December 11, 2007

Shop till you drop

It is surprising how some people actually enjoy shopping. I wish I was one of them but unfortunately shopping is one of the things that make me break into a sweat, every time. It's easy enough to go to a shop and buy something routine like milk, bread, sugar or even a pack of cigarettes. It is the non-regular things that I dread shopping for.The difficulty lies in the stupendous number of decisions that have to made in order to buy even a simple thing like a shirt.

Your friend tells you, "Shirts from company A are the best."

Your brother says "Na aah, it's company B that has the best shirts. The fabric is just awesome."

You, yourself, have shirts from company A as well as company B, but you can't really tell the difference.So, depending on who you are with when you go out shopping, you either go to a shop that sells shirt from company A, or to a shop that sells shirt from company B (You better not go to a shop that sells more than one company because then you might be told of another company C, that is new, and supposedly offers an even better quality).

Then you tell the salesman that you want to buy a shirt.

"OK," he says, but doesn't move.

Obviously, he is waiting for you to say something more, but you don't know what to say, and keep looking back at him. He realises by now that you are one of the unwilling shoppers, and he says, "Striped, checks, or plain?"

"Hmmmm..." you pretend to think about it, though you don't have a clue about what you want.

"Anything that looks good," you say.

"Everything in our shop looks good," he says.

"Stripes," you say, not because you want stripes but because something had to be said and that was the first thing that came to your mind.

You wait for him to show you some shirts now.

But he smiles and says, "Light colors or dark?"

At this point some of us reluctant shoppers will just walk out of the shop, to come back another day, with a little more preparation. But some might try and brave it out.

"Light colors."

The salesman finally shows you some shirts, none of which you like, and you eye the other shirts on display. But haven't you already said you wanted stripes and that too of a lighter shade.
But you still have some fight left in you. So, you tell him, "Show me some plain shirts, dark colours."

And he shows you some.

In the end you end up with striped, checked and plain shirts on the counter and still you aren't sure which one you are going to buy. The salesman helps," All these will look really good on you, you should buy at least one of each kind."

You want to but then your budget is limited.

You ask your friend, or brother, and he tells you "This and this...and this will look really good on you."

The only problem now is that you can't imagine yourself wearing the shirts he has pointed out. But the salesman supports him, "Good choice."

You have a shirt, or two, that you like, but your friend says, "Oh, come on, even my uncle has a better taste in clothes than that."

You are silenced.

Eventually, you buy whatever shirt, or shirts, come into your hand. Though you might not be happy with you bought, you are happy that the misery is over, and that you won't be needing to go shopping for shirts for a couple of months.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate shopping for clothes. I can buy for others with no problem, but hate shopping for myself. You're not alone on this one either.

Marilyn said...

This is why I buy online and I don't let my sisters shop for me anymore. I may have poor taste, but it's mine and I have to wear the darned thing. If it doesn't fit I just send it back and get the same thing a size bigger or smaller...

or I go to a thrift store and buy something used that fits. These places have no sales people to speak of and my sisters wouldn't be caught dead in one.

Also, I go and buy what I went for and get out. Shopping, for me anyway, is not recreation. It's hard work... anyway I totally understand where you are coming from.

Paulie said...

What about ordering them on the internet -- no salesman to bother you.

SandyCarlson said...

I'm with Marilyn. I shop online or try to get clever with what's in the closet.

You capture the agony of shopping, and shopping with helpers, so well!

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