Unforgettable shopping at DMart

I am an avid shopper, shopping gives me relaxation. You leave me in a shopping mall in morning, till evening I can be there without any issues. I need food, water and washroom to survive there for that long. Best part about shopping malls or big retail stores it that, you get everything at one place and you get to learn a lot. Shopping and learning doesn’t rhyme well? Yes, shopping can be a learning experience, because shopping malls and big retail stores are the only places, where one can see all the latest launches in reality. All products advertised in TV, can be seen first in malls, then in a shop near you. Shopping malls gives us the liberty to double check the products we intent to buy, reason we are selecting the products ourselves. I have the habit of checking the expiry date, ingredients of the product I buy. Even check competitors’ products of the same range, which takes my time.

Now a days my shopping partner is Harish, we go together for shopping as it is convenient for both of us and we have each other’s company too. But what happened today at DMart, we will never forget, and it was a learning experience for both of us, day full of adventures with twist and turn. We left home by 11.am and 5 minutes before DMart Harish tells me, he forgot to carry his wallet. I told no worries “ you can use my card” What are friends for, to help your friend in need. Before going for shopping I check  cards twice.

We reached DMart by 11.30am, there was huge rush, firstly because of weekend, then due to Onam festival. Car parking was full, then we saw a car moving out, Harish got out of the car and helped me park the car there, before anyone occupies that slot. Harish told he will get 2 trolleys for us, as inside DMart it was not available due to heavy rush. While Harish was busy arranging the trolleys, I got all our shopping bags sealed at the security counter. In total 4 bags, so I kept all 3 bags in one and got it locked. In the mean while Harish arranged for the trolleys. We got inside and got busy with our purchases. DMart is divided into 3 floors, after doing purchases from the ground floor, we left for 2^nd and 3^rd floors.

We left our trolleys on ground floor like others did, Harish had done massive purchases and mine was less comparatively. We spend around an hour in 2^nd and 3^rd floor as it had clothes section, where we spend maximum time, checking out clothes. After an hour when we came to ground floor, we had a shock waiting for us. My trolley was missing, we searched everywhere but couldn’t find it. Then Harish saw few of my purchases spread on top of ice cream freezer, we were thunderstruck. Only thought which came to our mind was, how can people be so uncultured here? Usually we have decent crowd here. Seems like decency was only in their attire and not in their behavior, this act was the perfect example of it. More than my purchases, we were worried about the shopping bags. How will we carry the purchases home? It’s not that we can’t buy shopping bags at DMart but we wanted our bags as they were bigger bags than the one store was offering us.

Harish asked me check all the trolleys to locate our shopping bags, I was sure we will not find it but Harish was confident about finding it. Harish started looking for our lost shopping bags, in the mean while I took one basket to transfer my purchases from the ice cream freezer to it and bought the remaining things.

Then it striked me about the CCTV cameras in the store, I went to the support desk and asked if they can show me the CCTV clippings of the area where my trolley was kept. Help desk guy told me that they don’t have a camera installed at that particular angle first thing and second thing, they have a put a notice on the wall, not to leave trolleys there. This was not the first time I was leaving the trolley there, I keep it there every time I visit the store, but today the store guy showed me the notice, which I ignored or was not noticed by me before. Whatever, help-desk was of no use to me.

I finished my billing and was waiting for Harish to come, even then I was looking at people’s trolley making an exit from the billing counter. Since it was raining heavily, people are standing in the mall itself after being billed. I just turned around and saw a lady holding some shopping bags in her hand, it seemed similar to me. A closer look, god its mine, I told her you are having my shopping bag, where did you find it? Did you take my trolley? Firstly she apologized for keeping the bag with her and then she told me that, this bag there in an empty trolley which she took. And accidentally she took that bag because her bag and my bag were similar in looks. It’s difficult to believe her story though but I was happy to get my bags. Informed Harish also, who was nearing the billing counter. People are right when they say, “people make mistakes while committing crime”. This lady’s husband emptied the trolley to accommodate his things but didn’t recognize the shopping bag, which eventually was picked by his wife and helped me in getting my bags back.

After billing when we came out by 3pm another surprise was waiting for us. Harish took the car keys and went ahead I followed him back. I told him to meet me at one point but when he didn’t turn up. I went looking for him, our car was missing. Harish asked me where I parked the car. I showed him the place. It was then I noticed that the place, where car was parked was actually a no parking zone. Initially I was scared that the car was stolen but when I saw that board, it didn’t take us long to know where our car would be. We booked a cab but due to heavily rain or traffic it was getting delayed, in the mean while Harish was able to arrange an auto and we went to police station with all those shopping bags.

When I didn’t see the car there, I panicked a bit. Then decided to go inside the police station and check, one constable came out and told me that traffic police station is slightly ahead. We went there, still we were not able to see the car and then Harish noticed few people standing at a place. He told me let’s go there and check, he was right, car was there. I can’t tell you, how happy I was, when I saw the car. It was clamped, we asked one person who was standing there from the traffic department to allow us to keep our shopping bags in the car. He allowed us to keep our bags in the car. That guy told us, that we need to pay fine for parking the car in NO Parking ZONE. We inquired about the fine amount. I googled it to cross check, he was right. We asked him where to make the payment, he told us to wait for some time. Harish gets a call from the cab driver, inquiringly where you are sir. In the eagerness to reach police station he didn’t cancel the cab booking, when we got inside the auto.

After 15 mins, an officer came, he collected the fine amount and issued us the receipt. Clamp was removed, we got inside the car and left for home. When we reached home, time was 5 pm. We were very tired after all these unexpected adventures, we experienced today during our weekly grocery shopping.

I think myself and Harish will always remember this shopping experience. Once at room I was thinking, if Harish was not accompanying me today, then it would have been tough day for me to handle everything all alone. It’s better to have a shopping partner, you never know when things go upside down.