Let's Go Shopping!

Buenos Aires is a modern city, meaning it has lots of shopping malls. Since I'd been running low on socks, and Sarah had been running low on expensive boutique style knee-high boots, we decided to visit one of these malls.

What I was thinking when I agreed to go, I can only guess. As soon as we walked through the heavy glass doors and stepped onto the gleaming white floor, I winced.

"Oh my God. What have I done?" I mumbled under my breath.

"What's that honey?"

"Nothing."

"Ohh.. look at all these high-end stores!" I heard my wife say. She was already halfway up a nearby escalator and rising.

See, I've never liked shopping malls. I seize up in there. I always feel uncomfortable, like I'm being watched. I hadn't been inside a mall in ten months, and I didn't miss them.

I especially don't like going to malls with Sarah. It's not her fault, she just likes to shop her own way, which entails going into nearly every store, flipping through the racks for twenty minutes and then leaving without buying anything.

As she thrusts back hangers, I usually hang outside the store. I wait. I look at my watch. I look at my shoes. I look at the security guard looking at me. I look at my shoes. I get anxious, so I go in the store and stand next to Sarah until she looks up at me.

"See anything?"

"Well...." she answers me with a concentrated look at a shirt in her hands.

She flips more racks.

"I'm sorry honey, are you waiting?"

"No. I'm just.. you know. I'll be outside."

"Okay I'm coming," she says as she follows me out of the store.

This works every time. On every shopping trip, once I walk back in the store and stand next to her, she always walks out. I think she just doesn't want me looking over her shoulder, so she'd just rather leave with me than tell me to get lost. However, I do have to use the "walk-back-in" tactic somewhat sparingly. I can't really use it when for instance she's in the drug store. If she actually intends to buy something, then the "walk-back-in" will blow up in my face. She'll get mad and tell me I'm pressuring her. At times like these, it's just better to stay outside, feel uncomfortable, and stare a little more at my shoes.

-Brendan

Comments

Haha. Good tactic. Do you just not like being around a lot of people?

I don't like malls, either. They are too overwhelming, and there is too much information coming at me. I prefer smaller shops where I can see everything they have in a quick look through. I'm a get in, get what you need and get out kind of person. I do like to shop while I'm traveling though, especially to see local products (not made in China tsotchkes). You guys have a great blog. It will be a bummer when your trip is done.

sarah,
did you end up finding knee high boots? :)

A subject close to my boyfriends heart.
He absolutely hates shopping with me. But I completely agree with him and you and don't hold it against you guys. Women do take forever, hours upon hours at the store and come out empty handed, yet full of joy. It's unexplainable to the male species.