Goods Once Sold Are Not Returnable

I hate shopping, which is odd because I am a girl. I am supposed to have this insatiable urge to spend money on clothes, shoes, hair etc. depending on mood, occasion and simply and inarguably because-I-can. Either way, shopping is inevitable whether one is male or female because everything we need and/or want comes at a price. We have to hop from one shop to the next looking for best bargains on the product or service that we need. In some places you’ll find the case of the label being more important than the labelled, or you can find the best bargain in a place you least expect. You could also browse all the shops in town looking for that ever elusive item which is always out-of-stock and you have to be on constant look out for it. Such items we purchase irrespective of the state of our pockets. We’d rather be broke when we come across them

This got me thinking about life; the search for beautiful relationships and wonderful partners. This is one area of our lives in which shopping is a perfect analogy. In fact, when it comes to the search for the “One” we are all in a supermarket. Take a moment to think about a supermarket. It has floors and isles that are product specific; there is something for everyone. There is the ever smiling support staff who tell you where to find what and the marketing girls who are out to convince you why their products are the best for you (as if you don’t know why you use what you use). Finally there is the cashier whose job is to take your money and the packing guy who hands you your luggage, he even pushes it for you all the way to your car.

You all walk into the supermarket when you hit the ripe old age of sixteen when hormones are raging and you begin to have hazy ideas of what you want in life. You walk along the isles looking for the most exciting partner; you pick one or more depending on personal tastes, dash to the cashier pay for it (lunch and movie dates the folks never get to know about) then run home to savour the wonderful acquisition. Read clumsy sex in the most awkward of places. After a couple of days you get bored and go back to check if there is anything better. At this point it is all about validation from your peers, curiosity and like I mentioned earlier hormones. This trend doesn’t hold for long though; life happens, you grow up and you realize you cannot keep going back to shop. It is no longer exciting, it is exhausting and you simply do not have the time. This is especially so for women because we all feel that we have a shelf life. The urgency to settle and breed before you expire kicks in.

You now enter age where your friends are the support staff who tell you their idea of where to find men and women. Your mother friends become the sales girls who won’t stop feeding you praise about their sons and/or daughters. The potential partners jump off the shelves literally; they all want to be yours and the cashiers are almost making their way to the isle on which you are standing. It is completely up to you to keep a level head and focus to get the best amidst the entire hullabaloo. It is only then you realize you have a vast freedom of choice, and until you have paid and the packing guy had escorted you to your car, then you can take your sweet time in the supermarket. You even have the choice to return what you have to its shelf if you find the customer in front of you with a better brand than the one you picked.

Just like clothes shopping, impulse buying leads to items you may never wear and end up discarding at your cost; goods once sold are not returnable. If we make the wrong choice, it can be the source of all our woes in the foreseeable future. We should exercise control and patience, only then will we find those gems. If one supermarket doesn’t have what you are looking for, do not settle for less, go to another one. Remember though that there are always E&OE (errors and omissions expected). You will not find somebody perfect, but we can find excellent ones whose flaws complement our strengths. Therefore, keep an open mind and remember that you can also find gems in the least likely places. You will always find what you are looking for. All it takes is a little patience. For now though, there are so many items that make for brilliant window shopping, enjoy whilst you still can!

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I thank my friend Michael who is the original owner of this idea.