Friday, June 23, 2006

The Purse Might Be Ugly, But It Sure Makes Me Look Good

I bought an extremely ugly purse off of Amazon a while back. It looked good in the picture, but when I received it, it was 4 times bigger than I expected. I ignored it for about 5 months, before ultimately trying to give it away, failing miserably and then giving in and using it to schlep my belongings to Indianapolis for a weekend vacation. My stepmom eyed the bugger right away. She loved it. I told her she could have it; that I had been looking to give it away for a while now. She felt bad that she was taking my purse so she gave me the heinous purse pictured above (glasses not included) so that I could hold my belongings. Thusly, I was back in square 1: Ugly purse, no one to give it to. I have tried to give it to 3 people, all to no avail.

The other day on the train, I sat next to a little Mexican lady. I saw her eyeing my purse. I hadn't zippered it because it wasn't going anywhere, and sometimes I like to provoke people to hassle me so I can practice my kung fu on their asses. I figured she was glaring at my purse because it was open. After all, there was no way she actually liked it.

The lady looked at me and asked me if I spoke Spanish.

"Un poquito," I answered.

She asked me where I bought my purse. I told her my mom had given it to me, etc... It occurred to me that she liked it. I told her that I would send it to her that day. She wrote down her address and I did exactly that.

Since sending the thing, I've been lugging around my purse's guts in a Crate 'n Barrel shopping bag, cursing myself for not getting another sizeable purse before sending mine off.

After all, are these feelings of selflessness worth the discomfort? I hardly think so.

Being selfish and comfortable totally holds the trump over being selfless and bothered. Or, at least this is what I thought until my work line rang today and it was the lady from the train, speaking in quite broken English. I told her she had the wrong number, trying to figure out how to translate it into Spanish: "Tienes el numero equivocado..." I was saying as she interrupted, "Is this Gigi?"

It occurred to me that it was the lady from the train. I didn't even realize that I had given her my name, but I did write her a short note on company stationary. I guess I must have accidentally signed it. Anyhow, the lady went on to thank me profusely, "I just receive purse. I can't believe you give such nice gift to complete stranger. Today is my birthday!"

She told me that she could use anything else I was getting rid of as well, and I don't think this was a greedy gesture on her part. Rather, it was one of true necessity. Kinda makes me reconsider my self-centeredness. Not too much, of course, but you know, I might start doing some good deeds here and there. If anything, it's good karma for my soul, which is dissipating rapidly in NYC.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Long time reader, first time poster.

I can't believe I just said that shit... how lame.

How sweet of you to send that lady your purse. And it's very cool that she got it on her birthday! You're so going to heaven!

Gigi said...

Welcome, Julie!

I sware I really am a nice person, I just like to come off as a bitch on my blog. Don't tell anyone though...

No one would want to read about me spreading cheer and laughter through the land, so I resort to bitchery. Heaven? Hmmm...

Anonymous said...

your beautiful

Anonymous said...

Hey, I loved that purse... Next time you are giving shit away - remember the sista in Cali.