Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back

The Rise

MAY 2000

ONE

GRAND DEBT TALLY $3,434.00

THE MOVE

I awoke that morning to a buzzing in my ear. My head was throbbing. The night before we had a big party to wrap up the ninth season of The Jenny Jones Show, where I had worked for four years. (No, I wasn’t there for the murder, so don’t ask.) As desperately as I wanted to leave Chicago, I was sad to say good-bye to all of my coworkers, some of whom I had become very close with throughout the years.

The buzzing stopped and then started up again. I finally realized that it wasn’t my alarm clock, but my doorman buzzing my apartment. I got out of bed and went to answer the intercom.

Karyn, it’s Robert the doorman. Your mom’s here, a voice said.

Ever since I’ve lived alone, I’ve had an apartment with a doorman. It’s always made me feel safe. Sure, doorman apartment buildings are more expensive, but how can you put a price on safety? This particular apartment was on Oak Street—the Madison Avenue of Chicago. If you walked straight out the front door of my apartment building, you’d hit Barneys. That was good for me, a girl who grew up shopping.

Oh, right. Let her up. I was moving to New York the next morning. My mom was there to help me pack and was planning to stay overnight so she could take me to the airport. It was my last day in Chicago.

I love my mom. But she was part of the reason that I decided to move. She’d do anything for me, and I knew that and always took advantage of it. I was hoping New York would make me feel more independent, so I wouldn’t call my mother every minute to ask for her help. Help to me usually meant help with some cash, which meant I spent too much at Marshall Field’s and I need help paying the bill. And Mom was always there in that department.

After packing all day, we slept for a few hours before we had to get up and leave for my 6 A.M. flight. I was going to bring some of my clothes with me, and movers were coming to my apartment the following day to pick up the rest of my stuff. The reason for the early flight was that I had a job as a producer for a new court show called Curtis Court and had to be at work at noon the day I arrived.

That morning my mom and I woke up, loaded the car, and drove to the airport in silence. I’ve always had this horrible separation anxiety when it comes to my mother. When I was little, I would cry at school because I wanted my mom. My sister, Lisa, who is two years older than me, would have to leave her class and come to help my teacher quiet me down. I also was unable to sleep over at any of my friends’ houses until I was in fourth grade because again, I would cry at bedtime because I missed my mom. I would fake being sick and have my friend wake her parents up and tell them that I needed to go home. Every time I’d attempt a sleep-over, my mom always knew the midnight phone call would come, and would get in her car to come pick me up.

After the twenty-minute ride to O’Hare, we pulled up to the United Airlines departure terminal. I got out of the car and my mom popped the trunk. The bell cap came over and took my bags out of the back. I had five of them.

You are only allowed to check two bags, he said.

What? Why didn’t they tell me that on the phone? I need all of these bags, I said.

Now, I admit that I’ve never been a light packer, but I had to have all these bags. My apartment wouldn’t be ready for me to move into until two weeks after I got to New York, so I had to bring some of my clothes, purses and shoes with me. And two weeks of clothes meant five suitcases.

Sorry, miss. I can’t change the rules.

So, I had to carry on three bags. Three big bags. These were not overnighter-size bags either. They were suitcases.

I turned around and looked at my mother, who was wearing her sunglasses so I wouldn’t see her tears, but I knew they were there.

Mom, don’t cry! I said. Please don’t cry or you’ll make me cry.

I’m sorry, I can’t help it. Why won’t you let me come in with you? she asked.

Because if you come in with me, you’ll make me cry, that’s why.

I looked at my mom and hugged her. I closed my eyes. I’ve always thought that if I closed my eyes when I cried the tears would stay in.

Okay, she said and continued to hug me. Hard. I couldn’t breathe.

I didn’t want to say the word good-bye, because I knew that would have pushed me over the edge. So I just said I love you, and pulled away quickly. Without looking at my mom, I turned around and pushed the heavy cart with my three suitcases through the automatic door.

