A Tourist of Value Village
I'm a regular tourist in the Value Village.
Out of the racks upon racks of shirts, there is occassionally one good one, but it's usually in bad taste. For example, I have a bowling style darts shirt, which I like, but it's got a bloody demonic hand clutching a dartboard. It's for the Italian Club Darts of Terror.
But, I shop there, sometimes without buying anything. I go there for the feeling of power I get. Now, obviously, some people have to shop there. The elderly, or the financially disabled.
One old lady ahead of me tried to give a post-dated check for under 30 dollars of merchandise.
She lacks financial power. Of course, imagine the British Royalty. They can't be seen wearing clothing that is rather normal. They're just as constrained from relative middle class normality by their wealth. They have to maintain their wealth, they can't look poor; it's unbefitting.
The rich and the poor can't afford to buy normal clothes - for the former, in the name of social taste - "It's so ghetto" - and the poor, because they simply can't afford to economically.
But, I'm well off enough to afford the rich clothes. I can buy them. But then I would just be normal, another undistinguished middle class kid who shops at American Eagle. And the purpose of buying clothing is to get attention to yourself - keeping warm is minimal. Why do you think people work out? Why do you think people buy $100 or $1 jeans?
I guess shopping at Value Village, for me, is about power. I shop at Value Village, but I can choose not to. Shopping becomes an experience. I am not a resident of Value Village, forced to pay the requirements of poverty, but am merely a tourist. I am above it, yet I enter it. No one ever feels quite so rich as when they're walking among the slums. Imagine a man with a top hat, monacle and tuxedo walking around Compton. That's power, and that's me, in Value Village.
Out of the racks upon racks of shirts, there is occassionally one good one, but it's usually in bad taste. For example, I have a bowling style darts shirt, which I like, but it's got a bloody demonic hand clutching a dartboard. It's for the Italian Club Darts of Terror.
But, I shop there, sometimes without buying anything. I go there for the feeling of power I get. Now, obviously, some people have to shop there. The elderly, or the financially disabled.
One old lady ahead of me tried to give a post-dated check for under 30 dollars of merchandise.
She lacks financial power. Of course, imagine the British Royalty. They can't be seen wearing clothing that is rather normal. They're just as constrained from relative middle class normality by their wealth. They have to maintain their wealth, they can't look poor; it's unbefitting.
The rich and the poor can't afford to buy normal clothes - for the former, in the name of social taste - "It's so ghetto" - and the poor, because they simply can't afford to economically.
But, I'm well off enough to afford the rich clothes. I can buy them. But then I would just be normal, another undistinguished middle class kid who shops at American Eagle. And the purpose of buying clothing is to get attention to yourself - keeping warm is minimal. Why do you think people work out? Why do you think people buy $100 or $1 jeans?
I guess shopping at Value Village, for me, is about power. I shop at Value Village, but I can choose not to. Shopping becomes an experience. I am not a resident of Value Village, forced to pay the requirements of poverty, but am merely a tourist. I am above it, yet I enter it. No one ever feels quite so rich as when they're walking among the slums. Imagine a man with a top hat, monacle and tuxedo walking around Compton. That's power, and that's me, in Value Village.
posted by Marshall McMahon at 11:59 AM
1 Comments:
You're a jerk!
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