Cheaper by the dozen

Sania cursed at herself. In her slumber she had put the alarm clock off instead of pressing the snooze button. She woke up 5 minutes late. She knew she had to skip breakfast and the morning news. She could catch up with Calvin and Hobbes the next day. As she walked out of her apartment, she slipped over the newspaper plastic and broke her shoes. It was the only pair she had. Sania had a strict policy about shoes. One pair of keds, one pair of bathroom slippers, and one for work was all she had. She quickly hopped over to the shoe-shop at the end of the road. She was running late and there really was no time for bargaining or for trying out all the shoes that caught her fancy. She spotted a pair that looked decent enough.

“That one, please”.
“ That comes under our “cheaper by the dozen offer ma’am”.
“I need one pair and that’s all I will buy”.
“Sure ma’am. Perhaps you could come back in the evening and I can explain the scheme to you. You are only expected to pay for this pair right now.”
“Fine, how much.”
“400 ma’am, and it will get cheaper by the dozen”.

Exorbitant as it was, Sania had no time to argue. She paid, signed the form that accepted her into the scheme, wore the shoes and went out into the road. The bus went past her, and Sania cursed her luck again. She hailed a cab. This day was turning out to be very expensive. The new shoes fit rather snugly. She wondered if it was time she got herself another pair of shoes. She had promised to never buy more than she needed, but she had to equip herself in times of emergency. After all, shoes are known to give way, and its only fair that she had an extra set. She looked at the form in her hand that said “Cheaper by the dozen – The more you buy, the less you pay.” When opportunity knocks, one opens the door. Sania decided to stop by the shop later that night.

When she went into the shop that evening, she found herself involuntarily looking for classier shoes. Her mind quickly went through the clothes in her wardrobe, and Sania was inflicted with a childlike enthusiasm for mix and match. The salesman on duty explained to her that every purchase would get her a discount of an additional 5%. Sania was satisfied and convinced herself that the day had not gone badly after all. There was talk of the managers promoting some of them and Sania decided to begin dressing for the occasion. A little voice within her reminded of a promise she had made a long time ago about never giving in to temptation. She looked down at her new shoes and fathomed a slight pain on her insoles. She needed comfortable soles didn’t she ? Sania looked at a variety of footwear. Flats, heels, boots, platforms, stilettos. She couldn’t really make up her mind. One wouldn’t go with her pants, the other wouldn’t go with her skirts. If she could buy only one pair, it would have to go with everything. The salesman didn’t fail to mention that the third purchase would get her 10 % off. “and you can go all the way upto a dozen ma’am.” Sania found herself considering this. When she left the store, she found herself thinking “ well, at least they’ll go with half my clothes”.

On getting home, Sania arranged her new possessions neatly near the door. Almost involuntarily she looked at the space allotted for her shoes and wondered if there would be enough to accommodate 6 pairs of shoes.

The next day Sania spent more than 5 minutes on deciding which shoe to wear, and then on debating which dress to wear. Sania decided that moping around wouldn’t help. She had to expand her wardrobe, now that she had new shoes to try them on with. Sania decided to shop around for a new dress later than night- something that would match both her shoes. Sania was late to work again and couldn’t care less. That evening Sania came home with 2 new dresses. Sania had a party at the workplace that weekend, and the employees were encouraged to come well dressed. With appraisals and promotions drawing nearer, Sania knew that they would be keenly observed. Over the next few days Sania bought 2 more pairs. Along with it, an expensive haircut, few more clothes, a drop at the automobile store to see if she could afford a new car and most importantly a shoe-rack. Taking the cab to work became a ritual, so did going late. A new mirror occupied her room. To top it all, Sania went and bought a few handbags. By the end of 2 weeks, she had 6 new pairs of shoes, and a cupboard that wouldn’t close. Sania was certain that the promotion would be hers. She had clearly showed she wanted it, and despite coming late to work, she hadn’t yet missed a deadline.

The following Monday, Sania had to attend the meeting.
“We had to make a tough choice between you and Dina. But we’re more interested in D, because she will come to work on the weekend even if she didn’t have a pair of shoes named Sunday”.