Simple Pleasure of the Day: Pretending you can afford it

Palo Alto is notoriously expensive due to the fact that people who live here can afford the fancy-schmancy stuff I am surrounded by on a daily basis.  Today during my eye doctor appointment (that I can only afford because of my fancy work insurance), I was browsing through some glasses frames and thought to myself "my GOD I can't afford these but hey - might as well browse."  My SPOTD is pretending I could afford overpriced items like the $400 eyeglasses I tried on and definitely won't buy.

When I attempt to browse somewhere really expensive, it's mostly because:

- I'm trapped.  Somehow I get into an expensive situation I didn't realize I'd be in, so I go along with it for the sake of the salesperson thinking they're not wasting their time as much.

- I get selfish.  Who doesn't have a selfish moment when you think going into an expensive store could boost your confidence in a shallow way?  I know I can't afford those $100 jeans, but thumbing through that stack for my size looks like I can and feels good in a "look at me" kind of way that all girls seem to need occasionally.

- I'm bored and I can.  My friend and I were in the mall once and saw a mattress store empty and sad so we went in just because!  We tried out fancy mattresses with fancy memory foam and adjustable positions, and the salespeople were generally happy that we were there even though they knew they didn't have a sale with us.  We must have been the only customers that day.