The Worst Consumer

I find it quite tiresome to take myself shopping. It would be completely out of line to say that this is because I’m not properly schooled in the joys of exchanging money for something that I believe has greater marginal utility because, as my parents will testify a million times over, of course I am. No, that’s not the problem at all. I’m just a very difficult person to shop with. If I turn up somewhere aimlessly with no intention of buying anything, I end up making several regrettably useless impulse purchases. When I do plan my shopping expeditions, I have such a specific idea in mind that it’s nearly impossible to find what I want. Being a strong believer in the “power of the consumer”, I drag the hapless idiot who agreed to shop with me from store to store, making faces at everything available. Shopping can also instil a very strong belief in love at first sight. 

Consider shopping for formals. This is my least favourite type of shopping because I’m required to spend a lot of money buying clothes I wish I didn’t have to wear. I try my best to find the perfect fit and then wear it as sloppily as possible to register my protest against the practice of coercing adults to wear uncomfortable clothes that rarely look good. I believe formal clothing is a devious corporate agenda that seeks to restrict movement to make employees seem measured and graceful and emphasise every flaw in their body so that they are too self-conscious to be particularly rebellious at work.

All this vileness notwithstanding, I had another “love at first sight” incident when I went shopping for a formal jacket. I fell hopelessly in love with a grey jacket. My sister, staunch believer that she is in the “black is always in” philosophy, insisted that I look for a black jacket because grey would make me “look old” and “unlike someone looking for a job”. Her opposition reinforced my faith in the grey jacket and I argued that I wanted to look wise beyond my years and unlike a typical job-seeker.

We finally ended up looking for a black jacket (just to compare) and when I found it, that was sort of love too. Helped along its way by its reasonable price tag, I settled for it. But it wasn’t my first love. I soon started having misgivings about it and started telling myself that I looked like a funeral director in it.

It’s an absolute joy to be enrolled in an economics course when every rationality assumption  crumbles before you.