After checking in and looking around for a while, I finally found a seat at the gate that accommodated me and my three suitcases. After I sat down, I looked to the left and saw someone familiar dart behind a pole. I couldn’t see the person’s face, but I could see the outline of a black Kate Spade purse. It was my mom! She was watching me!

Mom, I said, getting her attention, you’re not supposed to be here!

I know but I couldn’t help it! I just wanted to make sure you got on the plane, she said as she wiped the stream of tears coming down her face.

I can’t believe you did this! I said, now bawling. I didn’t want to cry!

She straightened my blouse and counted all three of my bags to make sure they were there.

Now boarding Flight 668 to New York LaGuardia, a man said over the loudspeaker.

I have to go.

Okay. I love you, she said.

I love you too, I said and gave my mom one last big hug. She wouldn’t let go. I finally broke away from my mom’s arms and walked toward the boarding area, gave the man my ticket and turned one last time. My mom blew me a kiss, and I caught it, smacked it on my lips, and blew one back.

After hitting all the passengers with my bags on the way to my seat and sitting next to a chatty German dude, the flight from Chicago to New York took off, and landed an hour and a half later. I was now home.

THE ARRIVAL

Since my apartment wasn’t ready yet, I had made arrangements to stay with a girl I used to work with named Ann Marie and her husband, Bill.

After a short cab ride from the airport, I arrived at the their apartment with all five of my suitcases in tow. They lived in a swanky pad on the Upper West Side. It was a doorman building with a beautiful view of the city.

This arrangement came about because I was going to be working with Ann Marie at my new job. Curtis Court was a new Judge Judy–type of daytime court show that was set to premiere in September. I was one of six producers. Ann Marie was also a producer. The staff started two weeks before me, and I was the last person to arrive, so it was important that I use this weekend to catch up.

So my boss arranged for Ann Marie to take me to the office that first day to show me around.

After unpacking some of my stuff, Ann Marie and I walked a few blocks to where our offices were. Once we arrived, I followed her upstairs to the third floor, where our desks were.

Here’s your cube, she said, pointing to a short cube, no more than six feet by six feet.

A cube? I asked.

Yeah, I know it sucks, but we all have them. These facilities are just too small to fit everyone, and there aren’t enough offices to go around.

I was so excited for my first producing job and I got stuck with a cube. How could that be? I was a New York City television producer for a syndicated daytime television show from King World Productions, the same people that distributed Oprah, and I got a cube. A short cube. The walls didn’t even go above my shoulders.

Anywho, I settled into my short cube and Ann Marie explained how producing a court show worked. She told me that there were these employees called stringers who go to small claims courts around the country and make copies of the small claims cases that people file. Once someone files a small claims case it becomes public record, so anyone can go and do this. They make the copies, and then the copies are handed out to the producing teams, which consist of one producer and an associate producer. The producer or the AP then cold call the plaintiff or defendant and try to convince them to come on the show. If they do, then they plead their case to James Curtis, the host/judge.

It sounded easy enough. So I got my claims and started calling. And calling. And calling. And everyone hung up on me. How could someone not want to come on a television court show? After about an hour, I decided to give up and decorate my desk instead.

An aesthetically appealing work environment is a very important thing. After asking Ann Marie to point me in the direction of the supply closet, I made my way there and started thinking about what color scheme I’d choose. Okay, I couldn’t get really elaborate because I had a short cube, but I could make it somewhat cozy. When I got to the supply room, I was saddened to see a few three-ring binders, some legal pads, yellow Post-its, and a few Bic pens. That was it. I moved some boxes thinking I’d find some bulletin boards and colored paper behind them, and perhaps some fluorescent pink highlighters too, but I found nothing. There wasn’t a desk pad to be found. No colored paper clips in the house. Nada. Zilch. Just some plain paper and pens. I expected being a New York television producer would be a bit more glam than it was. I guessed wrong.

Disappointed, I made my way back to my cube and pretended to work for another hour. Finally, Ann Marie and I decided to leave and go back to her apartment.

