Shopping

This picture was taken when grocery shopping with Inka a couple of months ago. But what's on my mind today is another kind of shopping: for clothes and gifts. Yesterday, Anneka and I bundled up and headed out into the shopping world of Ulan Ude. Leif asked for a fleece for Christmas (I won't tell you the end result of our search because it needs to be a surprise if he reads the blog). We (Anneka and I) seriously looked in at least 20 different places... all spread out in the city. We went to sports stores, uniform stores, outdoor stores, modern clothing stores, etc, etc... and do you know how hard it is to find this simple item?!?! At a few places they had one or two. But shopping here is quite different than in the States. You may find something perfect, but it is often available in only one size... and it usually is not your size. Also, since most clothing items are imported from far away, they are very expensive. We're talking $120 for a fleece that's the wrong size and isn't all that great-looking. Craziness. Another difference from the States is that few places have customer service. Often the workers will ignore you or you have to track them down if you have a question. And if you ask if there's another size, they don't say, "Oh, I'm sorry, we sure don't" or "We don't but I can order it for you", or "Try the store down the steet". They simply say "No". That's it. No explanation or anything. Sometimes it's really nice while shopping to not be bombarded with pushy sales people. And sometimes it's not. A few months ago I went shopping for jeans because all of my pants were hanging on me. I found a place that had quite a few pairs that looked really cute. I asked to try them on and the lady said, "No." "Why?", I asked, "I think these are really cute and I'd like to try them on. "They're too young for you", she told me. "You need to buy jeans like these" and she pointed to another rack of plain-looking jeans. The funny part is that the prices on the rack she pointed to were less-expensive, so she would've made less of a profit. I tried on the old-lady jeans that she suggested and said, "I don't know, can I try on another pair?" pointing to the rack with the cute jeans. "No", she said again, "these look good on you". And she said it like she was really mad at me. And you know the funniest part? I bought them. I'd been shopping for a long time, Anneka was tired, I needed pants that didn't fall to my knees, and I bought them. And I actually really like them now. Maybe the lady knew more than I thought! I've never thought of myself as an old looking lady before. Since when can I not wear modern-looking clothes?

Whenever I come across someone who exemplifies good customer service, I feel this strong urge to "reward" them and buy something. I walked by a lady yesterday who asked me if I'd like to buy a Christmas card, and I said "Yes!", even though I hadn't planned on buying one. (But now I have a card to give my teacher tomorrow). So funny.

On a pleasant note, coming home from the grocery store on Tuesday, our dowstairs neighbors helped me carry my bags up two flights of stairs... and I didn't even have Anneka with me! And people here are SO helpful and nice when I'm traveling around with Anneka- opening doors, making sure she's covered well, carrying my bags, etc. It all kind of makes up for the shopping woes, you know?