For once I'm having a not shitty day, so instead of my usual moping miserable ass I thought I'd share something positive.
You can go into an expensive mall, and actually have fun without spending money!
I went to pick up a suit today and had some time to kill, at one of those fancy malls that's way above my pay grade.
Now, I personally love watches. They're the only jewelry it's socially acceptable for guys to wear, and as an engineer the precision gears and levers are mesmerizing to me. Yeah yeah, not frugal, I'm an awful person, blablabla, message me if you have hate. I don't like big gaudy gold watches or anything, but I love a nice understated watch, especially a handcrafted one with history.
If you like watches, and go into an expensive watch boutique and they're having a dead day, you will have a great time. I walked into an Omega boutique and I spent about 45 minutes talking to an associate about all their watches, old and new.
Now I was super upfront that I wasn't buying anything anytime in the near future, but they don't care. Their goal is to get you acquainted with the brand so you buy one 20 years later. They made me an espresso and we talked shop about watches, different styles and trends over time, the brands history, etc. I got to try on a few beautiful watches and drool over even more. You'd think a place like that would be snobby, but honestly they spend so much time dealing with random rich guy buying a gift for their (whoever) that just wants something shiny that they actually enjoy talking with enthusiasts (as long as you aren't keeping them from a potential paying customer). The associate actually nerded out a bit over my $100 modded Seiko and wanted to take a look. They sent me home with a nice hardcover matte printed catalog that makes a nice coffee table reader too, beautiful photography and design. Yeah it's advertising, but it's really pretty advertising.
This doesn't just apply to watches either. On a slow day you can walk into Saint Laurent, try on a bitchin pair of boots or a $12000 leather jacket (yeah, that's more than every car I've ever owned combined), and talk fashion with the associates (after all, they're usually very into fashion too, and most of what they own is way cheaper than what they're selling, they understand).
Also, if you're looking at shit that far beyond you, there's 0 risk of "accidentally" buying something. A store full of cheap seikos or vintage watches would be dangerous to me, but I'm not gonna accidentally buy a Rolex.
Even high end car dealerships can be the same. Believe it or not, the sales people at Porsche are a whole lot nicer than at your local Kia. If it's a dead day you can go and ogle the new GT4, or maybe even get a short test drive in a demo car. They're usually more than happy to help you if there's nothing else to do because a: a completely dead showroom is bad for business and b: they know that there's a chance that 25 year old will keep that fond memory and come back when they're a senior manager 20 years later. Luxury brands are built on these sort of things, so they're more often ok with playing the long game.
Just be honest, don't be a dick, and don't be a dick. And have some fun.
October 05, 2018 at 09:41PM
