The virus has fully compromised my shopping experience. The satisfaction of retail therapy just might be a thing of the past. I used to look forward to going to target, stopping at Starbucks and taking a trip down every aisle I came across, picking up things I didn’t even come for. Now when there is an aisle I actually need to go down, if someone is already there I do this awkward two-step half waiting for them to find what they’re looking for, half debating if whatever I thought I needed in this aisle is something I actually needed. I actually miss the awkward smiles I’d give to strangers who are also getting lost in the great wonders of Target. Now everyone is playing this game of discomfort and avoidance. I’m not going to lie, it seems that people don’t know how to be polite and simultaneously wear face masks? It’s like they become a new person. Or maybe they’re smiling under their masks, never realized just how much of a long way a smile goes until this pandemic. If anything, now is the perfect time to master what Tyra Banks calls, the smize or smiling with your eyes. I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life, practicing in front of the mirror or even my mom, and now is my time to shine. Or so I thought. That’s another thing about the current state of the shopping experience, no one makes eye contact. However, I will say the best part of that is seeing people you went to high school with and not feeling the obligation of stopping to have that 10 second conversation that involves at least 3 seconds of silence and slow head nods.
I don’t know what retail therapy will look like as time goes on, stay tuned.
BlackGirlKnowMagic 