Yesterday, I was standing in the elevator of Bloomingdale’s Manhattan flagship store with a red-headed saleswoman who had sold me a pair of earrings ten minutes earlier.

“I actually came here to buy something to wear to my nephew’s bar mitzvah,” I said to her, “but I’m striking out badly. I need something sort of churchy and business-y but also a little sexy.”

“Have you been to the third floor?”

“I have searched the third floor, and tried things on, but you guys are so fashion-forward–with cut away shoulders and sleeves and stuff–that I can’t find anything appropriate.”

Bing! The elevator stopped, and the saleswoman lifted her hand to her mouth to hide this whispered state secret: “Try Lord & Taylor!”