Christmas shopping frenzy - this is how I describe people walking madly about in shopping malls. I've not so far been one of those, because I do not believe in gift giving in Christmas time. Usually I stay away from malls and shopping centres at this time of the year. But, I've had some time this weekend, so I went for a stroll at one of the better ones in Toronto.
Finding parking was crazy. As my mate backed into a spot that he has been waiting for a long time, this guy who drove a pick up truck drove real up close to us, stopped the truck, jumped out and stomped over to us. He said: I have been waiting for this spot for a long time. I'm GIVING your the spot, so that you know. My mate and I were speechless. As the guy finished talking, we continued backing in. That guy drove all the way to our lane from an aisle over - I wasn't sure why he thought he could get the spot while he was all the way over there while we were backing in. I guess the guy knew that he sounded ridiculous, because he didn't accuse us of anything directly, and he just spoke and went away. Strange.
And so we strolled in the mall. Sales people jumped out whenever we entered the mall, saying things like:
"Hi, how are you"
"Is everything OK?", etc. These phrases make me run out of the store fast.
Retail salespeople should know by now that a customer who just walked into a store wants to explore, not to be bothered by a salesperson. Unless we ask for help, or looking around for help, please leave us alone! I loathe pushy salespeople.
My ideal store would be like this:
- no sales people, just robots
- sample clothing displayed on mannequins, no racks of clothing available
- computer screens available for us to choose our style, size
- mannequins then bring out clothes for people to try on
- computer screens can recommend potential matching items to go with the items a person has chosen
- self check out, or check out by robots