Over Thanksgiving break I visited my family in San Antonio, TX. Unopened, in the corner of dining room was a Turk'n Surf box. (That would be an indoor, propane-free turkey fryer for sale on TV.) It reminded me of a quotation included in "The Home Shopping Club: A Television of Attractions," that hit a little too close to home:
"Who is the typical Home Shopping Club shopper? They are those people in restaurants who can't tell if the coffee they're drinking is real ... They seek to get ahead in the world by studying diesel mechanics, dental hygiene, or welding."
My mother is a dental hygienist.
Now, she's awesome, so she won't mind me telling you that "after a few impulse buys, addiction [did] take hold," just as the article describes. (She's transferred her affections back to the mall lately -- she articulated becoming "conscious" of shopping channels' methods of pressure, like timers and "limited quantities.")
I started noticing items like the Turk'n Surf, closet-organization kits, and gold box-chain necklaces around her house after I had finished undergrad. I was shocked. She waited until now? I had spent what seemed like my entire elementary-school life watching HSN and QVC to learn gemology. (To this day -- clearly not having pursued a vocation as a jeweler -- I can still pinpoint quartz and corundum on the Mohs scale.) The channels had a primarily pedagogical function for me, but still, sometimes as an item sold out, my little 10-year-old heart would break.
Mom can keep the Turk'n Surf though. Maybe it'll get some play next Thanksgiving.
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1 comment:
if you need to unload any of those gold box-chain necklaces (for soul cleansing, or whatnot), i'm glad to help.
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