shopping – Natalie J. Case

As a writer, I look at every experience as an opportunity to learn human behavior, to observe from the sidelines as the world goes on around me. I mean, sure I get frustrated and even angry with things, but even then a part of my brain is taking in the color and cataloging characters in the never-ending expanse that is my “things to write” filing system.

This weekend, as my mother and I engaged in a little retail therapy at the local mall, I had ample eye candy to keep my brain chugging…from the flamboyant and awesome folks at Hot Topic, to the mother who would not keep her kids from screaming at deafening decibels while we were trying to have lunch, to the bored elves with a Santa with no one coming to see him (I tried to convince my mother she should go have turn, but she refused).

We shopped stores I haven’t been into in years. To be fair, I do most of my shopping online these days, so going to a store is rare. And going to a mall is rarer still. We hit up Barnes & Noble, the afore mentioned Hot Topic, Bed Bath & Beyond and Dillards.

I haven’t been into a Dillards since I lived in El Paso, and they had closed all of them before we left there.

For being a Sunday in December, it was not very busy, and it gave us both a chance to forget the holiday frustrations for a while and just shop. I spent far too much money for someone who said she was done Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving! Especially in BB&B…I LOVE their candles, and they were having their sale…got a few favorite scents and a couple of new ones…because CANDLES. Have I mentioned my love of tiny flames? Especially this time of year. I have candles burning pretty much every night in December, reminding the sun that we need him here, and enticing him to return.

I did manage not to buy ALL of Barnes & Noble, which, considering I was shopping with my number one enabler, is a small miracle. But, now it’s back to the daily grind and my cup of coffee.

Hope your week is fabulous, Readers!!

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

I live in a fairly affluent little city in the San Francisco Bay Area’s east bay. It’s the kind of place where we have stand alone Williams Sonoma, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus stores, a boutique-y place that sells $60 pajama pants and $159 sweaters, more restaurants than you could sample in a month, and a certain attitude. Lots of pedestrians, lots of good doggos that you’ll meet while you’re out walking.

Most of the time, I don’t mind. If nothing else, it makes for good people watching. I like posting myself up at some cafe’s outdoor table and greeting all the puppies taking their humans out for walks. I imagine stories for the grumpy old man at the corner table and the young couple holding hands as they cross the street, and the baby trying desperately to get his daddy’s attention.

However, the whole tone of things changes as Thanksgiving approaches. There are certain stores you can’t get near. Michael’s might as well be on Mars, with it’s very small parking lot that it shares with a Bed, Bath and Beyond. The place where I normally get my nails done has joined that chaos. To be fair, it shares a parking lot with a Sports Basement, two gyms, a dry cleaners, acupuncture place, a TJ Maxx, about a dozen restaurants and coffee shops, etc. I got there around noon on Saturday and there was no parking, with as many as ten cars circling just the one section closest to the nail salon.

Sadly, it isn’t just parking lots. The streets are full of cars bullying their way through streets, nearly taking out pedestrians, making illegal turns, laying on their horns in an obnoxious manner, etc. The pedestrians are little better: taking up the whole sidewalk and not letting others get by them, looking at their phones and nearly knocking over others, huddling around the door to a cafe so that no one can get in or out, let alone get around them, etc.

Normally, this behavior doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving, but it came early this year. This is why I do most of my shopping online these days. It is also why I don’t even leave my house on Black Friday.

I use Black Friday as Pay it Forward Day. It is when I do my end of the year giving. This year, I intend to donate to Heifer International and probably fund a loan or two on Kiva.org. I will probably also make a donation to a local food bank or charity giving gifts to underprivileged kids. Far better use of my time and dollars than the further commercialization of our holiday season.

Remember that a little kindness goes a long way. When you find yourself stressed and frustrated with the people around you, be kind. Let your small acts of kindness lift you out of your bad mood. And you may not see it, but it will spread out from you. This is how we change the world, Readers.

Kindness Matters!

Tag: shopping

kindness matters