THE APARTMENT

Despite a slow first day, the next two weeks at work flew by. I eventually got the hang of cold calling and managed to book a few cases for my first week of shows. Before I knew it, it was time to move into my apartment. On June 1st, after going back to Ann Marie and Bill’s apartment and packing up my stuff, I hopped into a cab and told the driver my destination.

Four hundred East Fifty-seventh Street, please, I said.

No problem, he replied.

While in the backseat, I stared out the window and watched as the driver made a few turns until he finally turned left on 57th Street. Looking out my window I stared in utter amazement. What a beautiful street I lived on! As the driver headed east, I started flailing all over the backseat, switching between the right and left windows as fast as I could just so I could see all that my new street had to offer.

Oooh, lookie! There’s Carnegie Hall! It was so big and pretty! I wasn’t much into classical music, but I bet all fancy New Yorkers went to Carnegie Hall! There’s the Russian Tea Room. What was I coming up to on the left? Bergdorf Goodman? Wow! Now that looks historic. I had never been to that department store before. And what beautiful window displays they had! Window displays really say a lot about a store, and their displays said expensive and cool. I’d have to make a note to go there.

Just then the cab came to a screeching halt at a red light at Fifth Avenue. As we sat there waiting for the light to turn green, I looked south down Fifth Avenue and noticed that it never ended. There was just one store after another. This was my neighborhood. I felt so, what’s the word…rich?

As the light turned green, we continued our journey across 57th Street and one after another the stores kept coming. We passed Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Prada, and the Four Seasons. I know that the Four Seasons isn’t a store, but it is still fancy nonetheless. In the distance I saw big poles shooting out of a building with Gucci flags hanging down from them. Wow. The Gucci in Chicago was in a mall. This one had flags. The cab passed a cute shoe store called…Otto Tootsie Plohound? What a cute name!

Before I knew it we were passing Second Avenue and were just one block from my new home. On my right we passed a place called Mr. Chow. I had heard of Mr. Chow before. It was a very fancy Chinese restaurant where all the famous people went to eat.

A few seconds later I saw my building. It was a large white monstrosity on the corner on 57th Street and First Avenue. The awning said 400 East. That was it. That was home. Wow, it was big. As we pulled up, a doorman in a suit and a hat came to the cab and opened my door.

Hello! I said to him as I stepped out of the cab, I am moving in today!

Oh, welcome, he replied in some sort of accent. My name is Sam.

Well, hello, Sam. I’m Karyn.

Welcome, Miss Karyn, he said as he made his way to the back of the car to get my bags out of the trunk. What apartment are you moving into today?

Four-E.

Okay, well, come this way.

I paid the driver and followed Sam into the building. Right inside the lobby was a beautiful desk with another doorman standing behind it who was so short he could barely see over the counter.

Hi, I’m Edson, he said, introducing himself.

This is Miss Karyn, Sam said, she’s here to move into apartment Four-E.

Oh, great, Edson said. The superintendent left your key for you.

Great, thanks, I said, taking the key.

Sam and I walked toward the elevator and I assumed he would take me to my apartment, but when the elevator door opened, there was yet a third doorman inside.

Hi! I’m Osei, he said.

Osei, this is Miss Karyn, Sam explained. She is here to move into apartment Four-E.

Hi, Jose! I said.

No, Osei. O-S-E-I, he said, correcting me.

Oh, I’m sorry. I totally know how you feel, I said, apologizing. My name is Karyn with a y. It’s spelled K-A-R-Y-N, not K-A-R-E-N. And I get really annoyed when people get it wrong.

I guess I like the spelling of my name now, but I didn’t always. I hated it when I was little. I could never have pencils, key chains, or pads of paper with my name on them because it was always misspelled. It sucked. So I felt for Osei.

Osei will take you to your apartment, Miss Karyn, Sam said.

Great! I answered as me and my five suitcases boarded the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor.

There are a lot of doormen here, I said.

Yes. There are always at least three of us on duty. One to greet you, one at the desk, and one in the elevator.

Wow, I said, fancy.

