Tuesday, July 06, 2010

I Should Have Taken French

Earlier this year, while my wife & I were shopping with my mother-in-law and the girls, we went to Elder Beerman nearby Kokomo.  There, my wife sampled various perfumes, and found one that she liked.  She gave me a copy of a marked card, telling me exactly what type of perfume it was.  Being the good husband, I dutifully placed the card in my wallet, sure that I would have the perfect birthday present in a few months.

Fast forward to today, one day before her birthday, when I (as always) had procrastinated and not purchased her birthday present.  Early morning I headed out to our Elder Beerman in Marion, sure that it would be a quick in and out.  I was wrong.

The perfume that she wanted was called Le Bateleur made by Dolce & Gabanna.  I went to the counter and was unable to find the perfume.  Asking the clerk if they carried that particular type, I was disappointed to learn that they did not.  

Normally, panic mode would have sat in, but I knew that latter in the day we might be heading to Kokomo, which has a bigger Elder Beerman, so there was a chance I could still redeem myself.  Though I was not thrilled with the prospect of buying her present while she was there, at least I wouldn't be empty handed.

As today progressed, my mother-in-law wanted to buy my wife some shoes and make-up from Elder Beerman, so I returned for the second time in one day to the store.  It was not a good shopping day, as the store didn't have the type of Clinique that my wife needed either.  After a few phone calls, the store clerk managed to find out that the Anderson store had a supply of the make up and we headed back on down the highway.

At the Anderson store, I panicked again as I couldn't find the Le Bateleur anywhere.  I finally asked the clerk, in front of my wife, if they carried this type - as all I could find was Dolce & Gabana's Light Blue. 

The clerk tells me that Le Bateleur means "light blue" in French, so I bought the perfume.  Perhaps I have "sucker" written on my face. Of course, all of these perfumes are named in French, and I took German in high school and college. Anyway, my wife did like the perfume, so she seems happy.  However, I once again fell victim to a sales clerk, because if I would have checked it out I would have known that it didn't mean 'light blue'.  My French-speaking ancestors would have been horrified at my performance today.


BTW, I did look it up - seems that Le Bateleur means 'the magician' - Wikipedia has a nice write up about the Tarot card named after this phrase.

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