Today (Blogger's Note: This is the Saturday entry) got rather interesting as I was walking idly down the Oxford Street. In front of one of the shops, there was a small crowd. The shop got posters on its windows claiming to sell ipods for £5.00, digital cameras for £10.00, PS2s for £20.00. The faded mark of the "Sockshop" could still be read, which meant that the shop was recently evacuated. Of course, all my bullshit bells rang but I stayed on. Soon, a man with long curly hair opened the door and started to let the people in. Inside, the empty shelves from the previous business was still present. At the far end of the shop was a desk with a man behind it. So that was the reason for the unbelievably low prices; they were only starting prices; they were going to auction the goods. How wrong was I!
The man put on a microphone set and started the show by a monologue. He was talking fast and explaining how we were so lucky an that this wasn't a joke. But after 5 minutes another guy, middle-eastern looking, appeared behind him and promptly replaced him. Now, the moment I saw this guy any doubts in my head as to whether this is a scam or not, completely disappeared. Think about all the villains in comic books like Tintin or Lucky Luke and you'll get the picture. The guy even had the crook eyes; you know, one eye slanting and smaller than the other giving a mischievous gaze.
The new guy, Michael, was a master at controlling a crowd. Between his speech, he asked people where they are from and made small jokes, creating an informal and friendly air. He was supported by a sidekick; Sebastian, who apparently was assigned to be the comedic element as Michael peppered his speech with jokes about him being gay. By now there was 40-50 people in the small shop, most of them tourists. Soon, also, the purpose of the wooden stick in Michael's hand was understood. Think about a school teacher with a ruler in his/her hand, which she/he slams on to his/her desk from time to time to cease the talking between the students. It proved effective here as well. It was as if he was hypnotizing the crowd and didn't want them to be distracted.
He started by handing out some cassettes for pennie and walkmans for £1, with free batteries. Moved onto Gameboys for £5. The boxes of the goods looked very worn and tatty, which he accepted but guaranteed that the devices were in excellent condition. He even handed out a bundle of electronics including an ipod Shuffle to a guy for £5. Madness, right! After half an hour, the game changed. He asked for £5 from every person in the shop who were willing to walk away with another bundle of electronics. So Sebastian and another aide started collecting the £5s and giving out tickets. Michael also introduced a level of gamble into the game; he asked from the people to raise their hands if they'd pay £30 for anything on his mind and then selected a guy. However, he didn't hand out the goods for £30 but for £5, claiming to be charitable etc. This practice was clearly aimed at building a trust for himself and to encourage people to part with more money. Soon, the tickets got replaced by "electronic organizers" - a little gift - and anybody without them was excluded from the sale and lead out of the shop. In other words, the crowd was canvassed.
He again built up a very impressive 10-item bundle in front of him; including a sony camcorder, an ipod and a Sony vaio laptop as a "treat". He asked if anybody was willing to pay £150 for this bundle. Hands raised up; some with money, some with cards in them. Again a person selected by him, promptly handed the money in neat £20 notes. THAT'S £150 IN CASH! No sane person goes around for a bit of Saturday shopping with that kind of money with him. By now, the whole thing was begininning to turn sour for me. So I headed out.
I only figured out the full genius of the whole thing at the end of the day. My theory is like this; put 5 of your people in the crowd, when you are handing out an expensive item such as an ipod select them and make them the "lucky" person. And when you're giving out rubbish items such as "proton" CD players, select a genuine person. He was only dangling a PSP or an iPod as a carrot in front of the crowd to goad them on. When you think about it, after he collected the £5 to stay in the game from 40 people, he had made £200. And I think they did 3-4 sessions during the day, which makes at least £600. And I don't know if any other money collection was done or not. Neat, eh?
So why do I think that £5 was well spent? For that money, I received a masterclass lecture in scheming and crowd-control. I got the chance to see how easy it is to manipulate poeple. And don't forget the "organizer". So, all in all, very good value in my opinion.
Spotted: - Young guy in Soho, dancing brilliantly on one of those electronic dancing games in an arcade. But there was a difference; instead of feet, he was using his hands to do the moves and he was awesome. Brought a smile to my face!
Played: - GOLDEN AXE! Couldn't believe it! I used to play it in coin-arcades. This time it was on a PS2 in a GAME store on Oxford Street. Ahh, the old games are the best in my opinion.
Read standing: 1st issue of manga ".hack sign" (slightly amusing, in my opinion) and quickly Authority:Revolution (Warren Ellis, we miss you).
Owwww...got a very annoying headache....there was a cocktail at the workplace all day thrown for our clients and spent the most of the day with a wine glass in my hand, eating cold japanese cocktail food and having small talks with mildly interesting people. Thanks to the unusually pushy waiters must have drunk a bottle of wine without realising. Still worse they were pushy towards guests as well; poor guys were constantly trying to shoo them off. However, in the end, it was a satisfactory function for me as I met most of the people I was expecting to see and some I wasn't.
Don't want to see any sushi for another 3 months.
Ahhh great, Valentine's Day!!! The day of the cheese. The epitome of schmuck. The day in which you get to see couples crowding every 2nd rate restaurant and hotel in the land just because Clinton's told them to do so. And the next day it's back to chinese take aways and "early night"s. I can hear some saying "oh but it's an opportunity to cherish the beauty and warmth of love, to feel unashamedly in love, and to show it out to everybody." bla bla bla. No people all you cherish is the tills of Messrs DeBeers, Harvey Nichols and Lord Selfridge. How many of you wanted to give a beautiful ring to your beloved on 28th of January and then thought "Well Valentine's is coming, I better wait so that I won't have to buy another thing on the day." Himm? Tell me. If you did, yours is not true love. Plain and simple.
