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Not just women
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It's a myth that women take more time to shop. There are men who can spend hours looking for that perfect shirt
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PHOTO: AP
THE QUICKFIX Men also dawdle over shopping
A hapless member of their sex turning grey waiting for wife to return from a shopping spree is part of male lore. So steeped is this fallacy in everyone's psyche that some salesmen give women quizzical looks if they leave the store in 10 minutes. Like they did to Sanjana. As she walked in, her eyes fell on that one sari she felt was woven just for her. A quick look in the wallet and she was out of the shop in minutes. But not before a gobsmacked attendant asked her how she had made up her mind so quickly.
"These pre-conceived notions irk me. Why do they think we take longer to choose? If you know what you want, where's the need for any delay?" she asks.
It has not helped that movies and mega-serials have perpetuated the image of the indecisive woman, who looks confused as she sits in front of mounds of saris. The store attendant is treated with great sympathy. He looks tired, having had to model sari after sari for the customer who shows no sign of being impressed. And, he heaves a sigh of relief only when she departs. Empty-handed.
Such stereotyping is annoying. "Okay. Women dilly-dally when it comes to choosing clothes. But, who says men are different? My husband takes as much if not more time to decide on a shirt; that is after driving the salesperson crazy in at least half the stores across the city," says Sangeeta Sharma, a homemaker. "I still remember the time when we walked in and out of not less than 11 shops in search of that elusive pair of shoes," she recalls.
Shopping with such a partner would be fun, right? "Wrong. He takes time, but hates it when I do the same," she complains.
Some women have found the safe way out: they shop alone. As someone who shops for a living, Radhika, owner of a sari store, says lazy shopping is more a personality trait than anything else.
"Some women will find what they want in two minutes; others take two hours. It's about getting what you want."
Quick shoppers who breeze in and out of stores say their greatest advantage is knowing what they want. Something Kausalya and Usha, partners of a boutique, agree. Some customers keep looking, feeling that they have not yet got a good deal. The problem occurs when they are unsure about what they want and are not confident about their choice, they say.
But it is not as if the choosy ones get the best deals. "People who are easygoing are the lucky ones. They don't make the salespersons jittery and so the end result is great," adds Kausalya.
Shopping, Radhika says, is therapeutic. "So why rush people? If they love spending time on choosing something for themselves, what's wrong with that?"
S.J.R.
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