When ‘shop’portunity knocks…

Don’t forget your civic decency and credit card at home as you step out to shop this discount season

July 10, 2014 09:20 pm | Updated 09:20 pm IST

Women walk past a clothing store window with discount signs in Strasbourg, June 25, 2014, during the first day of summer sales in France.  REUTERS/Vincent Kessler (FRANCE - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY)

Women walk past a clothing store window with discount signs in Strasbourg, June 25, 2014, during the first day of summer sales in France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler (FRANCE - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY)

Can anyone resist a text message that says “Dear member West**** is missing you at their 40 per cent sale.” Can the posters screaming “SALE” that scale the length of buildings be ignored? Hardly, especially when one suddenly feels the need to update their wardrobe, and if that’s not the case we make sure to “check out the sale”, just in case it’s a missed opportunity.

We each have our own reasons to go mall hopping during discount season and go berserk at stores, losing track of time and money. The lure of consumerism is something that nobody – college students, stay at home parents, working professionals or even retired folks — is immune to. If you visited a certain mall in Cyberabad last week, you know that it’s the season where responsibilities and decency, for most part, is left at the baggage counter, along with the day’s groceries – because good manners and dinner can wait while you get yourself that sweater you’ve convinced yourself you need for Hyderabad’s ‘chilly winters’.Shopping, like vacations, is a family affair. Family is also an efficient way to make use of those ‘super-consumer discounts’ - ‘big spender’ offers and the ‘Buy 2 – get 2’ deals and a great way to hold on to the trial room. Trial rooms are the most coveted real-estate during this time and a family of four can easily set up camp in one for not less than 45 minutes. Like a well oiled machine, a steady stream of garments coming in from the outside makes sure the member ‘on trial’ need not leave the room except to ask the opinion of which ever one of them is playing fashion stylist for the day. “This really suits your body shape,” says dad. “This is a great colour on you,” offers mom.

But this parental support too can waver – rules of the house can be broken and all the love expressed by parents on Facebook albums is replaced by “Why don’t you just play here for a while but don’t leave the men’s formals section ok?” or “Please don’t fight now, let me find a matching dupatta for this,” or the more common, “Beta, please go stand in the trial room queue while I pick up some stuff, and here is my smart phone to play with while you do it.”

On better days, grandparents come along and are given the task of babysitting. Those who have no patience for trial rooms are happy try on their shirts over their t-shirts and pants under their skirts, so long as you find a quiet corner. Others cram into ones empty because the lights don’t work (What are smart phone flash lights for?) or are happy to change in the storeroom among cartons of shoes and mops. Dutiful consumers know to wear easily removable bottoms and flip-flops for easy changing. Skinny jeans and layers are absolute no-nos.

If groceries can wait, so can plumbers and electricians. Since saying you are out shopping is not the best excuse, you settle for the more acceptable “ Mere bacche ko dawakhana layi, aap baitho main 10 minute me aati. ” In reality, you’re still mixing and matching and yet to reach the billing counter which has a queue longer than one at a Tatkal booking centre before Diwali weekend.

At the counter, the mood is different. As the cashier, who wishes she’d called in sick today, clicks away at the keyboard, the mind is filled with bungled up discount figures which all add up, gently nudging that credit card limit but not for long, for you’ve just remembered you needed waterproof shoes for the monsoons. Then there are always those with membership cards, bargaining about their points and asking friends to enter their card numbers, lest this rush of points be lost because you can’t remember yours. Even as you tussle with the decision whether to lose your spot for the sake of monsoon proof footwear – Crocs are the best choice for this - which you’ve convinced yourself is a necessity, the man in front of you looks at your silk tie and says, “Hey is that on 50 per cent discount?” You smile, “Yes”. “The Crocs can wait till next season,” you tell yourself smugly as you move up the queue.

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