shopping--US style

At a baby shower for a colleague, chat turned to shopping. Another teacher (from India, long-time Russian resident) was commenting on her experience at a shopping mall in the US.

It wasn't the number of shops that made the biggest impression on her. It was the shoppers. She was amazed, she told us, by their sense of peace. Everyone was calm and unstressed. Children were running just ahead of their parents. Moms were chatting. No one was pinched and worried and weighing decisions as if they couldn't be undone.

She soon learned why. Some one at her seminar bought a pair of shoes at Wal-m*rt. After wearing them for a few hours, her feet hurt and so she took them off. (Really, what did she expect?) That night, after the seminar, they went to Wal-m*art and (gasp!) returned the shoes. My friend was shocked! She was amazed that they would take back the shoes not only without any hassle, but with an apology for the shoes not working out!

It was fun to see her marvel at the little things we US ex-pats have been missing. Can you imagine if she'd gotten to go to Target instead? I don't think she would be able to contain herself. My friend Lara says (and maybe this will get her to e-mail me...) that the sun always shines at Target. All that sunshine might have been too much.