The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


Are The Chinese The Most Demanding Customers On Earth?
November 19, 2010, 6:39 am
Filed under: Comment

So I was walking through a shopping centre in Shanghai when I came across this …

No, it’s not a man dead in a reclining massage chair [at least I hope it isn’t] but it is a man asleep in a reclining massage chair.

Now on first impressions, you might think he’s a cheeky bastard grabbing a couple of minutes shut eye … but I personally think he is an astute shopper.

Those chairs cost a fucking fortune and so surely the one thing you want to do before you part with your hard earned cash, is make sure it does what you want it to do.

Like I wrote about back before the internet was invented, I can’t work out why so many shops are against people trying out products in store because let’s face it, the chances of them then making a purchase goes up radically once they’ve experienced it.

OK … OK … so this attitude might be better for some products than others, but even if Mr Snoozehead doesn’t end up buying the chair, he’s going to talk pretty positively about it … afterall, it managed to let him get some shut eye in the middle of a shopping centre in one of the busiest cities in the World and if that’s not a shining endorsement of it’s relaxation qualities, I don’t know what is.


40 Comments so far
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another short post? another fucking short post with a fucking point? another fucking short post with a fucking point that i am nodding about?

stop it campbell. stop it right fucking now because if this carries on my life will be shittier than kate middleton at her inlaws christmas party in about 3 fucking years.

Comment by andy@cynic

It won’t last. It never does.

Comment by Billy Whizz

thats what your girlfriend says.

Comment by andy@cynic

Never miss a chance do you?

Comment by Billy Whizz

it would be a sign of fucking laziness if i did.

Comment by andy@cynic

for a man wearing different shades of brown hes got very fucking upbeat shoes. dorothy from wizard of oz stylee.

can only see one so maybe the fucker is a peg leg or could only afford one which means the sales guy at the store should go up and kick the fucker out the chair immediately.

Comment by andy@cynic

Take away the chair and the red shoe and the colorful thing at the front of the photo and it would live up to my idea of commie china interior design.

Comment by Billy Whizz

Is he cracking a woody?

Comment by DH

why the fuck are you looking at his cock so closely dave?

Comment by andy@cynic

you made me fucking look. you fucking bastard. his trousers are too fucking tight. or he possess the smallest cock since ronnie fucking corbett. dont know if he has a small cock so dont send that in to popbitch.

Comment by andy@cynic

Short post that doesn’t explain your basic assertion. Don’t get me wrong, the less you write the less we have to read, but why do you think he’s astute rather than a chancer? And what was the attitude of the shop staff to him?

Comment by John

look at fucking dodds taking this post seriously. fool.

Comment by andy@cynic

When I lived in Asia I used to see this sort of thing all the time. I’m guessing he’s a chancer but they get away with it because the retail staff don’t care.

Chancer or not, the “try leads to buy” message of the post is vaild, especially with more and more stores treating requests for a demonstration as awkward customers.

Comment by Pete

look at fucking pete taking this post seriously. fool.

Comment by andy@cynic

i would have loved to sneak up and tickle his feet.

Comment by lauren

id of nicked the shoe.

Comment by andy@cynic

but we all know birkenstock campbell fucking wouldnt. hed go for the wallet. hes from nottingham.

Comment by andy@cynic

not only would he nick the wallet, he tell the poor snoozer when he woke up that he saw the thief run > that way.
sneaky bastard.

[love you rob!]

Comment by lauren

hed probably take a dump in his shoe just to fucking put the steamed icing on the cake. dirty thieving nottingham pervert bastard.

Comment by andy@cynic

That is some serious reclining! I like the guy… he’s cranked that baby up all the way and kicked off his shoes (literally). He doesn’t give a fuck.

Comment by Age

Firstly, given I took the photo, I can say I didn’t steal his shoe or his wallet or take a dump on – or in – his property so hopefully that clears that little rumour up.

