Monday, May 29, 2006

Followers & Spies

After an unsuccessful trip to the pool (it turns out that the public pools will be closed until June 24th), my mother and I decided to walk around 231st ST, which has numerous cheap shops. We went to a store that someone recommended my mother and we browsed its shoes' aisle. There were plenty of cute shoes for (get this) under $10. So we put my mother's $20 to good use.

As my mother and I picked out some cute shoes, Mami noticed a woman nearing us from the corner of her eye. Now this woman was skilled. If she was in the wild, she would've been a snake, slithing on the grass unnoticed to her prey. The stranger watched my mother as she tried on a cute pair of white sandals. After she deemed it to her satisfaction, she picked up a pair of white sandals in her size. Mami quickly said "Why is it that when you find something nice, some stranger comes around and spies it too?" I said "Shhh!" so the woman wouldn't hear it.

The lady left, and two friends took her place. They looked at the cheap shoes. My mother and I walked away, and as we did, my mother commented on the black sandals. I said that they look ugly and dark for the summer. Well, I guess one of the ladies heard it because once I said that, she quickly slipped her foot out of the black sandal and into a blue one; acting like she didn't prefer the black sparkly sandal.

It's amazing how many people are followers. I would say 99% are followers, and then there's the 1% who are unique enough to lead us through new modes of creativity (because anything new is simple and creative; simply creative).

Hmmm. Maybe I can use this stat to my benefit. Maybe, the next time I see a cute pair of Blahniks look-alikes and a girl is trying on the last pair in my size, I'll just comment on the ugliness of the color and the displacement of the sparkle because a girl will do anything for a cute pair of stilettos.

3 comments:

SuzLue said...

Oh I'd use this just to mess with people. I can't stand to show up someplace with the same outfit, or worse, shoes as someone else. Even when someone asks me where I got something, I don't tell. I'm just funny that way. Being an individual is something that is very important to me. But then there are those that need the reassurance from the world that they are normal. The way I see it, I'm the normal one, it's everyone else that is messed up. LOL. Just kidding!

Camy Tang said...

Smart woman! I gotta remember that. Things can get pretty cutthroat in Marshall's handbag section.

Camy

Anonymous said...

What a funny post Cynthia...seems like you have identified yourself pretty well. Talking about people who are followers when you are one yourself. Have your own identity and stop copying off what others do and say...maybe that's why you're not able to have close female friendships like you did in High school...females in college are not so naive to fall for a copycat like yourself.