Confessions of a Shopaholic

Tarquin sends Rebecca flowers and a note apologizing for his behavior. He asks her out to dinner. For an economical weekend, Rebecca plans to cook at home for herself and Suze and then visit the free museum. She discovers that it costs £5 to enter the museum, but the attendant offers her a yearly pass for £15, which she accepts, confident that she’ll visit the museum many times, making it a good deal. Before long, Rebecca becomes bored and tired. She’s delighted to discover the museum’s gift shop. She goes in, intending to browse, but ends up doing all her Christmas shopping, though it’s only March. She rationalizes, “All I’m doing is shifting the buying process forward a bit. It makes perfect sense” (92).

Luke sends Rebecca a card thanking her for promptly repaying the 20 quid and telling her she looked nice in the scarf. Rebecca worries that he knows she lied. She buys herself chocolate and a magazine for a “treat” and makes her shopping list for dinner. She plans to make curry, but after consulting the recipe, realizes that she must purchase many pieces of kitchen equipment and spices to make it. She compartmentalizes the expenditure as an “investment” in all the future cooking she’ll do at home.

Rebecca purchases a spice grinder but finds the process of making allspice tedious and ends up wasting ingredients. Suze finds Luke’s note and says that sending a card in response to a loan repayment isn’t standard, so his gesture must mean more. Rebecca successfully makes the curry, but it’s too spicy to eat. She sobs and confesses to Suze that she feels like a “failure” in her attempt to cut expenses. Suze says she doesn’t think Rebecca is a saver and suggests that she instead look for ways to increase her income. The chapter closes with an itemized budget for Saturday, March 24. Rebecca budgeted £2.50 for the day, but went way over budget. In addition, a letter from PGNI First Bank reminds her that her Visa bill is overdue.

Rebecca throws away the money-saving book and embraces Suze’s advice about increasing her income. Learning that her coworker Clare is making extra money freelancing, Rebecca wonders if she should try to do the same. At the Sacrum Asset Management press conference, she tries to network with other journalists but struggles to make connections, as the conversation is awkward. She sits next to Eric Foreman, who writes for the Daily World, a tabloid, and is working on a series called “Can We Trust the Money Men?” (108). Rebecca explains to Eric that Sacrum adjusts their graphs to exaggerate its success and gain more customers. During the question-and-answer period, Eric asks how much the executives make, but the presenter refuses to answer and leaves for coffee.

At the refreshment table, Rebecca sees Elly, who announces that she’s taking the fund manager job. They leave the press conference early to go to lunch and catch up. Rebecca hates that Elly is giving up on journalism to work in fund management. However, she’s jealous that Elly got to buy an entire new wardrobe and will be making more than double her salary. Hearing about Elly’s success makes Rebecca question all her life choices. She would love to dress up in nice clothes for work each day, but doesn’t want the stress of a job in the financial sector. Seeing a “Help Wanted” sign in a fancy boutique shop window, Rebecca applies for it as a weekend job. She gets the job. It pays £4.50 an hour, and she gets a store discount.

At the office, Rebecca fantasizes about quitting her job and opening a boutique. She takes a call from the bank, addressing their multiple attempts to contact her. After considering hanging up, she lies and says her aunt died but left her money, which she’ll soon be depositing. Rebecca receives another notice from Octagon stating that she dated her payment check for “February 2200,” so they can’t process the payment.

After seeing an ad for “Fine Frames,” a company that promises she can make extra money by making frames in her home, Rebecca sends off for the starter kit, which costs £300. However, making the frames is more complicated and time-consuming than she anticipated. Suze comes home and announces that Tarquin has a crush on Rebecca. Rebecca doesn’t like him and hopes that he returns to Scotland before she must go on a date with him “just to be polite” (122).

On Rebecca’s first Saturday working at the boutique Ally Smith, she’s disappointed to learn that she must spend the day folding clothes instead of consulting customers on selecting clothes. One customer’s boyfriend is buying her clothes, and Rebecca is jealous. When she spies a pair of leopard print jeans on the sale rack, Rebecca becomes obsessed with having them. A customer takes the jeans to the dressing room, and Rebecca lies, saying she can only take three items in, grabs the jeans from her, and hides them. The customer asks for the jeans, and Rebecca lies, saying she doesn’t know where they are. When the customer complains to the manager, she fires Rebecca, giving her only 20 quid for the day’s work.

On her way home, Rebecca runs into Tom Webster, her childhood neighbor, and his girlfriend, Lucy, the one who was shopping in the store. They’re on their way to Tiffany’s for more shopping, and Rebecca is envious, wishing she had a partner who lavished her with gifts. Lucy recognizes Rebecca from Ally Smith, but Rebecca lies, saying she doesn’t work there and is doing “research” for her journalism work. Rebecca says Martin and Janice didn’t mention he had a girlfriend. Tom awkwardly says his parents didn’t want to upset her because they knew she liked him. Rebecca tries to correct the misunderstanding but, realizing that she looks foolish, ends the conversation.

On the way home, she buys herself treats with the 20 quid since she had such a bad day. Rebecca receives a letter from PGNI rejecting her offer of a complimentary subscription to the magazine she works for and requesting that she make a payment soon.

The next morning, Rebecca regrets spending so much money the previous day. She applies her usual tactic, redirecting her thoughts to avoid facing her decisions. In the mail are letters from Visa and the bank. She tosses them into a construction bin, rationalizing that if she never read them, they don’t exist.

Her new plan is to impress Phillip with her work ethic, hoping he’ll give her a raise. He says he was in her neighborhood, Fulham, and that it’s where all the “It girls” live. Rebecca worries that he thinks she’s wealthy because of where she lives. Tarquin calls and asks Rebecca out to dinner. She begrudgingly accepts, fully intending to cancel at the last minute. Clare says Luke asked her if Rebecca is single. Rebecca blushes but pretends she doesn’t care. She’s frustrated and bored with her work. Clare says futures brokers make a lot of money, so Rebecca resolves to become one.

Rebecca sends her resumé to a headhunter, who calls her in for an interview. Though she knows nothing about trading futures, she fakes her way through the interview. Rebecca lied on her resumé, stating that she speaks Finnish, and the headhunter ushers her into a job interview with the Bank of Helsinki. When she walks in, they begin speaking Finnish, and she runs away.