- Do you know why Senorita Vargas eats so little? Because she makes shopping for so long that she forgets she was ever hungry at the meantime.
- Oh come on- said Gene cutting the vegetables he was supposed to put on top of his pizza.- Our supermarket is a pretty big store.
He placed the slices around the pizza bottom and carefully put his dinner dish in the oven.
- Once I spent two weeks in the supermarket.
Something inside me just died.
- Two weeks? Gene, are you serious?!
- Yeah two weeks. You remember when I left my new shoes next to the cashiers. So, before once I left my computer there. Then I started to leave other things just because I found this place quite cozy. Finally I felt home and I spent there a bit by myself.
If this story sounds unbelievable to you, estimate how much time do you usually spend in shops. And I bet you will get Gene's point.
I reached my awereness as a consumer one day while walking through the shopping centre near my home. I was passing this centre everyday with a great excuse- that is the shortest way to the tube station. Being real I am not sure if it actually IS the shortest way but I think I prefer to believe it. But this day was different than others: I stopped in front of a shop with cheap clothes (cheap but quite a good quality case somebody decides to be a tease) and slowly walked in. Many times before I had promised myself I wouldn't be stopping there, but there was always something stronger than that. I used to call it intuition- 'I came in and I saw these marvelous shoes for such a great price'; 'Look, so cheap, otherwise I would spend this money on booze or something more sinister'. On THIS day it was just the same- I hunted an amazing part of ankle booties and, incredibly happy, took a walk back home. Home, where it was meant for me to notice I had no more space for another pair of shoes. And that I didn't even remember them all.
Overwhelmed by this discovery I posted a status on facebook saying: 'I went to work and came back with another pair of shoes. My life is out of my league.' First comments appeared in just two minutes. Slowly, my friends were coming out.
'I just went to the dentist.. I don't know when I became an owner of a new hat.'
'Recently I went to buy cigarettes and came back with a leather jacket.'
'I left to buy more onions to cook a dinner- but I brought in two pairs of boots instead.'
I realized I was not alone. And that this time it was not about money. It was about something more important. About time.
- I have something to confess- said Paolo O. Martin when I came back from holidays last year.
- What happened?- asked I, expecting that he had been probably excluded from another casino. Or stole another traffic bollard or paid for a hostel for some homeless girl as usual.
- Well, you were away and I felt a bit too lazy to do the laundry- said him and his face adopted an expression of guilt.- So I went to Primark and bought some underwear and a towell.
- Paolo! Are you aware of how much time did it consume? You could do your laundry at least twice!
- I know- admitted Paolo and his guilt increased in one second- but I like to go shopping. Shops are just pleasant places.
Recalling this situation now I think my dear Paolo O. Martin aka Paul Portier indeed embraced the essential: shopping is pleasant.
- I second that- interrupted Frank, raising his cup of coffee- think about it: there is always perfect temperature. In winter inside the shop is warm and nice, in summer you feel cool air around you. People are busy with themselves and their needs, you can take a break from reality spending time surrounded by things. It calms you down. And- Frank took a sip of his coffee and smiled with a cockiness I had never seen before I created him- I know what I am saying. I am a therapist.
Thinking about his words I was walking through a big shopping centre during the weekend (Please, don't ask what I was doing there). My moves totally depended on others' moves and my thoughts felt controlled by pieces of senses coming from sounds around me. I literally was a part of the crowd. And a scary thought which crossed my mind was that there indeed felt something pleasant about it. Not about a shopping itself, but about being there- with these people and these things.
- The next creature running the world won't be a human but a shopper. The next level of our civilization.
- You have a phobia- concluded Frank.
- Phobia?! What phobia?- I felt accused. First The Guy I Was Recently Dating and now him.
- Shopaphobia- calmly answered Frank.- It's the state when shopping terrifies you. It's a contradiction to shopaholism but worse.
- How worse?- I felt offended once again as usual when Frank had his conclusions on me.
- Shopaphobics think they hate shopping. But what they actually hate is consumption, consumption we are all part of. Consumption is running the world and makes it progress, makes our needs improve. Shopaphobics are antisocial and therefore they are dangerous for any changes in the world. Without consumption we would have a crisis or something worse like for instance communism.
- But Frank, we do have a crisis.
- You see- smiled Frank and once again I couldn't believe I was the one who created him.- Look what you've done.
I created a monster.
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