It's been a recent phenomenon. I often get out of the office, and find myself without smaller notes to pay for bus/taxi fare. I browse through the convenience stores, buy something around 30-40 Tk. (so that I'll have the Tk.50-60 needed to get home) and catch the ride.Yesterday was the no-shopping day, typically the day after the US-observed thanksgiving day. This day is promoted to curb the consumer rush for the holiday shopping.
Staying at home, I decide to do an inventory of my recent purchases, stacked in one corner of my room. There are seven bars of soap, three unopened mouthwash (Tk.150 each, therefore, provided the required change), Toothpaste to last me at least seven months, scrubbers/sponges, shoe shines, deo sticks and random decoration pieces too cheap to give to anyone, etc.
What's worrying is that since they are change generators, i immediately forget that I have them, and next time I'm at the shop, I'm buying another one.
My cousins and I've made a pact that we'll stop buying gifts for our generation, and will only buy things for the next generation. That has cut down on the influx of knickknacks. But not enough.
Economics theorists have predicted that once the consumer stops buying, the economy will fall, and the world will collapse.
But I often wonder if we could just go back to simpler times when a dip once a week into the dinosaur inhabited pond would have done the trick, and we could clamp our noses, or better stick them into the books and do something productive. Like take a nap.
We need to get unhinged. Fast. Before the next consumer products hit the market. I hear Zune's will be on sale in Jan.
