With all this time, my brain is wandering. In reality, my brain wanders all the time, but now it's racing-wandering, because the BIG one is approaching. The monster mother of all clearance sales. The "you might want to consider wearing an adult diaper for the day" sale. The finger food for lunch sale, so it can be eaten standing up. The day that ends with a tall icy glass of Jack and Coke and a foot massage.
We do this really cool thing at work where twice a year, we empty the store. EMPTY it. There won't be a thing left, except racks and hangers. And we do it in 3 1/2 days. It's an F5 tornado whipping through the place and showing no mercy. 50% off, 75% off, and then a $2 bag sale to round it out, with anything left going to charity. Children get lost, pregnant women puke, a dazed expression of terror mixed with euphoria is on the customers faces. There's bins of merchandise just waiting to go on the sales floor, and we'll load that shit and make it all perfectly pretty in three days time. It's an insane whirlwind of activity and we do it all from start to finish in less than a week's time. And we love it, even though it sucks the life right out of us.
But, what does this have to do with Shopaholics, like the title suggests? Just hang on, little pumpkin...I'll tell you.
By the time the bag sale arrives on Saturday morning, a shopper will have been able to clothe a family of four for well under $100, regardless of what day they shop. It is a bargain hunter's wet dream. It makes Black Friday deals look like a silly little 20% off coupon sale. When you're starting with merchandise already priced at 1/3 of retail, and you start discounting 50 and 75%, you're talking pennies. Well, maybe not pennies, but quarters. Or less dollar bills than a bachelor party uses at a strip club.
And trust me, there are oodles of bargain shoppers out there. The people that are always looking for a deal. The person that scoffs at paying retail. We see them twice a year when we do this sale. They line up at the doors, scratching to get in like a clown that's just risen from the storm drains. Not only do they do it for the sale, but they'll do it for the re-opening, because like I said, we're talking stuff at 1/3 of retail, and they can't wait to get their hands on it.
I'm sure, even if you aren't the type, you know some who are. It's all about the SCORE. The deal of the day, the people that live for a good find. And along with that, I'm willing to guess you might know a handful who even think that the shopaholics, the people who don't always care about the latest bargain, or those that may even not consider what that day's sale is, are horrid money wasters without a single brain cell in their head. They scoff at the people that they believe spend foolishly, or excessively. They turn their noses up at the person spending over $100 on a pair of shoes, jeans, or a purse. This kind of person revels in their enlightened state of saving money and bargain shopping.
I've got one thing to say to the bargain shopper....
You owe the shopaholic a big, giant, THANK YOU.
Without the shopaholics, you wouldn't get the bargains.
When you shop used, resale, or consignment, the merchandise isn't just being shit out of a unicorn's ass. It's coming from somewhere, and more times than not, it's coming from the shopaholic with the overflowing closets. Without their spending habits, you are screwed. You won't have the chance to score the to die for clothes, or refurnish an entire room. Your bargains were someone else's excessive purchases.
So the next time you want to put your nose in the air and feel enlightened over your thrifty thinking, you might actually want to THINK. And give a big thank you to the very thing you scorn.
Thank the shopaholic. They put the clothes on your back. And they're damn cute clothes.
No comments:
Post a Comment