On Board the Red Windbreaker Trail

On Board the Red Windbreaker Trail

Last week, Joan was with her sister at Parkway when she decided to look around for a nice jacket which she could wear about in school when the term starts instead of borrowing her sister's jacket. Naturally, one of the stores that Joan would go look for jackets is Adidas. Adidas sold a nice red windbreaker that Joan fell in love with. But Joan was looking for more of a sweater kind of jacket so she decided against getting that windbreaker.

On week passed by, Joan thought and thought again. She did have other kinds of jackets, and her sister did have a sweater, but she did not have a windbreaker. She suddenly thought of getting that fated red windbreaker which she had seen in Adidas.

The red windbreaker was nice and small, instead of your usual baggy jacket kind, so it showed of Joan's nice slim body. It was totally red with some white stripes signature of Adidas. The windbreaker came with a little cute red hood which could be hidden in the collar. The inside of the windbreaker was netted and when worn over, it was very snug and warm. Yes, Joan tried that windbreaker when she saw it.

Finally, yesterday while out with her sister and fellow cousins shopping, she decided to look for that fated windbreaker.

Destination 1 of the trail: Taka's Adidas
Joan couldn't manage to find it, but it was okay, as there was still other Adidas, she thought, so she didn't make a big fuss over that fated windbreaker.

Destination 2 of the trail: Heeren's Adidas
Please note that Joan did not immediately proceed to Hereen straight after leaving Taka. Joan was on a shopping expedition together with her sister and cousins and like all shoppers in town, she went through places like Paragon and browsed through hundreds of other shops before enterin the Adidas. At Heeren's Adidas, Joan started to panic and hence decided to open her mouth and request for that windbreaker. The following ensues...

Joan: Excuse me, do you have a red windbreaker here?
Salesman: Is it this one? (holding up a humongous red men's windbreaker)
Joan: No, it's red with white details. Much much smaller one. I saw it at Parkway's Adidas.
Salesman: I suspect that's from the Kids' Collection.
Joan: Is it sold out?
Salesman: No, as in we don't stock the Kids' Collection here.
Joan: Oh I see. Can you help me check it out from other stores if it's possible to locate it?
Salesman: Wait a minute. (went to make calls)
Salesman: I spoke to the supervisor of Parkway's Adidas, but the two red jackets they have are this (the humongous men's windbreaker) and this (a ladies' white sweater with red details).
Joan: no, they are not the one I wanted.
Salesman: I'm really sorry, I can't help you then.

Angry Joan made a mental note to go by Parkway Adidas the next day and if she could locate the red windbreaker she would have that supervisor axed.

The next day, this afternoon, Joan left her house for Parkway in search of the red windbreaker. As usual, she took bus number 13 before changing buses. On board 13, Joan had nothing better to do. Then she suddenly turned her gaze upwards onto the railings of the bus. Hanging on the railings were series of flyers promoting, get this, the TEMASEK ACADEMY. As what the flyer described, "The Temasek Academy 4-year Integrated Programme for 2006 Intake". Joan was so amazed by what she saw and plucked out one flyer for keepsake. Marketing... Then she lifted up her gaze to the TVMobile screen. Lo and behold, there was an ADVERT of the very thing on the flyer in her hand.

Destination 3 of the trail: Parkway's Adidas
Joan headed straight to that store once she got out of the bus. But something was different with the Adidas store since she last seen it last week. Joan went to the counter and the following ensued...

Joan: Last week I spotted a red windbreaker here. Is it still here anymore?
Salesman: Is it this (holding up THAT humongous men's red windbreaker)?
Joan: No, it's red with white details, from a rack over there (pointing to the rack holding several kids clothes)
Salesman: Oh... I think that's from the Kids' Collection. We just returned the stock.
Joan: What do you mean? Is it sold out?
Salesman: No, we returned the stock to the warehouse.
Joan: Is it possible for me to get it from other outlets?
Salesman: The stock are all recalled. If one Adidas outlet doesn't have it, the others won't. We don't want our customers to complain about us being unfair.
Joan: Where are the stock recalled to?
Salesman: The warehouse.
Joan: Is it still possible for me to get that windbreaker anywhere?
Salesman: Not from any of the Adidas stores. You might want to try other sports shops like Royal Sporting House. They might still have it.
Joan: Okay... Thanks.

Destination 4 of the trail: Parkway's Royal Sporting House
Joan walked in. The first thing she noticed was THAT humongous red windbreaker. Joan looked around, no kids clothes around. She went to ask the salesman, yet again.

Joan: Do you have any windbreaker from the Adidas Kids' Collection?
Salesman: I'm sorry, we don't have any stuff from the Kids' Collection. You might want to try their store upstairs.
Joan: I just came down from there. I was directed here by the salesman there as he said that they have recalled all the stock. i'd have a better chance looking for it at other sports shops.
Salesman: Maybe you can try the one at Suntec City.

So, there was Joan being treated like a ping pong ball by the various salesman.

Destination 5 of the trail: Suntec's Royal Sporting House
Joan looked around and saw nothing other than THAT windbreaker, so Joan caught a salesman who directed me to "the shop next door". By then Joan had lost all hope liao le. Depressed, she turned and walked out of the store and with her head hung low and all hope's lost, she walked into "the shop next door".

Destination 6 of the trail: Suntec's Adidas
Joan browsed though the store and saw nothing to her liking. That irritating windbreaker popped up in my sight again. Damnit sia! If i'm ever going to see that damned windbreaker again, I'm going to shred that thing into pieces.

What other things did I get out of this huntint trail?

I must say, this trail really opened my eyes to some stuff. I'm not going to say this this trail totally wasted my time since I got nothing tangible out of it. Let's see what intangible things I got out of it.

1. The Temasek Academy crap.
That made me laughed. It's so crap.

2. Another piece of joke that's so crap that made me laughed.
I went G2000 and bought a men's long sleeves shirt. On the receipt, it was labelled as skirt/dress. What crap sia...

3. There is such a thing as Toilet Media.
Toilet Media is advertisements in the toilets. As you use the toilet, your eyes would wander and for 30s to 5min, you have nothing to do. Apparently, according to the Toilet Media people, advertisements in the toilet right on the toilet door best catches people's attention. And with nothing else to bother you, that form of advertisement is the most effective. Well, I thought it was quite creative. What say you?

4. Adidas.
I did some research on Adidas. I remember someone asking me sometime ago, why does Adidas have two logos. I thought that perhaps they just changed the logo recently, but apparently, both logos are in use. The Adidas Original logo, the one that looks vaguely like a tulip, is for the Adidas Original line, mainly for style and apparel stuff. The Adidas Performance logo, the three lined triangle thingie, is for their sports stuff. For practical usage. Yup... Didn't know that until I did the research. Quite cool la... haha~

5. There is no such thing as salesman going all out to help you.
Service in Singapore sucks. For the ten thousandth time, I'm going to reiterate my story about the Ralph Lauren guy. I was at the Ralph Lauren at Lido and I spotted this blue dress in the window that looked nice, so I went in and asked a salesman.
Joan: May I know where's the blue dress on display? I'd like to have a look at it?
Salesman: Would that be in the men's department or the ladies' department?
Joan: Yes, and you'd find me a dress in the men's department?
Salesman was so paiseh, but I was pretty pissed. If this happened in This Fashion or some lok kok lok kok place, it might still be okay, but this is RALPH LAUREN. $287 for a dress, I'm paying for service too okay, not just the cloth for the dress and you dont even know your gender differences. hai...

It was a long day today. But still it was enjoyable. But happy times are usually not lasting. I wonder how long can this wave of joy last?