It's Christmas at the archive! Note the tree decorations that include "COLD" stickers, mini clamshell boxes and mini maps wrapped in Mylar.
I've been to two of the three holiday parties being hosted by various departments of the Archive, and the third is coming up this Tuesday. I have very grand intentions of making cookies for it, and haven't quite decided on what specifically yet. I'm torn between the classic shortbread recipe that I have, a new recipe for eggnog sugar cookies I recently found or the Lemongrass ginger cookies I made for a visit with a baby a while back. I think it'll depend on what ingredients I have and how little I have to get. The eggnog sugar cookies may win as a result.
And now a quick complaint. It's a bit boring, but tough.
I recently broke my own rule about never ordering Torrid clothes online and purchased four articles of clothes from them. I thought long and hard on a new early winter coat, a cardigan, a tank top and a sheer top before taking the plunge and purchasing them. This is where the issues began.
Against my better judgement, I trusted the size chart that Torrid has on their website. I have purchased clothes from them in person while in Buffalo occasionally, and am almost always a size 1. Despite this, their size chart dictates that the size I need to accommodate my chest is a size 3. So, I purchased all three items in a size 3.
The sheer, blue top I ordered is no longer on the site, but here's the other three pieces.
Now, one of the reasons I normally don't purchase things online from Torrid is that their shipping to Canada is horrendous. This is something I have never understood, since I can order things from Asos, a British company that sends things to Canada FREE of charge. I grant you that I can't track Asos purchases, but they arrive in a remarkably timely fashion without costing me an extra $40 in shipping fees. I managed to catch a sale with Torrid and more or less negated the cost of the shipping with the discounts I received on the clothes, while still actually paying the $40 shipping costs. Also, because these clothes are purchased outside the country, I need to pay duties and customs on them when they arrive in Canada. I'm used to that, and I usually avoid them by not purchasing things made outside of Canada.
Moving on. I received my package from Torrid and was fairly excited since I was now hoping to wear some of my new clothes to a party I was going to that night. I gleefully opened the package to then discover that every single thing I had ordered was far too big. The coat was big enough to have the entire front button panel cut off and it would still be too big. The tank top might have gotten me through a pregnancy it was so big, and the sheer top could have been taken in so much that the excess fabric could have been reattached to make a dress out of it. I measured and remeasured myself multiple times to ensure I had the right numbers before ordering. My chest is about 49" at the fullest (eg, exactly where they tell you to measure yourself), and according to Torrid, that makes me roughly a 3. HOW THE FUCK DO THE SIZE 1 CLOTHES FIT ME THEN?! What planet are they on that they can't even measure their own fucking products properly?!
WTF TORRID?!
Naturally I was a little upset by this. I packed everything back in the box, minus the sheer top since that was clearance item, and called their customer service in a few days to start the exchange process. This included making me pay to ship the clothes back to them. I also had to pay for the clothes I was receiving in exchange. I would not get a refund for the first round of clothes until the ones I sent back had arrived at Torrid. I don't have any complaints about that aspect, since it would seem quite fair. I do however, have complaints about the fact that, according to Canada Post, Torrid received said clothes 5 days ago, and have yet to give me a refund on my credit card. I'm going to give them until this upcoming Wednesday, which will be one week from date of receival, and then I plan to swear at them.
I also asked them if they could possibly write "exchange" somewhere on the box, since that's what it was, so I wouldn't get charged duties by Canada customs again for articles I already technically own. Apparently it "was beyond their jurisdiction" to simply write the word "exchange" on the box. Really. I got lucky and wasn't charged duties again, maybe because the stuff I sent back said "exchange" on it in huge letters.
I received the new, properly sized pieces in the mail on Saturday, and I am happy with them. The cardigan is really cute now that it fits, and the coat is just roomy enough to have a bulky sweater underneath it for an extra layer and still be comfy. I've asked my sister to see if she can look at the sheer top and salvage it for me, since I couldn't return it. The three pieces of clothing I bought have cost me and extra $120 in shipping and customs to receive. Fuck.
I will never order from their website again. They should consider themselves lucky if I even remotely consider purchasing from their stores in person ever again.
Time to move on to more Christmas-y stuff, like baking.
