A Little Query

Why do clothes shops have such a minimal selection of men's clothing? I've often wondered this, while the women's section is vast. Men's clothing in general is so boring, just grey or blue, striped or checked. Then for some reason, they hide the men's section in a corner, right at the back of the store or up several flights of stairs. In Marks and Spencer's stores the men's section is almost an afterthought. It just seems they think that men, in general, aren't bothered about what they wear. Do men shop for clothes differently to women? Presumably they do, which must explain why there are floors and floors of clothes in Marks and Spencers. A fairly large section in Sainsbury's, with the men's section right at the back of the clothing area. I know when I am shopping for clothes I tend to buy stuff at the same time, shirts, socks underwear and trousers, and then only a couple of times a year.  But as I've said earlier, there isn't a vast selection to choose from. Do shops think that if you (as a man) would prefer to have less choice, hence making choosing easier and no doubt quicker? It's an interesting thought. What is the psychology of shopping as regards the difference between men and women? Do women like to take their time and browse, while men like to more or less take what's on offer without taking their time, preferring not to browse? Having been with Carol when she is shopping for clothes, we spend quite a long time looking at different things and then she chooses from one or two items before buying. Presumably if there's too much choice of men's clothing, making the right decision on what to buy becomes far more difficult and the chances of actually buying anything at all is going to be far less than if there is less choice. No doubt women like to take their time and make an effort to buy something they like, so don't mind having too much choice. And then, if there is a lot of choice, they are far more likely to return to a particular store and buy more clothes. I expect that's why they are constantly changing the range of clothing in clothing stores such as Marks and Spencer. When you walk through the door you are overwhelmed by the amount of choice. 

A Merry Christmas!

Well, it's only a few days until Christmas. We've done virtually all our Christmas shopping, although we're off to Sainsbury's early tomorrow morning in order to buy the last few items to cover the festive period. Why do people have to go so crazy when it's Christmas? You'd think there was a war on and there was a shortage of the most basic things, such as milk, bread, cake, eggs, wrapping paper, tinsel and so on. I was in Sainsbury's last week and it appeared as if they'd sold out of sugar so had to buy the smaller packs. It might be a good idea to keep away from supermarkets for the next few days. I've seen people pushing shopping trolleys over-laden with all sorts of things. It's mayhem, and considering that most supermarkets will be open again on Saturday (Boxing Day) really makes no sense. Also, another factor that always gets me, and I've mentioned this within a post I've written somewhere on this blog, there will be sales days after Christmas day, and what you can buy for goodness knows how much will then be reduced considerably. So (I know Ebenezer Scrooge would have loved this.) you can buy the same items for up to a half or more, less than the pre-Christmas day price. 

I will probably not write anything more on here until the New Year, although I have a tendency to write something when I find something quirky going on around me, which is one reason why I enjoy this sort of writing. So, with that in mind, to all my loyal readers, I will wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy and prosperous New Year and see you in 2016!

Last Day of School Holiday

Monday was Carol's final day of the summer holidays. She has two day's teacher training. Not her favourite two days as a lot of it is incredibly boring. I know how boring this can be as when I did care work you had to do the mandatory training, lifting and handling, food handling, infection control, child protection etc etc. Basically ticking boxes and making sure you're up to date with the latest legislation. We went over to the Academy at around 9 o'clock to prepare so stuff, sticking labels on boxes and sorting thing out. Only a couple of other teachers in her department turned up so it shows who id dedicated to their job. We then went to Asda to get some food for lunch and our evening meal. We had done a large order on-line from Sainsbury's on Saturday and that should arrive today (Tuesday). It tuned out our Asda visit might not have been such a good idea as it was very crowded and most of those in there were children with parents. In the clothes section many parents were buying school uniforms for their offspring and it looked like bees round a honey-pot. I think they will have bought out the entire stock. We had a look at the clothing section but Carol couldn't see anything she liked. By the time we'd done the rest of our shopping and got to the checkout there were very fraught parents with screaming children. On child in particular was screaming fit to bust, clamped into seat in shopping trolley while it's father was packing groceries as it came off the checkout conveyor belt. Why let a child get away with such ear-piercing noise? It was awful.

I have to say I think I know why the children were being so noisy and over-bearing. They had very loud music on in Asda. Also, whenever they use the Tannoy, to communicate with other members of staff or to give customer information, it is far too loud. It's a very large space, the building is huge. If I have a problem with shopping there it is that it so large you seem to spend a lot of your time walking up and down and it can be very exhausting. So, with loud music, someone shouting over a Tannoy system, you can see why those children would get upset, which then leads to stressed parents and other adult shoppers. It really is about time someone in Asda realised the music and Tannoy announcements need to be quieter. Sometimes they have Tannoy messages which are so distorted and loud you cannot really hear what is being said, so it defeats the object of having a Tannoy system.