The Future is HERE

Yesterday, I was in Midtown Memphis for work...after my appointment, I meandered over to Urban Outfitters real quick to see about a cardigan. I recognize that I'm probably no longer UO's exact target demographic...[as I traipsed in with my uber-preppy silk tie-neck blouse tucked into a pencil skirt. point taken?] 

Nevertheless, I'd seen this cardigan on the internets and thought it would be a good workhorse piece for spring and summer.

(spotted on this post from Girl's Gone Child, aptly named "Gone [Postpartum] Style"...she has twin girls a month younger than Juliette.)

I go into the store and look around a bit before this very sweet girl asked me if she could help me find anything. I say, why actually yes, I'm looking for a short-sleeved orange cardigan.

As you can see above, dear reader, the cardigan is neither technically short-sleeved nor orange. She very sweetly shows me a couple orange cardigans/sweaters around the store, but obviously none of them are this one. She then offers to look it up on the computer and see if she can find it for me (this was getting way too involved, as I hadn't really been sure I was going to actually buy it, merely wanted to look at it) ...meanwhile, I go ahead and pull it up on my phone and then very sheepishly show her the item (apologizing for making such a big deal about such a boring item compared to the neon skinnys and printed dresses scattered about), and then also see where it says "online only." 

Um, whoops?  I'm batting 0% at this point (I know that's not technically what you say), and she reminds me that you can order online from the store with free shipping. Then I see on my phone where it says "Now $29" and I think, I have enough allowance to spend on something I'll potentially wear every single day.

From behind the counter, she whips out an iPhone, pulls up the cardigan, and asks me for my UO online login. I give it to her, verify the information, and then she swipes my credit card on the phone (well, on this thing attached to the phone that you couldn't even see). Seriously. If you think I'm small-city for not having seen this before, well that's fine. But I was completely impressed. A swiper connected to an iphone outside the Apple store? No reading my card # over the phone to a customer service representative and then being placed on hold? Email me my receipt? A potentially annoying encounter (ordering something from a store) reduced to 30 seconds without fuss. AMAZING.

If that's the future, I like it.


p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet sissy! For the next month, we will only be one age apart! (And from now on, I have the feeling I'll be the one enjoying that.)