Secondly, I did not realise how much brown and grey was in that photo and now, as I look at it again, I realise it is a bit 80’s Commie cliche which begs the question, why the hell was I shopping there in the first place.

Finally – and to John’s comment – he was probably a chancer because as Pete points out, there’s a lot of them in Asia, encouraged by the lack of salesperson intervention … however while the post was written with tongue firmly in cheek, I do think stores should relax their “DO NOT TOUCH” policies because as I said in the post, even if Mr Snoozehead doesn’t buy the chair, he’s going to talk pretty positively about it to a bunch of others and then who knows what might happen.

OK … OK … so you could also argue that ‘nothing’ might happen, but that hasn’t stopped companies investing hundreds of millions in social media channels and they don’t even give people the chance to experience the product/brand they’re trying to flog.

Oh, and I don’t know if I am touched or scared that you were so serious in your comment. Not because it wasn’t valid, but because you were giving something I wrote some serious consideration. Please don’t make that mistake again.

Comment by Rob

who the fuck gives a fuck.

and campbell, youre comment is longer than your fucking post. you cant fucking help yourself can you. twat.

Comment by andy@cynic

ha! laughing out loud here. for real.
good night.

Comment by lauren

To your second point, it probably reminded you of the old Nottingham furniture store you so fondly remember.

Comment by John

old nottingham store? modern nottingham store more fucking like.

Comment by andy@cynic

Run by Mr Blenkinsop who reminded you of an effete giraffe or some such rose-tinted nonsense.

Comment by John

Taking photos of sleeping men with erections.
Glad you’ve moved on from Hookers

Comment by northern

It’s a sign of maturity.

Comment by Rob

I have such lovely friends.

Friends? Who the hell am I kidding …

Comment by Rob

I’m surprised, no amazed. Can’t you people see who that is asleep there? The maroon sweater, the shit-brown pants. You can even tell the foot size by looking at those shoes. Fucking bunch of morons.
Ciaran

Comment by Ciaran McCabe

I’m a moron. Who is it??? WHO IS IT????

Comment by Rob

Eastern Europe style, he must have been thinking “fooled the bastards, I won’t be able to afford this in a million years and my wife will kill me if this makes its way to the living room. but bet that if I come back they’ll let me sleep in it again” 😀

Comment by andreea

Almost like reading a PSFK piece About rockstar consumerempowered tryvertising…

Comment by Niko

Bastard.

Comment by Rob

Absolutely. Most shops are worrying about how to compete with the internet on price, instead of realising that you can’t and you need to create something more engaging and entertaining to give customers an experience worth paying a little more for.

Comment by Rob Mortimer

I think with the internet I’ve lost the ability to shop in a normal shop…the lights are shit and places like Selfridges’s have lights that bring out your under-eye bags so you buy more crap.

Either way, changing rooms are the world’s worst invention unless you’re shopping with friends (and that rarely happens). Then I can joke about how fat I am and don’t fit into the jeans I grabbed after I underestimated my weight. In Romania they’ll probably say it’s true, I am a bit too big to fit in that size 10 anyway whereas here they’re like “oh, we’re sure we have something for you”. Yeah, that makes my bum look as big as the moon probably.

What annozs me is that I have to pay the same price online and on top of that my delivery too – when there is no staff/rent to fund. It made sense if online was either cheaper by 50p to £2 maybe if not more; then I’ll be really truly happy with just shopping at home and not feeling bad for returning items.

Comment by andreea

bloody foreign azerty keyboard

Comment by andreea

fuck this post, the one you wont let anyone comment on is a drama of shakespearean scale. and just as fucking tragic. it might make adland interesting for a few minutes but its peoples fucking lives were talking about here. you did me fucking proud with how you handled it campbell. fair. firm. genuine.

Comment by andy@cynic

Agreed.

Comment by Rob Mortimer

I hope so, I don’t want to appear as judge, jury & executioner.

Comment by Rob




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