Confessions of a disgruntled personal shopper

Do you perhaps need an original Christmas present for your step-twin twice removed or your third cousin-in-law and you don't have a clue what to get them? Well, don't fret, just ask me and I'll add it on to my long list of "presents to organise on behalf of others". Not.

My dear relatives are only too aware of my reputation as shopaholic/my conveniently long lunch-breaks and I've in the past been able to impress them by recommending shops for every imaginable need. I once famously recommended a shop selling wigs and hairpieces to my great-aunt. I don't know why I even noticed that shop in the first place because I thankfully don't need its products myself.

Don't get me wrong, I love selecting presents for my beloved ones as much – if not more - as I enjoy treating myself erm...occasionally and I don't mind running errands for elderly relatives who live in rural areas but the culmination of people ringing to ask me if I could get a present for other members of the clan or Turkish Delight because "you always have such great ideas and you know where to get things", expecting the full retailtherapist-package (me purchasing, wrapping and often also delivering the present to the recipient) can get a tiny little bit annoying.

In some cases, it's very difficult indeed to choose a suitable present for somebody and once I've had a brainwave I am somewhat reluctant to "give away" my brilliant idea by buying the thing on behalf of somebody else. Why don't they pick their own brains for a change? To be fair, my Mum gets to do her share of inter-familial present-planning too and she's therefore more or less the only member of my family who doesn't tap me for ideas.

With my parents both being artists, creative, self-made pressies have always ranked highest but given Dad's serious dislike of any shops which are not of the DIY-store kind (my shopaholic-genes are definitely not from the paternal side of the family) he always expects me to organise the shop-bought part of his presents for Mum. Being the clever woman she is, she of course always cops on to that and is not amused so in the weeks before Christmas or my mother's birthday I know I can expect both a plea by Dad to conjure up some nice things for Mum on his behalf and a briefing by her to please refrain from doing so as she gets really annoyed at him for not making more of an effort himself.

Let me tell you, being a personal shopper can be a very tricky task. And a thankless one, too.

Lunch-break purchases: Another visit to the Body Shop (presents this time. Well and a crucially important new eyshadow brush for myself) as today they offer a 20% reduction to store-card-holders, followed by a pit-stop at Haas&Haas, a Viennese institution, to buy some more of my new favourite tea: Rooibos with little chunks of dried pears. En route back to the office I popped into posh Meinl am Graben to buy some seed-free raspberry jam for my baking marathon tomorrow afternoon before stopping at a stationery shop to buy a 2006-refill for my Filofax and 2 nice (and over-priced) packs of christmassy napkins. Now I can finally have a calendar where to circle August 18, 2006 in red ink!