Someone commented that shopping nowadays is like car racing. You rush for it during the starting of the shopping season to make sure you get what you want before someone else takes it away. In some cases someone may get hurt in the commotion. I see this only in comic books but just actually last year in the US many people were injured in the mad rush when a store was opened during the Annual Sales.
Last weekend, a major electrical appliance store at Vivo City collaborated with a bank to offer special discount to the bank card members. The store was opened for 2 nights only for the bank card members starting at 7pm each night. I was near the store entrance on the first night before 7pm and saw a crowd of about 50 people standing around waiting for the door to open. There was a man, probably the Store Manager, standing at the entrance pleading with the crowd. He was shouting at the crowd, not to push or rush and asked everyone to keep calm. He was all the while waving his arms with gestures to prevent the crowd from trying to enter the store, before opening time. The whole episode was even recorded by other staff members in photos and videos, of the so called grand commotion outside the store.
The amusing thing was the only person who was not calm or cool was the Manager. The people in the crowd were actually lingering outside waiting for the door to open. There was no one pushing or fighting to be in front. When the door opened everyone strolled into the store. No rush and no one was hurt.
My wife and I went in 10 mins later and bought a Netbook and we got a 5% discount with the bank card. Surprisingly we were one of the earliest to pay at the cashier that night. How do I know? There was no one in front of us and when we paid, the cashier tore the first few pages of the lucky draw coupon for us. No one rushed to buy!
The next day we read in the papers and found another store offering about 20% discount for the same Netbook. Well you cannot win all the time.
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