The doors opened, and Osei pushed my suitcases to the left and three doors down to 4E. I pushed my key into the lock and the door opened. It was the cutest apartment! Osei unloaded my suitcases and put them just inside the door.

I didn’t know if I should tip him or not. I mean, he’d just unloaded all of my suitcases. I’ve lived in other buildings with doormen before, but there was only one and they never helped me up to my apartment. But this was New York, after all, and I bet these guys got tipped. George Jefferson tipped Bentley all the time and Bentley expected him to. And if Osei is used to getting tips and I don’t tip him, then he’s not going to like me and he’s going to tell all the other doormen not to like me either. And the last thing I wanted was to be known as the new cheap girl who just moved into apartment 4E. So I decided to tip Osei. I reached into my wallet and gave him a $20 bill. That assured that I’d be in good with the doormen and they would believe that I belonged in a swanky place like this.

Thank you, he said.

You are welcome, I replied.

Osei left and I turned around and looked at my apartment. It was the first time I had seen it. Even after plopping down $4,000 for it. It’s not the easiest thing to get an apartment in New York, especially when you’re living in Chicago. But I knew this guy who used to live in this building and he gave me the phone number to the management office. So I called them up and found out that a studio apartment just happened to be available when I needed one. The rent was $1,800 a month, which was more than I wanted to spend. But in order to find something cheaper, I’d probably have had to use an apartment broker (that’s what you have to do here) and that would have cost me about $2,200 more (10 percent of the annual rent), so I decided to take it. So I mailed off my $4,000 for the security deposit and first month’s rent, and crossed my fingers that it would be okay. And okay it was! All 475 square feet of it!

It had hardwood floors and three big windows that looked out onto the corner of First Avenue and 57th Street. I also had two big closets, and a small kitchen with a short fridge. The bathroom was a bit old, but it would do just fine. As I looked around the apartment, my eyes stopped at the front door. I realized there was a big hole in it.

I found a funny-looking phone right next to the door and picked it up. It immediately rang the lobby. Cool. Edson picked up.

Hi, Edson, it’s me, Karyn, in Four-E, I said.

Hello, Miss Karyn, he replied.

I liked that they called me Miss Karyn. It made me feel special.

Hello. Edson, there’s a big hole in my front door, maybe where a lock is supposed to be? Did my apartment not come with a lock?

Oh, no, just the knob lock. It doesn’t come with a dead bolt, you have to buy your own.

Really. Huh. Where do I get one of those?

There’s a hardware store down the street. They have them.

Okay, thanks, Edson, I said, and realized I was a bit hot. Oh, one more thing. Edson, how do I control the air?

Oh, Miss Karyn, there’s no air conditioner in there. You have to buy one of those too.

Oh, okay, I said and hung up.

No lock and no air. Maybe I should have asked about those things before I moved in. All the apartments I ever lived at in Chicago came with air. I wonder why they didn’t in New York. And a lock. What kind of place doesn’t come with a lock?

Oh well. I decided to hide my suitcases in the closets and venture out to the hardware store. But when I got outside, I remembered that cute little shoe store called Otto Tootsie something…. You know, I can always get a lock, and it really wouldn’t be that hot for another few months. So I decided to check out the shoe store instead….

A NICE PAIR OF WALKING SHOES

Otto Tootsie Plohound was a short fifteen-minute walk away, straight down 57th Street. I couldn’t wait to see the shoes that I’d seen from far away in the cab up close. As I approached the store, my heart started racing. I walked in and was surrounded by hundreds of shoes. The walls were lined from top to bottom with shelf after shelf of shoes and more shoes and more shoes. These shoes weren’t like anything that Nine West sells or even Bloomingdale’s for that matter. These puppies were the coolest things I had ever seen!

