Monday, May 31, 2010

Trapped

NB: I am contemplating beginning every post of mine with an apology for my absence, from here on. It seems to be the sure shot way of getting lots of new readers and followers (apart from drawing comic strips, of course, which I am a total #fail at anyway). Not that I would know even if I did get lots of readers, because you crowd never comment. Yes, I'm talking to you, the person who visits regularly, according to Statcounter. Hmph I say.

Moving on.

It is by now a fairly well-documented fact that I despise shopping. When I die and go to hell, it will look exactly like either
Ambience Mall or Select City Walk. Seriously.

My idea of shopping is going to a shop, finding exactly what I needed, paying for it, and exiting. And
as cribbed about before, what I need is never what is available in the shops.

Which reminds me, what is up with Fab India and their sizes? Three kurtas, supposedly of the same size, one of which fits me just fine, one is too tight, and the third flaps around me like it's a maternity dress. Someone I know who is
double my size had to buy a Small size recently. Even she was startled. Seriously.

Right. So, shopping. Hate it. Always have, always will.
Unfortunately, if there is something I am a sucker for, it is freebies. And there, my friends, is where the folks at Select City Walk have trapped me rather neatly.

You see, they've come up with this loyalty rewards program kind of thing. You go to the mall, pay for anything (and I mean
anything - books, clothes, movie tickets, even a bottle of water at Barista), you get points. Which add up to free vouchers. Which I can't resist.

So the other weekend, the family went there, supposedly to sit in Barista while the brother met someone somewhere in Saket. The mother being the mother, which is to the complete opposite of me, decided to go window shopping. Next thing I know, the father was summoned because she had found
just the kind of curtains we'd been looking for. Then I'm called there too because this was Shoppers Stop and I have their cobranded card (well, yes, I may hate shopping, but I sign up for every single rewards points scheme there is - it all adds up to freebies you see) and so we could get a discount because of that. And then they tell us that if we take the bill down we get free vouchers. Worth 10% of our billed amount. Which was a lot.

So the father and I went down. Where we learnt that even our Barista bill could be counted. So I got free vouchers. For quite a decent amount. Woohoo!

Only, then came the catch. These vouchers could only be used in Select City Walk. Oh well, we figured, we'll come sometime and pick up stuff. And then somehow, exactly a week later, I found myself in the same mall again. To watch the
most boring movie in the world, because the father got free tickets from his bank (freebies! woohoo!). So the mother decided we should club this with a shopping expedition and use up the vouchers.

Only, when we finished, we discovered that whatever we spent over and above the voucher amounts made us eligible for more points. As did the KFC meal we bought. And the movie tickets
we never paid for.

Do you see my problem here?

I'm stuck. I'm trapped in this vicious circle which is going to send me back to that mall every second week. Because I can't resist freebies.

Shoot me. Now.

No wait, then I'll get sent to hell.

Dammit.