(Almost) Death by Sale

Last Wednesday, my shopping addiction was brought to new heights (and risks).

Debenhams announced their BOGO Sale (Buy One, Get One) on the newspapers that morning, and it was what all me and my friends could think about. As we left work that afternoon, the exodus to Kingdom Mall (akaMamlaka) commenced. We tend to go there for Debenhams because it's nearer to where we live. When we reached Arouba Road, we were already quite suspicious from the outside because of the traffic that surrounded the whole area and the perimeter block guarded by Saudi soldiers. My friend's dad said that there might be Royals in the building. We didn't give it much thought because we were able to get inside Mamlaka. But I noticed that it was weird that there were no vehicles dropping off ladies and even the London Taxi Cab Service was not where it used to be. We arrived inside the mall at around 6:00 pm and were surprised to see that the stores were closed (even though it wasn't prayer time). The food court was spotless and I could tell that there were only about 20 people in total of the whole first floor of Kingdom Mall. Something is definitely off. I mean, it's the freaggin' BOGO SALE for crying out loud! How can there be NO people rushing to Kingdom Mall at this time!?!?

It was until one of our fellow Kabayans who had a walkie-talkie, approached us and said, "Ma'am, may bomb threat po sa Kingdom" (Ma'am, there is a bomb threat in Kingdom building). The three of us looked at each other, almost thinking the same thing, "You must be kidding." The man explained that there was a bomb threat at the SAMBA (Saudi American Bank) area at the 42nd/32nd floor (?), and that all the people in the Kingdom Towers were evacuated--even the guests staying at the Four Seasons Hotel. It happened a bit earlier between 5:00 to 5:30 pm when it was announced over the mall's sound system that a bomb threat in the building. It turns out, people panicked and stormed out of the mall in rush. The cleaning lady at the female restroom told me about how fathers /brothers/husbands rushed inside the restroom to get their relatives. I could only imagine it as chaos!

So, there we were, contemplating on whether to stay at the mall or go. We wanted to stay mostly for the reason that once the bomb threat clears, the mall is OURS for the taking and everything else our hearts desired at Debenhams will be at our disposal without worrying about competition hogging the racks. We thought about leaving for the sake of preserving our existence. But, somehow, the idea of scoring great deals on this Sale remained a priority on our minds. See, didn't I tell you in the beginning of this that my shopping addiction has reached new heights and risks? Shoot me, shoot me NOW! Hahahaha.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (to the nth level!)

We also couldn't tell our parents because we knew that if we did, they will demand our butts home in an instant. So instead, we drafted texts on our celfones, something of a "last goodbye" kind of effect of a text, just in case an explosion blows off, we'd just hit send and at least, we will leave this world doing what we love: shopping. :P Somebody knock me over the head!

In some sense of seriousness, the girls and I decided that if the threat doesn't clear out in 30 minutes, then we'd leave. Since most of the mall's employees were still around, we figured the threat wasn't so imminent. And besides, if there was a real danger at hand, how come we were able to enter the mall so easily? Without even the soldiers reprimanding us to enter? And there were still a few people with us, who looked like shoppers too. Therefore, we decided to chill and wait.

Eventually, the bomb threat cleared at around quarter to seven. Unfortunately, it was time to the last salah, so we had to wait for another 30 minutes before we could invade Debenhams. When we finally did, parts of the place looked like Haraj with clothes strewn all over the floor and some racks were even pushed over. We really felt for the salesmen who lloked like they had a lot of extra work ahead of them. I heard that some of their colleagues didn't return to work anymore after the bomb threat so they were forced to face the mess and possibly, more customers who'd arrive, all by themselves.

Sad to say, the whole excitement surrounding our voyage to the BOGO Sale was anticlimactic. I didn't get much stuff as I hoped I did, but only three or four items that were really worth it. I'll post it as soon as I photograph my purchases. For now, I'll just leave you to think how chronic my shopping addiction is.



Cheers!
-ec-