The Power of 'Sale'

SALE! SALE! SALE ! Screamed all the news papers.

It was the Great Winter Sale ( a European phenomenon, now very 
popular in India, even in tropical states where they have no winter ) 
and come what may, I had decided to be a “Sale able” customer this season.

I packed off my kids to school, husband to work and I drove off in a frenzy to the mall.

It was barely 10 am.
But I wanted to be there 'First', before the shopaholics....before any shopper... to 
avoid the rush, push and the serpentine queues to the trial rooms.
My excitement was very high as this was the first time I was in sync with the world sale. 

Some how, my family has always been unlucky with the sale seasons. 
It could be due to insufficient funds or untimely shopping done at full price just a day before sale was declared. Or worse still to have paid full price for clothes that were not on sale during the sale season. 

This time I was hell bent on being with the flow. 

I smiled to myself, happy with my progress. I would probably be the first and only sale victim in the shop. And if they had an 'early bird' or 'first customer of the day' prize, it would be mine.

I parked my car and run-walked to my favourite store ‘Marks & Spencers’ (M&S).

Now let me tell you that my family has been an all time M&S fan. 
It started for us way back in 1960’s when my dad did regular trips to U.K. because he worked for Air-India. 
He always got us clothes from M&S (known as St. Michael’s then) in London. 

M&S was a good, quality conscious, contemporary retail store. We loved and enjoyed
what we wore. The most remarkable thing about their garments was that they lasted generations.      

Like....8 of us cousins were made to wear the same hand me down, relentlessly, year  after year, as one after the other cousin was born. As I grew older and moved from college life to office life, to my horror and despair my mom (a devout follower of reduce-recycle-reuse) passed on to me her 'A line' dresses, pleated skirts, slacks and blouses she’d out grown (but not out lived). Fashion styles came and went and came again, but my family would be standing ready and steady with the same clothes 30 years later.  Not a trace of tattered fabric, nor faded look and a not a stitch undone. Wow! That sure was a terrific garment technology by M&S.

Sailing back to my Sale shopping.... 
all the shop windows had only one word to yell & sell ....SALE! SALE! SALE!

I entered the M&S store. 
And was shocked to see many bodies already moving around headlessly (their heads had disappeared behind the mountain of clothes in their arms). 

A leg of a pant would be trailing between their feet or a bra would be entangled in their hands. Statements of concern for their safety fell on deaf ears. The shopaholics were hard to distract as their face could hardly be seen behind the mound of clothes they carried, so they never knew who was being spoken to. 
Any way, they couldn’t have heard anything other than....SALE !!!

So, as I did a reality check of the situation in the store,  I realised I was in the midst of seasoned sale-shoppers.

I checked out for my sizes and stepped into the trial room with a mountain of clothes.

I could feel the child like excitement in me, as I tried out each outfit, posed from side to side in front of the mirror and gleefully checked the reduced prices, when suddenly there was a power failure and everything came to a dark silent halt in the store.

The power back up was on within a minute or so. And immediately everybody got back into action.  

After trying my clothes, I headed for the cash counter. 
When I had finished paying, the manger came towards me and said, “May I have a word with you please”.

“Sure” I said chirpily.  “ I may be the highest buyer and I might be in consideration for a special gift voucher” I thought.

 “M’am, after the power failure we suddenly realised we were short on clothes and hence we cannot let any customer go out of the store before a thorough search”.

“Sure” I said understandingly. “You can check all my bags and belongings”.

“Sorry M’am, Its not just your bags, but you’ll have to come with us to the trial room for a personal check".

“Oh!” I gulped. “THAT kind of checking you want to do!” I raised my eyebrows and made a stupid kind of face.  

“Yes m’am. We apologise but there is no other way to check for the stolen items.”   

 I didn’t appreciate it but then, “if in doubt, they gotta search it out”,  I reasoned with my self.  
“Ok, I understand”, I said and went into the small trial room along with one of the store girls.

“Can you remove your jacket please” said the store girl.

I removed my 15 year old sleeveless jacket.  She checked the label.

“Hey, It a Marks & Spencers jacket, but obviously not from the current lot” she said.

(Thank God she realised that!)

“M’am, will you remove your T-shirt please”

She checked the label....”Hah, this is an old M&S as well”.

I gave a semi-smile.

“Will you please remove your skirt m’am”.  
“Oh my gosh....this too is M&S ” she cried on checking the label.

I told her to check the label of the 20 year old in-skirt-slip I was wearing. 
I turned around, almost knocking her down, but she continued to stand as there was no place to fall.

“Goodness gracious , It’s M&S again ! ” she cried in disbelief.  

She moved an inch closer to me in the small trial room, raised her right eyebrow, looked me in the eye and asked “your under garments... are they M&S too?”

“Absolutely” I said

“Are they 30 years old?” she asked as she unlocked the door and went out of the trial room laughing.  

 I decided it was time to dress and head for the door.

 I stepped out of the trial room and saw the entire staff gathered outside my trail room.

I didn’t know what to make of it.

 “Now what?” I asked irritatedly.

The manager came up to me and said  
“M&S wishes to thank you and seeks the blessings of you and your family for being such true blue fans of our product. And as a token of appreciation, your purchase of the day is .....Absolutely  Free.”

I began to feel a little better now. “Well, I hope these new clothes last me for the next 30 years .... 3 generations at least,” I said.

I stepped out of the store after a standing ovation, with heaps of M&S  bags hanging on my arms, shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers. 
Oooo, what a reward after all those years of hand-me-downs. 

Suddenly, my cell phone rang. 
Oh no, what a time for it to ring.   
It kept ringing as I struggled to the car park with the bags. 
With some good finger work and thru feel and touch, I almost managed to get my phone out of my hand bag but it slipped and fell......

Suddenly I got up. 

The cell phone placed under my pillow, had fallen off the bed. 
It was 7.30am.
The phone alarm rang and vibrated again in anger for the 8th time.

Oh no. I have over slept. 

I have missed this season’s sale. 

And as usual we were going to be late for school.

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