Shopping is Fun. Shopping By Yourself? Not So Fun.

I hit the mall earlier this week to look for some new clothes to bolster my wardrobe. My old pants are feeling and looking a little too loose and I need to up my wardrobe before I start my new job and go back to school. Going shopping in the middle of a Thursday meant I would be shopping by myself and the mall generally will be on the not-so-busy side.

It only took ten minutes to realize that I really don’t like to shop in a mall by myself. Why? I have my reasons:

1. There’s just way too many things that I notice, that if someone was with me, I’d stop to comment on. I wasn’t about to start talking to myself, so I had to keep my comments in my head. The best part of going to a mall to shop is taking in the atmosphere. The little kids nagging their parents, the teen couples on a date, the older couples with guys carrying ten shopping bags for their ladies...it’s all part of the experience. To make random comments to a friend about those things just adds to the joy of shopping.

2. Shopping with others gives you a buffer between you and the kiosk sales people. In a span of ten minutes, I was called beautiful, asked to see the latest in cell phone technology, offered a back massage, told that I have beautiful hands that can be even better and offered yet another massage. In the background, I heard guys being called handsome, questions of “Is your phone doing it for you?” and “Don’t you want to step-up your game?”.

I know it’s their job to push the product, but when you’re by yourself, there’s fewer options on how to handle the onslaught. Some of the things that I've employed: a) Keep walking straight ahead and pretend you’re ignoring them. This is an effective method but I often feel guilty for being rude. b) In the event that I’ve made eye contact, politely say “no thank you.” Here, I’ve tried to be nice by acknowledging their effort but I still get to stay on course. c) Take out my cell phone to either call someone, pretend I’m calling someone, text someone or pretend to text someone, or actually answer a phone call/read an incoming text  in an effort to look too busy to engage in a conversation with the sales person. d) Walk along the side closer to the stores and further away from the kiosks. This works pretty well if the mall is bustling with people. But in the middle of the day with uncrowded walkways, it’s not really an option when trying to avoid being seen by the sales person.

If I had someone with me, I could use that person as a buffer. Walk on the side away from the kiosks and let the person I’m with deal with the sales people.

3. Shopping with someone gives me a second opinion on things I’m thinking of buying. There’s really no point in asking a salesperson whether they think a particular top will look good on me. If the person is doing his/her job, the top will of course look great and oh look, here’s a pair of jeans that would really make a great outfit. Eeek...that’s trouble.

I have another week or so of available afternoons before going back to the working world. I may end up at the mall again during that time so we’ll see which option I pick when dealing with those pesky kiosk sales people. How do you deal with them?

Posted via email from A Spirited World