Coffee Break – Butterfly Sunglasses

42 Comments

1. Threadjack: I’m looking for a sheath dress w/ matching jacket for my girlfriend. The best one I’ve found so far is J.Crew – http://www.jcrew.com/womens_category/suiting/dresses/PRDOVR~42022/42022.jsp – in beechwood – plus matching jacket – but it’s $150 for each piece, and we’d like to keep it to ~$200 total. She’s a size 8 (sometimes a 10 for the jacket), and would prefer a similar color to the linked dress (sort of a sand color), or maybe a gray.

   1. If you can get there, I got a great sheath dress and jacket combo at the Brooks Brothers outlet a couple of months ago. It was within your price range.

   2. Macy’s also sells separates. For $200, you could buy the dress, jacket and perhaps even a skirt to round out the outfit.

2. I just got a pair just like this today, but paid $40 from a street vendor on the corner of 56th and 5th Avenue! :(

   I think I got ripped off! :(

   I should look here next time.

   1. It’s also unlikely yours are polarized.. don’t buy from street vendors!

      1. Sadly, the ones above are not polarized either, or I’d be all over them. Apparently I am in the minoritiy in preferring polarization in my sunglasses.

         1. Sorry, I meant they don’t even block UV rays. And wearing sunglasses without UV protection is even worse than not wearing any.

            1. Every consumer show I’ve seen about sunglasses has shown that UV protection is virtually the same across the price spectrum (da dum dum!).

            2. @Anonymous – not to feed the Laura troll, but that’s true only of sunglasses that actually provide UV protection. Look for a label that says they provide UVA/UVB protection. Besides, the featured sunglasses cost $17, which places them at the low end of the price spectrum, so I’m not sure what your point is.

         2. Nope, I was just about to comment about polarization! Cataracts run in my family and I’ve been working hard to delay the inevitable surgery as long as possible. I have some Ray-Ban Wayfarers that I wear. They were expensive, but I’ve had them for several years and I enjoy looking like a Blues Brother.

3. I was excited about this http://gawker.com/5815919/brooks-brothers-inadvertently-reveals-americas-whitest-colleges (ignore the Gawker snark, it was the first link I found) because I’m apparently a total preppy and my alma mater is on the list, until I clicked through to the Bloomberg article and learned that the line is for men only! WTH, Brooks Brothers!

   1. I feel ya, Duckie. My alma mater is on that list as well. Women like football, too!

      Though sadly, my alma mater already sells women’s clothes that look like they might be inspired by Brooks Brothers. Because I need a cable sweater with my school’s initials on the front. That’s work appropriate, right?

      Not going to say I didn’t consider it.

      1. We have the same alma mater, apparently. Go Irish! Totally work appropriate – I was hoping for a silk scarf with the leprechaun, maybe in pink and green… and yes, I was also hoping that I’d be able to reproduce a little slice of the ND Bookstore experience at the BB near my office. :)

         1. HA! I was wondering which school was yours!

            Or how about the khaki skirt with the monogram NDs? With the silk scarf as a belt, of course. I keep telling my husband I’m going to buy one. He’s also a Domer and tells me he’ll buy plaid pants which he knows I hate :)

            Here’s to football starting soon–this year is our year, right?

            1. Another Domer here! There’s always Vineyard Vines, although their collegiate stuff for ladies might only be accessories if memory serves…

   2. I was surprised my undergrad alma mater wasn’t on the list but, like Yale, the football team is not impressive. Fun fact: the team finally won at Homecoming my freshman year after 44 straight losses over 5 years (that’s an NCAA football record!) so the school actually brought in kegs for everybody. But my grad school alma mater is on the list (it’s one of ND’s rivals).

      1. The choices are kind of funny. My grad school is on the list, and our football team has lost to Duke 2 years in a row. :)

   3. So college students who happen to be white, and choose to wear Brooks Brothers, are unbearable scumbags? Somehow I never noticed that.

      1. It’s Gawker. According to them, everyone in the world is an unbearable scumbag.

         1. Amen.

4. Is anyone planning to pre-shop the Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale? I just made an appointment (never done that before) to go in and shop before the sale starts. I have a few items picked out already from the preview email, but it sounded like she would be picking out various items from the brands that I said I liked. Is there any protocol to these kinds of appointments? Is it okay if I only end up buying the 3-4 items I picked out rather than whatever stuff she picks out for me? Any advice would be welcome!

   1. The stylist will pick things out for you, and you should give ’em all a try, but don’t feel obligated to purchase, nor should they pressure you. If you want something they haven’t picked out, just ask. Nordstrom’s is great that way.

      Just FYI though, you will probably surprise yourself and buy more than you expect – these stylists are very good at their jobs!

      1. I’m afraid that might be the case — I’m going to try to have self-control! Thanks for the input.

5. I could use some lawyerly advice on telling people things that they don’t want to hear. Today, I had a case where a woman got very upset at me over the fact that the law would direct an inheritance to go in part to someone who she did not feel deserved it (her feelings were reasonable, but the law doesn’t look at how nice the person was). Last week, I had a fairly similar experience. I’ll admit that I’m a sort of “cut-and-dry, well, you should have made a will and it’d be crazy to allow touchy-feely emotional evaluations in these sorts of things” kind of person. (not that I say that, of course, I try to sympathize and explain the reasons why these sorts of evaluations wouldn’t work as gently as possible; it just doesn’t seem to work.)

