Feeding Frenzy

Was in Ota today. There was a bit of a wait for my train home, so I did the usual thing and went over to Don Quixote.

Not really intending to buy anything, I meandered until I noticed an anomaly of Japanese behavior taking place right there between the milk and the packaged meat: people were being rude! Cutthroat, even. Pushing and shoving, reaching over and each other, children crying... I stood for a moment with my mouth hanging open. I had to know what this was about. A moment later I heard the authoritative and slightly nasal novice of a store employee announcing a sale, and for the first time I noticed a pair of "STAFF ONLY" doors just as they swung open. The crowd descended on him so swiftly, I never saw what it was he had. Whatever it was, he barely had time to drop it (actually, I think people were grabbing the items right out of his hands) before the crowd forced him backward. As he stumbled back behind the doors, I noticed a look on his face somewhere between amusement and fear. They were ravenous!

I finally saw what it was they were selling: cartons of fried snack-food! I finally understood: It was a feeding frenzy! This revelation was actually more bewildering than anything. Why would you kill yourself over a 50 yen discount on junk food?

The doors swung open again, and I watched carefully to see what the prize was: cartons of cold coffee. This employee was made of stronger stuff and held out as people rushed him. He held a sale sign above his head and called out the price in a loud voice, which seemed so unnecessary as to be comical; it was not as though anything would be left in the next 10 seconds. Nobody was in need of persuasion. People were grabbing 2-4 cartons of the stuff, tucking it under their arms protectively and hunching over as they made their escape, like a milkman turned quarterback. Looking around to another pair of opening STAFF doors, I saw a woman throwing bags of chips over her shoulder, one after another, into a cart directly behind her, clearly a seasoned professional.

After everything was gone, a few people escaped with their prizes of crap food, but the rest remained where they were. They stood posed, right in front of the doors, ready to jump the next person who walked through them. Some of the ladies were pressed right up against the doors, peaking through any available crevice. It was so ridiculously mercenary, I had to take a photo:

Stalking.

Sales are serious business.

Cheers,

full-price Baer