If you ask a lady, what cheers you the most? I can guaranty you, the answer will be SHOPPING! lol :P Most of us ladies spend 90% of our money buying cosmetics, dresses, shoes, bags. ;) Not only that, we also love spending most of our free times roaming around places where things are at a cheap rate, or where there’s a a sale going on. We have our own research thesis about which place is better for what (i mean from above mentioned things ;) ), in terms of money or quality. Ha ha :D And in Bangladesh, when you go for shopping, you’ll hear some specific things from the seller. They are super cute, and they say way cuter things to convince you. -_- If your mom goes with you, then there’s nothing to worry about, because they can bargain from 0 and will make the seller sell at the cheapest rate! lol :p Well, mom’s are supermom <3 But if you have your sister, cousin or friend with you, specially the kind ones, then you are screwed baby! ;)

I am a Chittagongian and I’m living in this city for 25years of my life. Well, was. -_- Most of the times I visited the Marts alone. That doesn’t mean I’m very good at shopping or I don’t need anyone to come with me or etc. It’s just that everyone’s busy these days and when I feel like shopping, I can’t just deprive myself from doing so just for being alone lol :D Sometimes I shopped with my sisters or few of the friends who could manage time for coming with me to the marts. ;)  Well, we don’t call them MART.  We call them MARKET. And we rather use the word MARKETING then SHOPPING! lol :D And I have some cute experience about  what our cute  salesman says when you go for marketing.   -_- So, here it goes:

1. Suppose you are at a cloth shop. After choosing what you want, you will ask the price first, right? Like  how much per yard or গজ in bengali. And suppose they answer you- “গজ ৫০০ টাকা, আপু!” ( 500 Tk per yard, sister!) Now here’s the fact, if they tell you it’s 500, it’s actually way below it -_- So next you will ask for a lower price, or the cheapest price they can offer. There’s come’s the fun part. The answer will be something like, “আপু, এগুলা তো দরের কিছু নাই। তাও আপনি প্রথম আসছেন এইজন্য যান আপনার জন্য ১০ টাকা কমে দেব!” (There’s nothing to bargain here, sister. But as you came to our shop for the first time, I will give you at 490 Tk!) Like that 10 Tk less is making the price any smaller -_-

 

2. Okay, so your next step will be, offer your own price. So, as always our mom taught us, you would start with half the price the seller offered you. In that case  which is 250 Tk. Offer that, and see the magic. -_- They will give you “How on the earth is this even possible” look :/ :/

And they will start telling you, how amazing piece of thing this is, like- “আপা, পিওর পাকিস্তানী/ ইন্ডিয়ান কাপড়। একদম নতুন আসছে মার্কেটে। আপনি পুরা মার্কেট ঘুরে দেখেন, যদি কেউ ১টাকা কম দেয়, আমি আপনাকে ফ্রি দিবো, কসম!!!!!!” (Sister this is pure pakistani/indian product. Search the whole market, and if anybody sells you at any lesser price, i swear, i will give you one for free!) And please don’t be convinced when they say that. Now try bargaining with a little more than what you said earlier. And hopefully you will get it at 300-350Tk at the end, for sure. :D

3. Well, in some cases they are pretty stubborn to negotiate. -_- So, what you gonna do is, you will get out of their shop. Now here’s another funny annoying thing they do. They will call you from behind to come back again saying- “আপু, একটা কথা শুনেন।” (Sister, listen what i have to say) So you will go again with a hope that, may be they are finally willing to give you that. But BOO!!!!!! That’s not it LOL :D  Again they will try to make you understand how awesome the product is and you never should miss the chance of buying this cloth at this “awesome” rate. LOL :p You go all the way back there, just to listen this! I mean what they already told you before -_- Yup, they do that.

 

4. Now, think you are going to buy a hand bag or shoes. So, first thing you will hear is, “আপু, এটা কিন্তু পিওর লেদার। মানে, আপনি একটু ধরে দেখলে বুঝবেন। এই যে এখানে হাত দিয়ে দেখেন। থাইল্যান্ডি প্রোডাক্ট। অনেকদিন ইউজ করতে পারবেন। দামও বেশী না। আপনার জন্য একদাম বলে দিচ্ছি ৩০০০ টাকা :O। (Sister, this is pure leather. You will feel that when you touch it. Keep, your hand here, see? This is from Thailand. You can use it for a long time. Price is also reasonable. For you, I will be giving this at 3000 Tk.) -_- Like if it’s not for you then they will be selling this for 5000 Tk. :/

5. When you are at a boutique shop, no matter which one you pick, they will be saying, “হ্যাঁ আপু, এটা আপনার জন্য একদম ঠিক আছে। কালার টা যেই রকম, কাজটাও সেই রকম। খুবই গর্জিয়াস, আপনাকেও মানাবেও সেই।” (Well sister, this is totally perfect for you! Beautiful color and likewise handiwork. So gorgeous, and made just for you) ;) Don’t be overwhelmed with all this talking, if you would’ve picked the exact opposite designed dress, they will say the same to you. :/

6. When you are in a cosmetics shop, looking for make up or any other beauty products, it’s hard to bargain there sometimes. Because they will tell you that this the company rate, and they only have 10 to 20 Tk benefits from their buying price. Normally, the maximum discount they give from their mentioned price is 50 Tk in this case. But, if it’s a jewelry shop, you can bargain a lot more. Anyways, in any case, your big move is, name your price and if they are not willing to give at that rate, then walk out form there. If you are lucky enough, they will call you from behind and try to negotiate you or give you at your price.

Sometimes it feels like shopping is more like betting. Everyone’s trying to win the bargaining war lol :P That’s why some ladies i know, prefer shopping in fixed price rated shops these days. But to me the betting thing is what makes the shopping more interesting, more adventurous <3 That’s the fun of shopping, you know? You got a war to win there :P :P