Did you trample anyone yesterday?

Were you trampled?

What’d you buy?

Did the marketers win?

Did you buy stuff you didn’t originally intend to buy?

Did you spend more money than you should have?

Were the “GREAT DEALS” you got REALLY GREAT DEALS?

Was the experience FUN?

I’m not much of a shopper.

I tend to leave all of that excitement to the professionals.

When I want to shop, I decide what I want and go into a store with laser focus to buy THAT thing (and nothing else) . . . don my blinders and dive in.

I avoid eye contact with sales people at all cost (including me awkwardly running into displays).

I’ve been known to veer off the path into irrelevant aisles so as to avoid those people who are so eager to ask me if they can help me.

NO! I do NOT need you to help me figure out how to buy more than I came to your store to buy.

I’m guessing i’m “outing” myself as a “Shop-phobe”

Deb got me out there yesterday. Her car battery was acting up, and we were going to buy something VERY specific at a furniture store in the great mecca for shoppaholics (Cool Springs Galleria), and I agreed to sit in the car to keep it running while she ran in to pick said item up. Things didn’t go so well with the furniture purchase . . . out of stock . . . so . . .

We stopped for a nice lunch at Macaroni Grill (Which was blissfully UNcrowded) . . .

After which . . . Deb asked if I knew where BestBuys is?

This is where I goofed and admitted to knowing that BestBuys was straight ahead @ 1/2 mile.

Next thing I knew, we were walking through the door into shopping Hell . . . People EVERYWHERE!

Sheer cacophony . . .

We have been talking about our desire for a new TV for a couple of years, and Deb thought this might be a good time to get a good deal on one of those.

Laser focus took us to the TV wall where we found myriad TVs . . . all ON . . . all looked the same . . . LCD, LED, PLASMA, MGhz . . . ranging from @ $400-THOUSANDS . . . and then the peripherals – Speaker Bars, Sound systems, mounting hardware . . . enough to overwhelm any card-carrying shopaphobe in a heartbeat.

My savior was a sales associate who was HUMAN . . . not pushy . . . interested in knowing what we came for and helping us find the right stuff. He had candid answers . . . and was supportive of our desire to spend less and get more.

20 minutes later, we walked out of there toting a great little Samsung LCD with a Speaker Bar for about 1/2 the money we expected to have to spend.

All this to say . . . Black Friday was great for this shopaphobe.

and I know there will be many professional shoppers who will take great pleasure in this shopping neophyte’s story 

Keep on stimulating the economy, but shop responsibly.

Oh!

Speaking of shopping responsibly . . . There are some REALLY great deals on HOUSES here in Middle TN . . . Perhaps a new place to live would be a grande choice for you family gift of 2011.

We could get you moved in before Christmas, if we start shopping immediately.

and there’s NOTHING that stimulates the economy more than a home sale.

Contact me NOW to get the process started 

Just sayin’

Best,

b