The Sale Mania

Yesterday, January 12, marked the first day of the countrywide's 6-week winter solde (sale). Everything is up for grabs! The dates of the beginning of the sale are fixed in each department by the prefects, after consultations from the professional organizations and from the consumers, their authorized maximum duration is six weeks. And we got four weeks in the suburbs of Paris, where we live. So we have all the time in the world to take advantage of this.

But as expected, yesterday morning, hundreds of people were already in front of the department stores long before the opening time. And when the doors finally opened, they're like an ensemble of little waves joining their forces together, creating a 'tsunami'. During the sale, people tend to be more aggressive, so expect anything. There will be shoving and elbowing, exchanging of cursed words and to the point that the police would intervene to stop a brawl.


don't push! don't push! there's enough for everybody! (a common scene)

I can hardly imagine myself being one of them trying to smash the store's metal shutter or if not, crawling underneath just to be able to get in. What a humiliating scene! Mais oui, malheureusement (But yes, unfortunately) it happened and it always does, either during summer, winter or Christmas sale. These people reveal the animalistic traits in them! Sorry, ce n'est pas très gentil de dire ça (it's not so nice to say that), but can't blame me for I've already experienced being in the middle of one of those flaming stupid fights! That was quite scary! A woman pulled other woman's hair because of 'Barbie, The Bride'! ma God! Why didn't they just content themselves with 'Barbie, The Pregnant'? There were lots of them on the shelves! A scene like this could have been avoided! LOL

There are people who are capable of doing anything just to get hold of the items they want. Like what I saw on the news last night. The management of Galeries La Fayette, one of those chic department stores in France, had a hard time coping with these people. There were women fighting over a jacket... At Darty, an appliance store, there was an intense verbal dispute between two men because of a microwave! The worst thing of all is that they were aware of the presence of the cameras, that they were being filmed, and yet they still went on with their scenes. Cheap, huh?

In the Philippines and in most countries, the most heard saying in the customer service business is, "Customer is always right". Here in France, be wary! With this kind of behaviour, "Customer is always right"? Not anymore! I warn you, the customer service people could be as crude, as aggressive, and as animalistic as you are!

I'm planning to go shopping this Saturday, I don't know what awaits me but surely I'll be prepared. >_<