The Surprising Disregard for Security at High-End Shopping Malls

People who know me well will know that I’m not a shopper. I can wear the same clothes for 5 to 10 years until they tear before I think to buy new ones. Same for shoes; no new holes = no new shoes. That also means I haven’t bought what we call “New Year clothes” for over 10 years now. And that’s why sometimes my sister and mum would buy clothes for me such that when I return home for the New Year, I would see new clothes hanging in them. Although sometimes they belong to my brother-in-law.

The newest piece of clothing in my closet in Japan now is a T-shirt given to me by my company two months ago. The one before that was bought a few years ago when I visited Nagoya. There’s this shop in Nagoya that I like a lot so every time I visit the city, I would drop by the shop to see if there’s anything I fancy. While the shop has a branch in Tokyo, it appears that the collection is decided by the shop manager and I don’t really like the taste of the Tokyo manager. The clothes left in my closet back in Singapore are actually from my polytechnic days over 15 years ago.

The first time I ever bought anything in Isetan in Japan was when my sis asked me to get some facial products for her. Isetan is a relatively high-end mall here. Head to the top floor and you can see watches hovering around the 1 million yen mark. Since I don’t ever shop at all, much less at high-end malls, I got a shock when I attempted to pay by credit card here. The staff took my card and headed toward the back of a room before emerging with the slip for me to sign. I signed the slip, got my receipt and left with the product. That was a very odd experience for me.

Earlier today, I went to get a new wallet because the tab attached to my current wallet zip tore apart and it’s a little hard to open the wallet now. Also, in our culture, using a torn wallet is not good fengshui. I paid by credit card again today, and again, the staff took my card to the back of a room and emerged with a slip for me to sign.

I wonder why they do that. Is it because showing customers you punching the numbers in is “not classy?” As a business operator, I think they should never ever take a customer’s credit card out of their sight for security purposes. Someone could swipe it for something else or snap a picture of your card and make unauthorized purchases with it. If a regular shop on the street knows not to do that, why doesn’t Isetan? That’s why I don’t shop there much.

No, actually I don’t shop there much because the stuff are too expensive.

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