I was up early on a bright Saturday morning, eager to beat the crowd on Boxing Day. When I hit town an hour later, it seemed like everyone had the same idea, that is hunting for the best buy at post-Christmas sales!

I’ve noticed one thing while hopping in between shops that day. Have you ever wondered why are there plush cushions and comfy-looking sofas at certain corners of a shop? Do you ever noticed that most of the time you’ll find only men making themselves comfortable at that corner?

I call it the men’s corner while my boyfriend named it his retreat for the woebegones. Whenever he took a seat at that corner, there would be undoubtedly a handful of men already occupying the seats, giving him an emphatic smile.

It was as if an unspoken comradeship has built up between them within that moment, everyone sharing the same fate, that is waiting for the girlfriend/wive/mistress to finish browsing through rows and rows of clothing.

Each one of them would either wear an expression of complete boredom, wishing they would be somewhere else, or you’ll find them totally clueless to the complex mind of a female because to them, that dress is still a dress whether if it is in black or pink.

So now I understand the tactic used by the shops to prolong the stay of potential buyers in their shop because they got to separate men from their females, preventing them from trailing behind their girlfriends/wives/mistresses and thus at the same time preventing them from pestering their companions to hurry up! What a brilliant idea .