Last Saturday, our parents dragged us out of the house to do some shopping for an hour or two. Little did we know that this was to become an all-day excursion. The first five hours of the ordeal passed slowly but surely. Then my mother decided to shop for furniture. I’ve always held a passion for furniture shopping, because unlike in clothes shopping, you can stretch out on a couch and wait for your parents to be finished. But this shop was different. Somehow, there were no endurable chairs to sit in. I found a chair near the entrance to the shop, and I was left alone in my agony. Fifteen minutes passed, and I began to grow bored. Finally, I decided to study the workings of the store.

The store had a total clearance sale, for, as I overheard from a conversation between two employees, the lease had expired. I decided to watch the actions of the employees more closely. First of all, all of the employees were wearing expensive suits. This was to make an effect on the customer that the cost of the furniture was low in comparison to its worth. All of the price tags on the furniture were over 5,000 dollars. However, there were surprisingly few employees in the shop, ten at most. When I was strolling through the store, I noticed the rest of the employees in a room at the end of the shop, only visible through a crack in the door, all in wrinkled t-shirts and torn jeans. I also noticed that while they weren’t paying much heed to the average customer, whenever a man in a suit walked in, they rushed to help him. They even gave each of the suited men a tour of the store, a convenience not extended to the rest of the paying customers. In fact, the employee dispatched to help the well-dressed customers was also the one wearing the most expensive suit. This employee looked like a top-notch businessman, his shirt flawlessly starched, and his pants neatly folded. Under one hand he even carried a briefcase. I decided to investigate this factor further. When the man returned, he opened his briefcase and hid it behind the main desk. Stealthily creeping along the exterior wall, I snuck to the perfect vantage point. I was now able to see inside the briefcase. It was empty. I went back to my chair, but it was occupied. I therefore sat in a plush chair near the door, somewhat better than my previous habitat.

After some time, time becomes immeasurable in a store, I noticed one of the lady employees leading a female customer around the store. The customer’s eyes flitted to a bookcase displayed on the right side of the room. I followed her stare and found the price tag. The bookcase cost 8,000 dollars. The employee, with eyes of a hawk found her next victim. I decided to stay quiet about the five gouges in the wood that were just visible from my perspective. The employee, ignoring the imperfect quality, told the customer that “If I were to buy any item in the shop, this bookcase would be it.” I had seen this acting from her three times before. “I don’t know, it’s awfully expensive.” the customer responded. “But it is selling for a 50% discount!” retorted the employee. After some debating, the customer bought the bookcase.

I suppose now would be a good time to mention that I had been to this store before, when they were still fully in business. The ‘discounted’ price of the items was actually more than the price that they cost when I last visited. They had doubled the original price and halved it, and said that they gave a 50% discount. Machiavelli could not have done better. I actually found two identical chairs in every way, with a 600 dollar difference in cost.

My parents later bought two candlestick holders, which, unlike all the other items in the shop, were fairly priced. We left the shop with the employees blissfully unaware of my study.