Do you know anyone that works or has worked as a personal shopper?

[Chollis]

It seems like a bit of a hollow dream really, maybe it's because I hate shopping and just want to get it over with but still.

'what's your dream job'
'shopping'
'what sort of stuff? do you get to keep it'
'no, just shopping'

Still, I can see the appeal of jetting around and staying in exotic places over working in a call centre.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Well there is that I suppose.

[Shit Good Nose]

Some posh department stores have personal shoppers (Rachel was one in Friends) to help customers with money but no taste or no time, but they work in and for the shop rather than for an individual. This really does sound more like a PA/general lackey role, she's going to be doing a lot more than just shopping.

It sounds more like what Kristen Stewart does in the film Personal Shopper (albeit, as I said, without the contacting the dead bit), in that she's employed by a single person and will follow them about.  And, from memory, in the film Stewart's character only does shopping - she doesn't do any PA or business stuff.

But who knows.  Time will tell...

[Jerzy Bondov]

It sounds more like what Kristen Stewart does in the film Personal Shopper (albeit, as I said, without the contacting the dead bit), in that she's employed by a single person and will follow them about.  And, from memory, in the film Stewart's character only does shopping - she doesn't do any PA or business stuff.

She also tries on the clothes and gets in bed and flicks her bean.

[Icehaven]

It sounds more like what Kristen Stewart does in the film Personal Shopper (albeit, as I said, without the contacting the dead bit), in that she's employed by a single person and will follow them about.  And, from memory, in the film Stewart's character only does shopping - she doesn't do any PA or business stuff.

But who knows.  Time will tell...

I'm still struggling to see how this works, do the employers look at their wardrobes stuffed full of clothes, think 'nope, need more' and call their personal shopper and command them to pop to Rodeo Drive and pick them up 10 grands worth of skirts? Or if the shopper is literally following their boss around what are they actually supposed to be doing, telling them what looks nice and carrying the bags? How much shopping do these people actually do? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

[Pijlstaart]

I only go in a shop if it is directly on my route home from work in the early hours of the morning, so my shopping opportunities are limited, and indeed I might be the one who has hired her. I'd never get something that you have to weigh either, like produce, that's too involved and I never figured it out, so that'd be handy. Varied fruits, maybe, from abroad. Our old cats used to have a bell on their collar, so they'd go tinkle tinkle tinkle when they scurried about, and perhaps my personal shopper would have one, so I could track where they were, and by extension all my weighed goods.

[Danger Man]

I'm still struggling to see how this works, do the employers look at their wardrobes stuffed full of clothes, think 'nope, need more' and call their personal shopper and command them to pop to Rodeo Drive and pick them up 10 grands worth of skirts?

Yes.

Though my experience of the super rich has shown they tend to spend all day thinking about one thing. Where to have dinner.

So I'm guessing the PA will spend more time booking tables at Dorsia than buying shoes. Though there will be a lot of shoe buying.

[The Boston Crab]

RING RING Hello, could you come to America and go to the shops for me.

Big laugh

[Icehaven]

Though my experience of the super rich has shown they tend to spend all day thinking about one thing. Where to have dinner.

I do this too, but I'm just super greedy.

[Shit Good Nose]

Mrs Nose's mate popped in yesterday afternoon for a cup of tea and a bit of little Nose's birthday cake (little Nose is our VERY elaborate April fool prank on the world).  I was at work, but a bit more info has come out:

The pay is £70000 a year, rising to £75000 in year five (not an incremental increase over the years - £70k for four years and then a £5000 increase in year five).  I guess it's a kind of carrot dangling.  The travel stuff sounds to me like normal entering receipts for claims in arrears - she gets given a sum of money (didn't say how much) to cover her first month's travel, and then after that she submits all her receipts and everything at the end of each month and she gets it all in her next pay (on top of her main salary).  Still don't know the logistics of the actual travelling.

It's working for a woman who comes from a wealthy family, but has made her own fortune investing in businesses all over the world (she's not a Dragon).

The previous holder (although still existing at the moment as Mrs Nose's mate doesn't start for a few months) of the job has done it for eleven years and is retiring.

Car and "base" (i.e. flat or house) are up to Mrs Nose's mate to sort out and fund, however any travel she does in her own car for the job she'll get mileage paid and they'll cover the difference in insurance for business use.  The car she's got now is only three years old, so I don't think not getting a new company car bothers her that much.

Private health care is available, but she has to pay 50% of it herself.

She got the job through an agency (don't know what the interview comprised of).


That's about it for now.  We're seeing her again in a few weeks time, so I'll be sure to ask some other questions and tease out more.