OK now that we took care of the cynical commenting I can explain how I really felt at the end of the day. Well, a bit sad, which wasn't surprising. I said to myself, you feel sad because nobody called and celebrated your Valentine's Day (OK to their credit Edi&Budu called, but, although sweet, it just doesn't count) I thought about my other friends who are single at the moment and which, didn't receive a call as well. So I decided to call them and celebrate their Valentine's Day; this way we 'd be able to share our sadness and feel much better. And it worked. They sounded really happy at the other end of the phone. And I was happy, too because I had made another person happy, which was the whole point of today, wasn't it?
(NB: I only called the girls though. The boys would probably shut the phone on my face ^_^)
Spotted today:
- Shoplifter grabbing a handful of Brit Awards Nominees CDs from the HMV in Piccadilly and walking pass the sensors only by holding them above his head. Helpfully, but unwittingly, held the door to the guy as well.
- Read standing: Issues 3-4 of manga Demon Diary (feature article being planned)
Yes, at last, I managed to find a plausible reason in my head to update this blog. It took me 1.5 years but never mind. And the reason is this; these entries will act like my memoirs (hence, the title change) of my time in London. It's a shame that it's been almost 4 years now already but don't fret, God willing, I'll have another 4 (no, I'm not a born-again Christian now).
Ok so let's have a little recap.
2003
- at last finished the post-grad degree, got rid of the thesis, got hold of the diploma. Yayy!
- got run over by an Indian delivery boy's moped, opened eyes in the hospital in a surprisingly calm manner without any clothes and recollection of the accident, got numerous stitches in the head and a black eye, depressing but amusing (go figure!) graduation ceremony photos.
2004
- July, found a job, happy but a bit dazed, there is a Russian, a Cypriot and 4 Ts in the office (yeah sounds a bit like a joke)
- August, started the rite of passage called "the work permit" ... Shiver! Parents were, which will be referred as Edi(dad) and Budu(mum) in future posts, moving house in a completely tedious way; in luggages. My father looks like someone between a very busy serial killer and a homeless person, dragging luggages continously between places all day.
- September, still struggling with the WP, also the workload had become ridiculous. Moving was a revelation for Budu; she realised how many things a person can stuff into closets and cupboards. Edi went back to home country; leaving us with the rest of the moving. Oh joy!
- October, yep, still; WP!!! Making exquisite plans of highly original torture methods about the lawyer, who in a very perplexing way treats her clients like daycare children in Cambodia. Made Budu to agree to a cunning plan involving moving stuff, which I cannot retell here because of confidentiality but it involves a Yellow Box . Nihahahaha! v_v
- November, WPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! Arrrghhh...
- December, at last got my spanking new WP and come back to London after a very relaxing 1 month at home country. Did I feel relieved!!- New Year, Budu went out with her friends, I went out with mine (Duncan & Peri), watched the fireworks at London Eye, for the first time. *Sigh*
2005
- Budu left me as well and went back to home country in February. Duncan and Peri left as well. Suddenly felt really lonely. Ahh well.
- March, went to Munich, beautiful city, loved it, cycled all day around it, but it didn't feel too good seeing places by myself so made a note to self to arrange a tour next time.
- May, OMG, how stupid I can be! Practically got myself fired from the job over a completely idiotic and frankly pointless error of judgment. Chaos ensued. Luckily, had previously arranged a 10 day visit to home country.
- Best pal (BP) got married, beautiful ceremony and a better party in the evening, never felt that happy for a long time.
- Lovely day at the lake, picnic in the sunshine, beers in the boat on the lake, superb! *Sigh*
- June, Back to London, pouring over job ads on the internet, filling forms, sending CVs. Also MB asked me if I'd like to work in his shop till I find a job. Promptly accepted.
- July, FUCK ME! A company came back to me out of nowhere, made the interview, now very nervous, waiting, London bombings happen on the trial run at the company, 2 weeks goes by, finally they hire me!!! Couldn't believe it being a loyal pessimistic, was again in a daze.
- August, welcome to the beautiful world of WORK PERMITS! AGAIN! SAME LAWYER! ARRRRGGGGHHH! Got it at the end of month. Phew!!
- September, learning the new job etc., the colleagues are a funny bunch, very laid back, very different from the previous job.
- October, 3 dates with a girl, G, lost interest after the third (sorry it sounds cruel way but I was a gentleman through it all) broke up in a tad awkward way involving her prophetic girlfriend and a 500m walk side by side after the break up. Went and watched the Nightwatch afterwards.
- December, new year at the home country with friends and family. Nice food, nice weather, better company. Very satisfied and happy. In the mean time, Edi and Budu again moved to their new house this time, in which they almost need walkie-talkies to speak to each other. ^_^
And 2006..
Spotted today:
- a boy wearing a day-glo green trousers and bright red jacket, crossing the road at Piccadilly.
- a man wearing a top hat, shaggy suit, gloves and a red rose, browsing the Jazz section at Virgin.
- CDs: sparks, vitaminrecords.com - some awesome tributes, Serge Gainsbourg
- Read standing: first 2 issues of manga Priest.
- Read sitting: still Belle du Jour (main influence for blogging again)
The man put on a microphone set and started the show by a monologue. He was talking fast and explaining how we were so lucky an that this wasn't a joke. But after 5 minutes another guy, middle-eastern looking, appeared behind him and promptly replaced him. Now, the moment I saw this guy any doubts in my head as to whether this is a scam or not, completely disappeared. Think about all the villains in comic books like Tintin or Lucky Luke and you'll get the picture. The guy even had the crook eyes; you know, one eye slanting and smaller than the other giving a mischievous gaze.
