Today I was done with work and back in HB by noon. Our housekeeper came this afternoon, so I didn't want to go back to the house and be in her way. Instead I decided to spend the day at Westminster mall looking for Ethan's Christmas present. My mother put a $10 limit on gifts this year. I asked Ethan if he needed anything, and he said that he really needed some new slacks for work...for $10. I had a lot of things I wanted to say about setting that limit so low. I said a few of them to Lynn, like "that's great for the people in Utah, but the only thing you can buy in California for $10 is 10 chapsticks, if you can catch them on sale at Wal-Mart."
All the same I decided to make a dutiful effort to comply with the monetary limitations that were being placed on me. The first store I went to I found a very decent looking pair of Dockers in his size for a shocking $9.99. The pants aren't even pleated in the front like the $15 pair I found on another rack. I take back everything I said about the chapsticks.
Since I had that out of the way so quickly I decided to kill time window shopping. It feels like that entire mall is 50% off. I didn't buy anything else except some hair conditioner (50% off, of course), but I spent a few hours just wandering in and out of stores. I can't believe how much stuff is discounted, and still there just weren't that many shoppers out and about. Were it not December 17th in Southern California I wouldn't have been surprised that the Thursday afternoon crowds were so light. Sadly it is December 17th in Southern California. I noticed that many of the stores I walked by were completely void of any customers at all. The unfortunate side effect to this is that the store owners/employees have become very aggressive. I was driven out of more than one store because I couldn't take the way the clerk was hovering over me like a vulture.
The thing is that shopping in that environment makes me even less likely to spend money. It creates in me a greater sense of urgency to hoard up all the money I can right now.
2 comments:
I am totally with you on the hovering store clerk thing. I will leave a store faster if they give me aggressive attention. If I don't find what I'm looking for, I know how to ask, or at least stand around with a puzzled look on my face that indicates it is OK for you to approach me. Otherwise, back off and let me shop!
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