Lose Weight by Browsing/Shopping @ Big Bazaar

Ok, here's the story. It is about my frustrating yet hilarious experience at Big Bazaar.

This weekend I went to Nirmal Lifestyle, to watch a movie with my flatmate. But as malls and shopper behavior go, my friend wanted to purchase some curtains from Big Bazaar. Prior to entering Big Bazaar, we entered E-Zone and I purchased a pair of headphones. By the time I completed my purchase, my friend had entered the hallowed Big Bazaar showroom and was browsing through the curtains display.

When I followed him into the store, the security guard told me to deposit my bag (headphones) at the baggage counter. I followed his instructions. Then I went to look for my friend, who by then had completed his purchase and moved out from the exit. So I went to the baggage counter to collect my bag. I was told "Sir, you need to exit first to collect your bag." I thought that they would hand me my bag outside the store (like many cinema halls do). When I exited, I asked for the bag and was told, that "Sir, come inside and take it." That's when I found that it was a trap for me to go round and round twice and I started shouting at the security person and the baggage counter person at the entry.

You see, as soon as I entered the store, they insisted that I go round through the exit again. Fair, but then why not allow me to take my bag when I first approached them? I created a ruckus and filled in a feedback form as well. I am sure to no avail, because that won't change Big Bazaar's "policies".

Thinking about this incidence some time later, I figured out a couple of things. First, if the store had been big - like a really Big Bazaar (think Manpada in Thane), I would have compensated for a couple of morning walks right there in the store. Being a lazy fellow, I would have hated that.

Second, being an analyst, I thought they were trying to make me look at the merchandise in the hope that I might purchase something while going through my second round. But no, the entire path from entry to exit was barren - no merchandise, no display, no nothing. Then what was the point of the "policies"?

OK, now let us assume that there was merchandise on display on my path. Then what was the point in asking me to deposit the bag in the first place? If they feared that I might shoplift something and hide it in the bag, then why send me the second time around, through the store, with the same bag in my hand?

I do not know if Big Bazaar makes "policies" in a centralized manner, or each store manager decides the "policies" for his/her store. Whatever it is, their "policies" are more like a set of "fallacies". When you have a U-shaped entry and exit path, it makes only common sense to have a baggage counter that faces both ways, so that a shopper deposits bags at one end while entering and picks them up while exiting, without going round and round twice. But I guess, common sense is a premium thing, not available in Big Bazaars.

More about my shoppescapades later!