I walked around and slowly looked at the shoes. I looked at the brand names and had never heard of any of them. Oh, wait, there’s Miu Miu. I’ve heard of that. Miu Miu is the cheaper line from the Prada people. I picked up a pair and looked at the bottom: $250. Ouch! That’s not very cheap to me. I quickly put those shoes down and continued to make my way toward the back of the store. In the distance I saw a great pair of sandals. They were kind of clunky, but in a city chic kind of way. I turned them over to reveal the price: $280. Oh c’mon! I started to pick up all the pairs sitting around them and they were all that much. These shoes were expensive! Just then I looked down at my Steve Maddens. There was a tear at the corner of the leather strap. Yuck. They were cruddy. They were teeny-bopper. I decided to continue my search for a pair of shoes that I could afford. Surely they couldn’t all be that expensive.

Finally, after picking up almost every shoe in the place, I found a great pair for $160. They were the cheapest pair there. But they were cute. They were tan and red and looked great with my jeans all cuffed up. And I really wanted a pair of shoes from Otto Tootsie Plohound.

Now, I didn’t have any money because I had been in New York for all of two weeks and I hadn’t gotten paid yet. But what I did have was an American Express card. You see, I had to pay for my first month’s rent when I signed the lease for my new apartment, so I technically didn’t have to pay rent until July, which was a whole month away. So I decided that it was okay if I charged a few things on my Amex card. I made a vow to use it only for emergencies, and this was an emergency! Well, not really, so I struck a deal with myself to justify the purchase: I would charge the shoes, and then walk to and from work every day for a month. Since the bus was $1.50 either way, I’d save myself $60 in a month. It was June. It wasn’t too hot outside, work wasn’t that far, and I could use the exercise anyway. Doing this would be the same as taking the bus every day and spending $100 on a new pair of sandals, which is pretty reasonable. I needed them anyway. The ones I had on right now would probably break any day now. So I pulled out my Amex card and swipe, sign, they were mine!

BY THE TIME I WAS DONE, it was too late to go to the hardware store, so I headed back toward my apartment. All three of my doormen greeted me.

Hello, Miss Karyn, they all said in unison with big smiles on their faces.

They were so nice. They were going to become my new friends.

Hello, everyone! I replied.

Sam asked me if I had luck finding a lock. I explained to him and the other doormen that I got sidetracked. I asked them again why I didn’t have a lock, and suggested that maybe there was some sort of a mistake. They told me again that none of the apartments came with locks and I had to get my own. But they suggested that I ask the superintendent if he had one that I could buy from him. Sure, I thought. I bet he has the same lock that he took off my door before I moved in and now he’s going to sell it back to me. Oh well, I guess it’s just the way things worked in New York.

Osei was at the elevator and pushed the button for me. Phew! Good thing he was there! I don’t think I would have been able to find the 4 button alone, let alone push it. I got out at my floor and unlocked my knob lock with my key and entered my apartment. It was so small, but it was just perfect. I loved it.

I unpacked my five suitcases and then realized that I had nothing to sleep on because my furniture hadn’t arrived yet. So in my little bed nook area, I piled up some of my clothes and made a bed. I laid down, covered myself up with some more of my clothes, and tried to get comfortable. I was so excited to be there that I didn’t care how hard the floor was beneath me. I closed my eyes and fell fast asleep.

THE NEXT MORNING I was awoken at the crack of dawn by the immense sunlight that was pouring in through my three big windows. Wow, it was bright. My back hurt. I put my hands over my head and stretched myself as much as I could. And I screamed. I love to stretch and scream.

Manhattan is set up like a grid. The streets run east and west, and the avenues run north and south. From the very east of Manhattan to the very west of Manhattan, the city is about two and a half miles wide. My new apartment was at the very east of Manhattan on East 57th Street and First Avenue. My new job was on the west side of Manhattan on West 57th Street and Tenth Avenue.

I got ready for work, put on my new walking sandals, locked my knob lock and headed out the door. I was so excited for my first day’s walk to work! My new sandals were so fine! I pushed the elevator door button and was greeted by Sam’s smiling face.

Ah, good morning, Miss Karyn, he said.

Top of the mornin’ to ya, Sam! I replied.

When I got downstairs, I bid farewell to Sam and the other doormen and started on my commute.

It was such a beautiful day! As I walked down the street, I looked into all the fancy buildings. Some of the lobbies were really nice. All of them had doormen. There were people everywhere. It was a busy morning.