   How do you lawyers deal with delivering news that the law is not necessarily in keeping with what your client’s gut tells them is “fair”?

   1. I think you’re on the right track with hearing them out and sympathizing (there’s a reason lawyers are called counselors!) It’s kind of like going into empathetic customer service mode, “I’m sorry it turned out this way for you, I agree with you that it’s really frustrating.” Letting the client vent/be heard/feel like they have an advocate in their corner can go a long way to diffuse some of the bad news.

      Of course, I know we as attorneys have to tread carefully for fear of the client interpreting it as some admission (wooo malpractice paranoia!)

      1. One thing that really gets to me is when the response is something like “well I should (or should have) just lied/hidden the assets/done something clearly illegal or unethical” or “I never would have told you the truth/come to you for advice/enlisted your services if I had realized that this would be the case.”

         I don’t know, I just have very little patience for that- the response to finding out that things aren’t going your way is obviously not to do something illegal or dishonest, and it’s such a childish response. How do you answer that without making them blow up?

         1. Oh, and also the ones who accuse you of taking the other party’s “side”- yeah, I’m desparate to defend the person who I’ve never met and isn’t paying me over you, my client, that’s it. Sigh, maybe I just want to rant.

            1. Rant away – there’s also the point to be made that some clients totally suck, are poor losers, and there’s nothing you can ever say to appease them!

            2. *sore losers.

            3. Yeah… there’s nothing you can say that will change the fact that your client is just a irrational and doesn’t want to hear about the way the real world is… those are hard clients to deal with but just know that you are doing the best you can do and if they really don’t like it, they can (unfortunately) go find a lawyer that will tell them what they want to hear. That lawyer just won’t be you, thankfully.

   2. I, like you, am a straight shooter but that doesn’t mean you can’t come off as more empathetic. Every client is different and every situation is different but remember, you can be honest and forthright without saying “too bad, you’re screwed.” Acknowledge their feelings (frustration, anger, sadness) and then tell them that unfortunately the law just doesn’t permit the recovery/result they are looking for. Sometimes I’ll say that I wish I could tell them the law does allow them to get the recovery they want/need but that I just can’t because that’s not the case. Depending on the client and the matter, I sometimes remind them how the law is desiged to be as fair as possible but since it’s generally black and white in that particular area of the law (if it is), sometimes it’s not always fair to everyone. Also depending on the client’s personality and the situation at hand, I’ll make a comment that the law will remain the way it is until someone challenges it or the legislature changes its mind so they realize that what they are asking for would require a great departure from the current law. It takes a bit of practice but imagine you were telling your mother, or your BFF, or soemeone you truly care about the same thing.

   3. I have to admit I’m perplexed as to why you wouldn’t be telling someone to make a will in that sort of situation? If the person is still alive, that’s still a great option. If we’re talking a relative who recently passed without a will, you just have to explain that the law directs you to do X and Y and while you sympathize with your client’s feelings, you are not authorized to do anything that breaks the law.

      1. Oh, no, I’m talking about someone who died without a will. (the “you” in my statement above probably should have been “he or she”).

      2. Sounds like telling a caregiver child/relative/whatever that they should have made a will (earlier, with the deceased) — not that a still-living person should have had a will in order to avoid some current issue.

   4. Litigation Magazine, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Summer 2009), “How to Get Clients to Eat their Spinach,” by Ellen Brotman. She writes about exactly your problem.

   5. You sympathize briefly and sincerely, then change the subject or end the conversation. Also suggest that the client go to a counselor or therapist. They are professionals at what they do and they are almost always less expensive than a lawyer.

      Note that this is not something I was good at. When I was in private practice I had too many days ruined by a client calling me up and venting at me for hours for things that were out of my control but that I felt bad about anyways (no, I cannot make your ex leave the state, prove that his goons are watching you while you sleep, make you happy, get the judge to give you $5 million, get you your job back, vindicate you completely in public, or make that one annoying person get fired). I now work in government and not once yet have I had a client whine to me about how unfair it all is.

6. Can anyone comment on the general fit of Eddie Bauer pants? I am a 14 in Lands End/Talbots and a 16 at Target…. I don’t shop Ann Taylor, BR, or Brooks Bros, so comparisons to them are not helpful to me. Thanks in advance.

   1. I’ve found the fit comparable to Land’s End.

7. I.Can’t.Take.This.Monday.Any.Longer…. the clock is ticking by so slowly. I just wish this workday would be over already! :)

   1. I hear you. I have a feeling the entire week is going to go by just as slowly. By Friday, I’ll be counting the minutes until I can climb into my car and get stuck in traffic on the way to my holiday weekend.

      1. Oops. Forgot that I changed my moniker temporarily.

8. Tuesday here, and 30+C – the only place I want to be is by the pool. Hmph.

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