tastes and what looks good so that you can save yourself the time of going from store to store.

I have tried to examine what it is that fills me with such fear about salespeople but maybe the right word is not fear--as it is discomfort with dealing one-on-one with someone with whom I have to make small talk. I suck at small talk and have never been good at it. Maybe that's because I am an INTP. I wonder sometimes, how many of us who do most of our shopping at online stores like Amazon.com are just closet shopping phobics or are INTPs in hiding?