‘On Why Men Hate Shopping’
I remember during my early teenage years when my inquisitive nature (which I assume is common among all 14yr olds), led me to disassemble all electronics I could get my hands on and then attempt to put them back together in classic fashion.
In the process, I broke our antenna (yes I took everything apart even the antenna), so we had to acquire a new one and it just so happened that I went with my mother to make the acquisition. To say it was the longest day of my life would be an understatement.
I prepared myself very early this fine Saturday morning and my sister decided to join us. The amount of time she took oscillating between the mirror and her room was grueling. I empathize with all married men. The indecision displayed takes heart to absorb; only love makes a man endure this kind of frustration.
As we left the house, I assumed it was simply a matter of popping into an electric store, acquire an antenna then quickly return home. Shock on me. If only!
While in transit, my sister then came up with this “ingenious” idea that since we were out shopping anyway, we may as well make the most of it and go and buy clothes first, then finish up with the antenna on our way home. I sheepishly consented. After all, what could go wrong?
Well my friends, I was in for a shock. For a start, I could not understand why a human being would want to spend an awful amount of time trying on different items of clothing and then (to add insult to injury), soliciting my opinion. In all honesty I was not there at all – all my responses were simply mechanical; for I was too engrossed trying to survive the amount of torture I was being subjected to. This should have been a simple process; you know what you want, you select it, pay for it and leave. Right?
Well, turns out sometimes women do not know what they want especially when presented with a lot of options. It is amazing how different we can be. This I find very frustrating.
As far as I am concerned (and I believe many men will support me in this), shopping should not take more than 20 minutes. Very swiftly walk into a store or supermarket, walk straight to the relevant section, pick the item you want, pass by the cashier and go home. After all, who has time to try out multiple items, compare different products that serve the same purpose, call their friends and perhaps share a photo of the item over the phone, enter into (seemingly) meaningless conversations in store and so forth and so forth. We men are not wired to do that.
Sometimes I wonder how I would fair in my marriage when my future wife asks me to take her out shopping. The sacrifices we make and the things we endure in the name of love is outrageous.
So, until we speak again, I am your host Mitchell Odhiambo. Welcome to a man’s world. For a female perspective on this, please click link to read my colleague Lillian’s views – http://goo.gl/3Ix9VO
