Sorry I'm irony-pilled at this moment. I didn't mean anything by putting speech marks around "leftists".

So like I have this problem where if I need to go shopping with someone, I'm bored to tears. When I shop, I generally go to exactly where I need to go, grab it, and check out. I used to work in a grocery during uni and I can find shit faster than most people. When I'm with friends, family, or gfs, people need literal minutes to check the ingredients, material, and price. And compare with similar products. Also they must take time to decide if they really need it. Me personally, I'll buy a 4th bag of flour because I'm not going to expend the mental energy to think about it I already have it at home. I literally have 3 full bottles of vanilla extract at home. Don't judge me.

Pre-covid, I would just fuck off to the closest coffee shop and read when with someone who wanted to shop for a bit. Now I just take out my phone and read Hexbear when my gf is scanning the ingredient list for refined sugars.

Anyhoo, it all came to a head when my gf wanted to go to this October Market thing nearby, and I was like "ok have fun" and continued playing my video game. There was a bit of an argument, but I decided to go in the end. Like, I can give time to relationships and all.

This definitely isn't an edgy AITA post where I'm saying that shopping is bad. I think there's benefits to obtaining the best foods and clothing that your material situation allows. I just wonder if you guys think like me, because the stereotype of leftists is people who don't like to shop.

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    grocery shopping and clothes shopping I am in-and-out. I go in with a list, and that's it. I might take slightly longer in a thrift shop, but I move fast and know what I want at a glance.

    if I want to kill time, I can look around an equipment rental, hardware or farm supply store for longer, looking at prices and contemplating possibilities. same with art supply and restaurant supply. but I'm unlikely to buy anything unless I have a specific project and a list, unless there's some absurd markdown on something I know I'll use.

    • ButtBidet [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      if I want to kill time, I can look around an equipment rental, hardware or farm supply store for longer, looking at prices and contemplating possibilities. same with art supply and restaurant supply.

      OMG I do the same thing.

      • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        tbh, i get my fix by periodically requesting those huge free catalogues like Northern Tool or AM Leonard or the Webstaurant Store.

        Why yes, I am interested in the attachments you have for a Bobcat 800 Series Skid Steer, the cash price of a 9hp Honda Trenchmaster, and a AccuTemp AccuSteam 48" x 30" Heavy Duty Electric Griddle.

  • MoneyIsTheDeepState [comrade/them,he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    It depends on the shop and my mood. I get uncomfortable in slow-moving crowds, so I try to get through supermarket shopping as fast as I can

    Other retail stores I can go either way on - I'll usually be content to browse some plants or hardware or something while I chat with my partner, but sometimes not

    Outdoor marketplaces (with the exception of farmer's markets because I tend to aspirationally buy produce that I don't wind up cooking) are more fun, especially if they're really sketchy

  • immuredanchorite [he/him, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    A commodity is therefore a mysterious thing, simply because in it the social character of men’s labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour; because the relation of the producers to the sum total of their own labour is presented to them as a social relation, existing not between themselves, but between the products of their labour. This is the reason why the products of labour become commodities, social things whose qualities are at the same time perceptible and imperceptible by the senses. In the same way the light from an object is perceived by us not as the subjective excitation of our optic nerve, but as the objective form of something outside the eye itself. But, in the act of seeing, there is at all events, an actual passage of light from one thing to another, from the external object to the eye. There is a physical relation between physical things. But it is different with commodities. There, the existence of the things quâ commodities, and the value relation between the products of labour which stamps them as commodities, have absolutely no connection with their physical properties and with the material relations arising therefrom. There it is a definite social relation between men, that assumes, in their eyes, the fantastic form of a relation between things. In order, therefore, to find an analogy, we must have recourse to the mist-enveloped regions of the religious world. In that world the productions of the human brain appear as independent beings endowed with life, and entering into relation both with one another and the human race. So it is in the world of commodities with the products of men’s hands. This I call the Fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour, so soon as they are produced as commodities, and which is therefore inseparable from the production of commodities.

    • ButtBidet [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      I've heard of this fetishism thing. Some guy called Carl Mars made a video about it, right?

      Sorry. This is a relevant post.

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      cute clothes will still be here after the revolution.

      Sorry, but you must have missed the chapter in Capital vol 5 where Marx wrote that it's neutral-tone coveralls only after the revolution.

      Anarchists are allowed to add a black hoodie if and only if they are able to come to a consensus on if they should all be zipper hoodies or not.

  • DoghouseCharlie [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Going to retail stores gives me wicked anxiety. But I will occasionally willingly go to a thrift shop and look around at cool old stuff. Me and my friend used to go to the mall a bunch too. I think it's just when I know I have to that's what makes me bored or anxious.

  • usa_suxxx [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I absolutely hate shopping. I don't mind grocery shopping, and I don't mind going with some specific people. Some others, I hate. browsing for like hours, an exaggeration. It's always the same shit!!! Shopping for clothes, I don't really like either. I don't have a lot of clothes. I'm not even the type of person to advice people to wear things they don't like or dress very basic, but I can't relate to browsing things. I tend to immediately know if I like something once I spot an eye on the fabric or not. I don't really spend time mulling about whether I want it or not.

    • ButtBidet [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I tend to immediately know if I like something once I spot an eye

      Ya that's me too. I don't need 30 minutes to think about it. All the articles of clothes that I took time to think about, all suck, because I convinced myself that I'd like it (which I didn't).

  • MeatfuckerDidNothing [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago
    1. you need to shop for certain things to live, it doesn't hurt to go along and just spend the time talking with your partner, it ends up being collectively less boring than one of you just going by yourself

    2. farmers markets or "October markets" or whatever are traditionally seen as social engagements and low effort dates. They were asking you on a date probably, which is probably why they were upset.

  • TrudeauCastroson [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Your partner asked you on a date and you said no but luckily you eventually decided to go. Those outdoor markets things aren't the same as shopping in a grocery store, you get handmade jewellery and seasonal snacks and maybe funnel cake. Hopefully there's free activities to enjoy together.

    I usually like shopping around for deals in stores, and I am the type to compare the ingredients list of two different products to figure out if the cheaper one is worth getting. Usually check online flyers before going though to see what's worth looking at to at least cut it down slightly

  • fifthedition [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    For a lot of people, shopping is an activity. Like going to a concert or a museum. They just like looking at things and imagining themselves buying them.

    However that was kind of a dick move with the girlfriend. That's a couples activity, half the fun is being with another person. Shopping alone is kind of like bowling alone.

  • TillieNeuen [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    At the grocery store, I just want to get in and get out. Other places, I can enjoy just poking around and seeing what's there. There are some extremely large antique malls near me that I will wander around for far too long. Women be shopping!

  • LeninsBeard [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Yes I like most kinds of shopping. I really love grocery shopping cuz I like to see what's on sale and whip up meals in my head based off that it lets me get creative. Clothes shopping is a bit less fun but it's worth it when you find a really cool piece of clothing when wandering around.

  • Des [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    in person shopping is only fun if i am a bit fucked up and have both headphones in.

    i like doing some comparison shopping or checking stuff's specs out sometimes. big purchases i tend to plan out stupidly far in advance.

    i do enjoy browsing for clothes for the goth girl i never got to be