In keeping with the usual Indian habit of not practicing what we preach, I almost stepped out yesterday to buy my breakfast items without a bag. Thankfully I was reminded of my preaching by my very alert roommate and I succesfully stepped out with what has now become my shopping cover (a plastic bag admittedly, but it is reuse!)
Note, this shop is different from the one in my previous post. It's smaller, family-run and less crowded than the retail chain. So with all required items purchased, I stepped up to the counter again. Again, just as the items were about to be bagged, I pulled out my own bag and presented it to the man. The look that I got from him at that moment was somewhere between what E.T got when it first landed on earth and the look that George.W.Bush has got throughout the time he has been on earth. In fact, if I weren't a regular customer, it seemed pretty sure he was going to label me crazy and chase me out of the shop.
If you're the logical type, it is an irrational act on many levels. I am saving them one bag, irrespective of how miniscule that cos saving is. This shop did not have any branding on its bag anyway, and neither did the bag that I took. Hence there is no marketing loss. And yet, from an anthropological perspective, it was a perfectly natural thing to do. It is called inertia. Or 'status quo' bias. I ticked him off so much simply by breaking his process of grabbing a fresh plastic bag from his stack, blowing it open, dumping the things inside... the whole line. I broke the process, with an 'unnatural' act, and hence it became extra effort for the person.
Any object at rest or motion will continue to remain in rest or motion unless acted upon by an external force...
4 comments:
Tis better to start getting used to those looks. they are going to come by very often. my worry mainly rests with how the plastic bag i am almost given, is thrown aside carelessly when it is refused. I always hope that the condemned bag doesnt lie forgotten in a corner later. when given to someone else, it at least serves a purpose.
marketing loss FTW, anyway. ha.
Priti,
The hope is that when the retailer sees enough bags lying around like that, he'll stop ordering for them :)
Hmmm, i never get looks in bangalore. When i open up my bag instead and say, "illae, no thanks", they just pass it off with a shrug.
So, in response to your previous question, this is what I did today :)
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