New York offers shops - or as New Yorkers call them, stores - to fulfill practically any desire. As long as you have the money and the time, that is.
But, in fact as strange as it may seem, New York - and more especially Manhattan - is a
good place to live if you want to
save money. Why?
Well it's simple. To live here you have to make good money. A six figure income or more is essential for a single person living on the island. And to make this money, you must work - HARD. Which means that you have little time left over to spend it. Ergo - you save it!
No Time - It's Time
To Every Store
(Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season
(Turn, Turn, Turn)
But no time for every purchase, in Manhattan
No time to shop, No time to buy
No time to clean, No time to sleep
No time to cook, No time to grill
No time to laugh, No time to weep
(Sorry, Pete)
Unless you are right outside Macy's or a supermarket, or one of the other department stores where there are as many tourists as New Yorkers, it's rare to see a New Yorker carrying bags of shopping. They carry backpacks or totes.
But last week I was forced to shop. I'd run out of clothing essentials like bras and socks. I'd put off replenishing my diminishing supply of these items for six years. So in the words of my hero Gough Whitlam, I said to myself, "
It's Time.
Accordingly, I left work early and got off the bus a few blocks before my normal stop, so that I could walk down 86th street and grab some socks and undies. I usually buy socks and bras at Orva's on 86 and so I headed there first. I also normally wear only black and white striped socks but there were none. So I quickly grabbed socks of every colour I could remember having in my wardrobe, and then went to the pantyhose section. There I found some lovely seamed pantyhose - very sexy. I'll have three of those, I said, echoing a Kate of many year's ago buying lollies in the local milk bar in Bathurst, NSW.
An Out-Of-Bra Experience
I couldn't find the bra section at Orva's, and asked a checkout chick where it had gone. "It's gone forever," she said. "We all have to go to Victoria's Secret now."
So The Secret it was.
I don't like that store. Just walking into it makes me think I'm in the Mid-West. It's so un-New York. But there was no option if I was to stock up that day. So I took the plunge and went there.
I wandered around trying to find a bra that didn't have two inches of padding or wasn't so flimsy as to be useless, and to my surprise I found a really nice style.
I also found an excellent young store assistant. She located more of my size and style, and as I walked towards the cashier she yelled after me - 'Say Cheechie sent you! I'm Cheechie. Tell them!"
And so I did. As I handed my six bras to the cashier I said, "Cheechie told me to tell you that she helped me". "Huh", said the cashier. "They aren't meant to say that - we just ask customers to point to whoever served them." "Oh well", I said, "she's very good", and so her name or code was rung up into the register.
The following day I returned to buy a few more bras of that style. I couldn't see Cheechie but when I went to one of the checkout queues and when it was my turn I said "Cheechie", and the cashiers all laughed. She wasn't even there that day. Nevertheless they punched in her code. People in the queue parallel to the one I'd just left overheard.
As each customer paid they dutifully chanted, "Cheechie; Cheechie sent me!".
Cheechie girl will really get a good pay-check this week. And perhaps I've started a trend. I certainly hope so!
On the Streets of New York
Often it's not just clothes shopping that has to be squeezed in between the hours at the office, which take up most of a New Yorker's time. It's eating. There's just not time to cook food, let alone buy it.
So dotted along the streets of New York are food vendors. In a New York minute you can buy AND eat your evening meal. And there's quite a variety of cuisines available - Chinese, Middle Eastern, Italian, American kosher, American ...
I really like knish, but I can't pronounce it properly, so if I am shopping at a street kiosk, I usually grab a hot dog instead.
You can buy clothes, jewelry, watches and handbags on the street. I've even see cats for sale on the sidewalk. And just yesterday I saw a mobile lawyer parked outside my local supermarket. He had huge signs advertising his specialities - lead-poisoning cases and accident claims.
I whipped out my camera to take a pic for y'all, but it was out of battery. I just haven't had time to recharge it.
A common New York saying is - "But whose got the time?" I hear it at least a dozen times a day. It can be said as a generic answer to almost anything. Most New York social conversations can fit into the following template.
"Did you [activity goes here]?"
"I would but whose got the time?"
"Tell me about it!"
This lack of time leads to all sorts of problems, and the inability to shop for essentials, whether it be a for a bra or a packet of sugar, is the least of one's worries.
Yes, New York does have a lot of negatives, and I'd tell you about them, but as we say,
whose got the time?
Kate Juliff
New York
August 2005