After a few minutes, I started to get a bit winded and looked up at a street sign. Third Avenue. Only seven more to go. I continued on and tried to walk more slowly, but I realized that if I didn’t hurry it up I was going to be late for work. These blocks were long!

Almost forty minutes later, I finally arrived at Tenth Avenue. Work was farther away than I thought. My feet ached. They hurt. I pulled one of the leather straps away from the top of my foot and saw a huge blister. Damn! There was a blister in the same place on the other foot too. Maybe my feet just needed to get used to these sandals and build up some calluses.

When I got upstairs, I immediately went to the bathroom to remedy the situation. I looked in the mirror and was horrified at my appearance! What had happened to me? I was pretty when I left my apartment! I had a sweaty face, flat hair and smudgy mascara. And my feet were all grubbed up with street grime. I was a mess! It wasn’t even that hot outside. I had to figure something out. I couldn’t walk to work every day if it meant looking like a wet dog when I arrived. I found some Band-Aids in the first-aid kit on the wall and put them on my blisters. I’d survive.

As I walked to my desk and sat down, Gwen, a producer who sat next to me, noticed that I was limping.

Are you limping? she asked.

Oh, no. I’m fine. I just have a small blister. New sandals, I said, kind of embarrassed. I walked to work.

You walked to work? Where do you live?

On Fifty-seventh and First. It’s not that far.

Not that far? That’s all the way across town! I’d never walk to work. Why don’t you just take a cab? she asked.

I really like to walk to work. It’s a really easy walk, just down Fifty-seventh. I didn’t want to tell her that I bought shoes that I couldn’t afford, and in order to make it up to my checkbook I had to walk to work for a month.

Yeah, I can tell by your blisters. Not far at all, she said and laughed as she turned away.

Why did it matter to her if I walked to work? I noticed that people in New York tell you what’s on their mind. I grew up in the Midwest. If someone told me they had blisters, I would have asked them if they needed anything. Gwen wasn’t being rude. She was just being direct. Five minutes later she probably would have forgotten about our conversation. Whereas I remembered it and felt stupid for walking almost three miles to work just so I could buy a nice pair of shoes. Maybe she was right.

Later that day, I decided to get some personal stuff done and called the phone company to have the phone set up at my new apartment. They told me that I would have to wait for two weeks. I then decided to call the moving company to find out when my furniture would be arriving. They’d picked it up two weeks ago exactly, so I expected it any day now. I found the number on my receipt.

Mini-Moves, a woman answered.

Hello, I’d like to check on the status of my furniture, I said. I just moved from Chicago to New York.

Do you have your job number? she asked.

I read the job number on my receipt to the woman on the phone. She put me on hold. I held and held. Ten minutes later I was still holding. Just then the woman came back.

I’m sorry, miss, but we can’t find your furniture.

What do you mean you can’t find my furniture? I asked. You’ve had it for two weeks. And the guy I talked to on the phone told me it would be here early next week.

Miss, settle down, she said, I just can’t find it in the system. Let me look into this and I’ll call you back later.

Okay, I replied. What kind of moving company loses your furniture?

Later that afternoon, the woman called me back and told me they think they might have found my furniture in a warehouse in Illinois, but wouldn’t be sure it was mine until Monday. They think. They might. Damn.

Upset, I packed up my stuff and decided to go home early. My first case was on Monday, so I took some work home to make sure I was prepared, as well as some cases to call on because I was still getting caught up. I made my way outside and hopped into a cab. I was cranky, I was tired, my back hurt from the wood floor the night before, and there was no way I was going to walk all the way home with my blisters. I’d give it another try on Monday, but today, I was taking a cab.

OH, MY ACHIN’ BACK!

On my way home, I stopped by a drugstore to get some stuff, and as I was paying, I picked up a New York City Zagat guide that was sitting by the counter. If you are from a small town, then you may not know what a Zagat guide is. It is a book that surveys all of the best restaurants in the city. Most major cities have a Zagat guide. I vowed to myself that I was going to visit every restaurant in that guide because I love to eat out!

