Thursday, July 28, 2005

Back to School Shopping

So with school coming up soon for all the little kids running around town, it only means one thing for me : I will be busy at work selling new shoes to these kids. Today was crazy, I dealt with a lot of screaming, whining, indecisive kids who had to have the latest fashions in footwear. Now in order for one of these children to be able to have the coolest, hippest shoes on the market, mommy and daddy are gonna have to shell out around $70-$80. I don't know about you, but my parents never spent that much money on my shoes, despite my best efforts to convince them into purchasing them for me. However, I have noticed that the new generation of kids comiing up are becoming very crafty when it comes to getting what they want. And surprisingly, it has been working.

I can maybe think of one or two occasions throughout my entire childhood where I was able to convince my parents into buying something that they were originally opposed to. Yet it seems that todays child is remarkablly smart in coercing parents and playing on their emotions. Gone are the days of the temper tantrum. Here now are the days of logical reasoning by children who apparently are a little to smart for their own good.

I can think of one example today where a mother said to her son from the get-got that she refused to buy a certain pair of shoes for him because they were too expensive. Yet over the course of about 10 minutes he was able to talk her into letting him try them on, and before you know it she had bought those shoes for her smart little son. This kid new that once he was able to try the shoes on, they would look so good on him that his mother wouldn't be able to say. An he was absolutley right, his plan worked without a flaw. He put those shoes on, and her eyes lit up at the sight of her cute little boy with his adorable shoes. Remarkable.

I've noticed that such practices and techniques are especially efffective when used by females. Most fathers are suckers for the sad puppy dog face. This continues even into high school, so girls at at more of an advantage here. Guys can't really use the cute card so much once they hit puberty.

Another brilliant tactic I have noticed is that of wearing the parent down. Often times a child will pick out a shoe that they like, and the parent will say "Are you sure that is the one you want or do you want to look someplace else first? We can always come back." Now a smart kid uses this to his advantage. He/she picks out a shoe that he/she doesn't really like but that he knows his parents will buy. When they ask if he/she is sure about their choice, than he/she says no, and so the search continues. The child then drags the parents all over the mall (or all over town on many occasions) searching for that perfect shoe, until finally the parent is so tired that they don't care anymore, and they let them get what ever they want. Brilliant. However, this tactic is dangerous, as the parent may just end up picking out a shoe for them.

So are the parents getting weaker, or are the children getting smarter? Both, I think. Children have learned that yelling and screaming are rarely successful, and that appealling to the emotions of the parent is a much more beneficial option (See? Public school is good.) And parents are quickly learning that in order for their children to have nice shoes, they are going to throw down some serious cash. If only they really new how bad they were being ripped off.......

posted by Wes @ 10:51 PM

4 Comments:

At 7/29/2005 11:05:00 AM, Blogger Bryan Gotcher said...

What happened to L.A. Gear or British Knights. Those shoes were the bomb, kids today don't even know.

 
At 7/29/2005 12:06:00 PM, Blogger Wes said...

It's all about the Shox these days.

 
At 7/29/2005 11:40:00 PM, Blogger JTapp said...

People have more money to waste.

I've heard stories of kids who grew up in broken homes, or homes where mom or dad was unfaithful, and how the parents appeased their guilt by buying their kids stuff, or letting them do whatever they wanted.

If Pastor Bill's statistics are right, something around 50% of the people coming into your store are having affairs. That's why kids so easily can manipulate their parents. The parents already feel guilty, and don't want their kids to grow up resenting them. Thus, they buy them the nice pair of Shox.

 
At 7/30/2005 09:36:00 PM, Blogger Wes said...

Very true, Tapp.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home