You might think the paragraph above is about a wild animal jumping on its prey. Understandably, because the scene that took place twelve years ago before me and the Animal Planet does not seem to be a special feature on the outside, it probably resembles it. During the time I lived in the United States, I worked as a couple after high school. My host mom thought that if I wanted to enjoy the Americans, I should go shopping with her during Black Friday. I had never heard of it, but why not. How bad is shopping?
American American
Too bad. I see the woman frowning. She now sits like a kind of horse in a box containing a recently seized trampoline. With success, she pulled the phone out of her jacket pocket: ‘Dear, I’m got it!’ Even for a minute, her husband shows obedience. I think he’s the American I’ve ever seen; The white New Balance sneakers were tied very tight and the light jeans were pulled up just below his armpits. He tucked his polo loosely between his waistband and a pair of bright sunglasses hung around his neck – one of those regular bicycle frames. A blue Florida Gators hat adorns his head. When he sees his wife, a big smile appears on his face: ‘Well, dear!’ Sweat drops of excitement flowed down his temples to the red neck.
I enjoyed watching my host mom frantically tap my shoulder – shocked. அட அடடா. That’s right. I came here for the same trampoline! Misfortune. It is not good for me to argue with this woman and her ultra-American ‘husband’. Looks like they’re willing to kill to catch it, it’s not worth the $ 100 discount to me. Fortunately, my host mom also sees this as a lost cause. But give up the trampoline? No way! We quickly set the path to another branch and create a stop to remove all the ‘deals’ already purchased on the minivan, so there are many more places.
Discount
Arriving at the other branch, we first stand in line for half an hour, but once inside it turns out that trampolines are not popular. I take one neatly out of the pile, because that is the rule: one per person. My shop friend disagreed. I was sent to the second cart – so stand in line again for a while – so we could get double the benefits of the action. Why? Just want to know. I don’t know what happened in the second, but it has a good chance of rusting in a corner somewhere. About twelve hours after we started shopping, we returned home and I was evaluating the night. Long queues, excited shopkeepers, panicked staff and above all, so many things that no one cares about again. But it was fun.
Black silver is now well established in the Netherlands as well. I said at first that I had no intention of participating in such nonsense and in nine out of ten cases ‘discounts’ made no sense, but this week I will be gardening on it again. Last night I was scrolling through online web shops for up to two hours and it sparked me through pop-ups. 60% discount here, up to 80% off … I suppressed, but did not know how long I could. Because let’s say I need a new pair of pants in two months … then it would be a shame that I didn’t buy them at a discount, wouldn’t it? Whether I like it or not, I am slowly but surely drawn into madness. So if you’ve seen someone next year – blonde, meters or 1.65 – sticking to bargaining, at least you know where I got that trick from.