That night I went home and sat on the floor. I pulled out my cases from work and realized I couldn’t call on them because I didn’t have a phone. So I decided to eat dinner and go to bed early. I couldn’t cook because I didn’t have any of my pots or pans because the moving company lost my furniture, even though they think they might have found it. So I decided to order in from this cute little Italian place that I saw across the street.

When I was done, I found the page in the Zagat guide that listed Trattoria Pesce & Pasta and circled it. Next to it I wrote, By myself on wooden floor with plastic silverware and a hole in the door. I vowed to hit more restaurants and planned on doing this for every restaurant I would go to. I made up a new rule. I’d only eat at places in my guide, and never eat at the same place more than once. There were just too many to choose from, and it would be a fun little game anyhow.

The next morning I was again woken up at the crack of dawn by the sun coming up. I’d have to get some curtains soon. I turned on to my side and could barely move. My clothes weren’t the best mattress I had ever slept on. And I have slept on tons of mattresses, let me tell you. Kidding. Not really. Anywho, my back was busted and I needed to fix this situation.

I decided to take a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond—a place that wasn’t in my Zagat guide but was in my Moving to New York guide. In the two weeks that I had been here, I had now acquired six guidebooks. They all had different information in them and I wanted to make sure I knew as much about this city as possible. I had become a guidebook whore.

I got dressed and headed in search of the subway. It was a beautiful day. I pulled out my special laminated subway map (guaranteed by the saleslady to last me a lifetime) and found the closest stop to my apartment building. This would be the third time on the subway for me, and the first time on my own. I figured out where I needed to go, bought a subway card and waited for the train.

Chicago had a train—the El—but it was an elevated train, not a subway. The El actually did have a line that went underground—the red line—but I rarely took it. I wasn’t scared on the New York subway. I was just grossed out.

If you have never been in the New York subway in the summertime, then that’s a good thing. Just like Martha says. It smelled like something I had never smelled before in my whole life. It was ripe.

I tried to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, so the stink wouldn’t pass through my mouth. I didn’t want that stink on my tongue. Because we all know what stink is: it’s little floating particles of whatever it is that’s causing the stink. And my guess was that this stink was being caused by either mold (and I have allergies), or rotting rodents (and I have a general distaste for those as well). I briefly thought about investing in one of those paper facemasks that doctors use to keep their spit and stuff out of the patients they operate on, but thought that people might look at me funny if I wore one of those.

Soon enough the train came and I was saved. After a short ride, I arrived at my destination. The Bed Bath & Beyond was only a short walk away. I poked around the store for what seemed like hours.

After checking out an inflatable bed for a while, I decided to buy a queen-size feather bed instead. I’d sleep on that until my furniture was found, at which point I’d put it on top of my mattress where it belonged. I’ve always wanted a feather bed anyway, so I guess there was never a better time to buy it.

After checking out all the brands they had to offer, I picked the most expensive one they had. Why buy the cheap one, when for only a few dollars more you can get the best? I adopted this philosophy in college when I wanted a new blender. My mom wanted to buy me a cheap one, and I said, Why buy the cheap one, when the best one is only eighty dollars more? She looked at me, shrugged her shoulders and said, I guess you’re right. And I got the nice blender. But in this case, the cheap one was $80, and the nicest one they had was $230. But I needed to look at it like it was an investment.

I took the feather bed, along with a nice chenille blanket, up to the register to pay. Afterward, I asked them if I could leave it there and pick it up later when I was done shopping. There was this rug place I had heard about, and it was only a few blocks away. I really wanted to check it out. They said yes, and with that I was off.

The name of the store was ABC Carpet & Home, and everybody at work kept telling me that I’d have to go there. A few blocks away, I found the store. There were two stores actually—one with just rugs, and one across the street with just furnishings. I decided to go into the one with just rugs first.

The place was enormous and was filled with rugs. Some were hanging up, others were lying down. There were two floors too. I poked around