Boxing Day/Week
The Sales are on and it’s time to elbow, shove, and kick your way to the best deal.
Boxing Week is a time for the shopping strong to prove they have what it takes, and the claustrophobic people who hate crowds to stay at home. The malls are packed, the deals are great and if you went out on Boxing Day like I did, you’d think you just entered a mosh pit.
I found out the hard way this year that I should avoid going shopping with my girlfriend the day after Christmas.
I wanted to get up at 7am to be the first to get the deals and avoid most of the crowds. She let me know the day before that she was “not” getting up that early for shopping. So after awaking at 10am I rushed her out the door and to Chinook.
We got lucky and found a parking spot when a car pulled out of a stall. It took us just seven minutes to park which is good considering the amount of people in the mall. Almost right after we stepped through the doors my girlfriend (her name is Melissa) put on a sour looking face and clung to my arm, not letting go even if she was knocking into people.
She had a gift certificate for a clothing store and she immediately started to express her dislike of the crowds once we got inside. She even threw down some jeans saying she’d pay 20 bucks more and come back in January because she couldn’t deal with it.
Of course I’m not a jerk and wouldn’t make her stay when she looked like she could snap at any second and hurt someone…or me, so we came to a compromise. As long as we got just one thing I wanted then we could grab lunch and leave. Things didn’t get any better when we entered a department store looking for a new TV.
Thankfully we grabbed an awesome salesman after looking for 20 minutes for an employee. He pulled us over to wear the fridges were and did the whole transaction without any crowds or yelling or shoving. Melissa was able to relax but refused to go into mall again for food so we had to grab some drive thru and basically head home.
I’m a Boxing Day shopoholic and have had experience in the busiest mall in Canada battling other shoppers to get the deals. It helps to have experience in many mosh pits at rock concerts I’ve attended. But when the art “moshopping” (yes I made up a word) can’t be used…I feel disappointed.
Next year Melissa and I have decided to go our separate ways on December 26th. She will remain in bed while I kick shins and bite arms to pick up a digital camera or Nintendo Wii game.