Get Yelled at While You’re Shopping

I generally don’t like getting yelled at while I’m shopping, but I’ll put up with it if it means I can buy 4 shirts for $15 at Maxwell Street Days, State Street’s annual sidewalk sale.

Even if you have no patience to paw through racks of bargain-priced goods, at least go for the entertainment. At Urban Outfitters, for example, people shout at you with megaphones while you elbow past hipsters to find Silence+Noise tank tops for $5. My favorite moment? While I perused the housewares, a college girl in leggings screamed from her ladder, “You KNOW you’ve always wanted that pizza cutter in the shape of a saw! BUY IT.”

Next I wandered to a table set up by a local “progressive bookstore cooperative.” While I looked for my own personal manifesto, I saw my husband waving to me from the window of Five Guys Burgers. I found some feminist cards to buy, feeling good about supporting the “little guy” bookstore. Then I asked to pay with a credit card because I didn’t have any cash. Big mistake. The bookseller said, “Didn’t you say that was your husband in there? Go ask him for some money.” I thought this was supposed to be a progressive bookstore. WTF?

I felt better, though, when I found this little beauty at the Sacred Feather Hat Shop. And the people who work there will follow you around and hold up mirrors while you try on hats. Now that’s service.