Because you can't have depths without surfaces.
Linda Grant, thinking about clothes, books and other matters.
Pure Collection Ltd.
Net-a-porter UK

Sunday 24 August 2008

A curmudgeon writes


Norm goes shopping:

I will leave aside the fact that my body is always overcome by a draining fatigue the instant I arrive in this environment - a physiological phenomenon I have never been able to comprehend. And I will leave aside the puzzle that, on entering a large department store, the intending purchaser never arrives at the part of the store he (for he it is in this case) needs or wants; there are always floors to negotiate, by lift, stair or escalator, and then vast spaces to cross, as if shopping doubled as a training ground for long hiking expeditions. And I leave aside, too, that the air in such places is like a condensed falsehood all of itself. These obstacles and inconveniences I now know, in the light of much experience, I must expect.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And then, when you finally arrive where you think you want to be, you can't find anything you want and either the help does not have a clue regarding what is there or in stock OR, what you want is now to be found in some other department. And people wonder why it is that the death knell is being rung for retail and that there are so many people who do all of their shopping on the Internet.

Kathleen said...

I'll give you back one of your lines:
"these are not conducive to clear thought and rational decision-making" & tell you that I expect it is all part of the plot for us to throw down our money just to escape more quickly. The same plot that is characterized by four "sales" people standing in a knot with their backs to the customers, thoroughly engrossed in exclusive conversation having nothing to do with the store, or even "common" courtesy. Too true here in Canada as well....