Choosing Not to Speak

No sooner than I exited the train on 14^th street did I find myself falling victim to this irrationality. Some may know this, but as you exit the Path on 14^th there is a pretty large Urban Outfitters store. Known for its sales and large variety, I normally find myself shopping here when I’m in the area. The shoe section always has the best sales, primarily because they sell the shoes loose and you have to find matching pairs amongst the hale storm of rummaged solo footwear.

I noticed a pair I liked; well actually I noticed “a shoe” that I liked with no price tag. While searching for the matching pair I noticed a pair of the same shoe in a different color I did not like. At 29.99 I thought the shoe was a steal and if I found the matching pair for the shoe I had in my hand I would purchase it immediately (the regular price for this shoe was $69.99).

After five minutes of playing “Where’s Waldo” with my shoe in question, I gave up and ask a worker for assistance, who in less than 30 seconds pulled my matching shoe out the pile. In my personal angst about my lack of shoe finding skills, I went to the cashier to purchase my shoes.

Once I reached the cashier, I decided out of some weird internal impetus, to ask the price of the shoe (I had already assumed that since the other color of the same shoe was $29.99, this one should be the same.). The cashier informed me that the shoe was $39.99 a full $10 dollars more than what I originally thought.

If I had thought about this situation objectively I would have purchased the shoe immediately, I was still getting the shoe at a $30 discount. But because the same exact shoe of a different color was only $29.99 I felt that it was not worth purchasing the original shoe I desired.

As I walked out the store I literally smacked myself in the head, realizing that I fell victim to this principle of irrational thinking.

I still didn’t go back to purchase the shoe.