In addition to writing about Buy Nothing Day, I decided to walk my talk. The Buy Nothing Day website had over 500 actions planned for all over the country. I chose to join the “whirl” planned for Bath & Beyond on 6th Avenue in NYC on Black Friday afternoon.
A Whirl is a fun, easy to do, visual way to raise awareness about overconsumption. Here’s the instructions I received from the Buy Nothing Day site:
Dress inconspicuously—this starts as invisible theatre. Arrive at BB&B between 12:45 and 1:15 pm, alone or in very small groups. Enter the store, grab a shopping cart, and start pushing it through the aisles in a calm, unhurried fashion. When you see another person with an empty cart, don’t acknowledge her visually, but do fall in line behind her. And don’t be surprised when you start to hear the squeak of other shopping carts behind you. Explore all the aisles; if your line seems traffic jammed, feel free split off and have others follow you. Or re-combine with another shopping cart snake. Explore the shopping cart escalator. If anyone asks what you’re doing, you can say it’s a “consumption awareness ritual” or “we are looking to see if there’s anything we want to buy” or simply, “I’m not shopping.” Relax, enjoy, and try not to giggle.
My family thought I was nuts to hop a train down to NYC on Black Friday not to shop, but to make some mischief. I walked through the Bed Bath & Beyond on 6th avenue at the appointed time pushing an empty cart for a few minutes when a woman with an empty cart started following me. I felt like a CIA spy, trying to be inconspicuous. Within a few more minutes, I walked by a young gal with purple braids also pushing an empty cart. I twirled my cart around to follow her. Before long, I was one of 20 people with empty carts walking through the aisles of BB&B silent like a zombie. At times, I got nervous as the BB&B staff grew in numbers, purposefully asking me and others what we were looking for. A long line of 20 empty carted shoppers winding through the aisles, we were making a quiet scene.
I wish I could have taken some photos. BB&B has this crazy escalator for the shopping carts. The image of 10 empty shopping carts traveling down that escalator along with 10 zombie faced “non-shoppers” gliding down the escalator will stay in my mind for a long time.
It felt good to make a little trouble. It also helped me to personally break out of my own consumer trance. After walking around the BB&B for over an hour, the products on the shelves lose their pull on your psyche. It all became just “stuff”. Useless stuff. Stuff I really did not need. Being “bad” can be very therapeutic, I highly recommend it.
