It has taken me a lifetime to discover that retail is aside from the obvious (“the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers”) a psychological exploit. It is an agenda fraught with palpable exposure. This is so not because of prior insufferable ignorance rather the unwitting acceptance of outcome without consideration of the alternative and its superior value in any event. Depending on the consumer, retail may for example involve animated (sometimes unaccountably hysterical) price differences, questionable size determination, gender suitability, vacillating public appeal, colour or fabric consternation, make or model hassles, stripped down or tarted up versions and even something as lacking in excitement as diameter vs circumference. What however is inescapable and inalterable is the sequence of associated mental and emotional attributes whether psychosomatic or real. All of which can I believe be overcome if unfortunately found to be undesirable.

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.

Retail acquisitions historically define the character of the purchaser. It is therefore often in those instances of particular appeal that the decisions are critical. There is naturally room for error on both sides of the equation (that is, the retailer and the consumer). Where the going gets especially thick is when the miscalculation is that of the consumer only.  Nor is the option of “exchange” or “return” or “refund” particularly endearing when the disputed element is trifling or the value of exercising the options is unsupported by the price of the article.

Though it is by no means impossible to land upon an unanticipated triumph in the retail experience, more often than not the success of the enterprise relates directly to the accuracy of the process. Concluding an inaccuarate purchase is something about which I now have little hesitation; namely, move on!  It might surprise you to learn that the provocation is not merely optimism; that is, directing one’s attention to future remedial possibilities. Instead the buoyancy illustrates the discrete decision to surmount the difficulty by penetrating or going around it with the conviction of rediscovering a better exemplification of the original pursuit.

Perhaps as a nod to my general fortuity I have the questionable privilege on occasion to have bought – by mistake – some rather expensive things. Normally the heartfelt opener upon discovery of the error is accommodation, arguing against one’s better judgement that the obstruction is for example psychological only or otherwise beyond accreditation. This irrelevancy is not unexpected as it quells the punishment which otherwise persists particularly following an error of sizeable proportion. But size doesn’t matter. Whether it is a moderate or immoderate expenditure is irrelevant to the acceptabillity of the purchase. The true materialist is a greedy and uncompromising consumer. Whether bauble or jewel the purchase is to the dedicated purchaser of equal estimation. Acknowledging a mistake is likewise equally infectious.

It is at this crossroad that one faces the decision to succumb or to surpass. In the end I have found it to be unquestionably more helpful to make the decision to escape the conundrum entirely rather than to violate it with possible further error of judgement. That is, some things are best left alone and unhindered.  It is not a question of trying to alter mechanics or adopt a new colour or live with the wrong size or pretend to tolerate an inconvenience. It is about admission not reconstruction. Admitting the problem is halfway there.

Getting to the end of the road is about deciphering the exact inadequacy. Knowing that fact enables one to alter the pathway and to determine the appropriate remedy. This combination of knowing the question and seeing the answer is what works. Invariably the overview permits one to foresee the connecting solution. In some cases it is as simple as starting over from the beginning; in others, the abandonment of the initial purpose; and, still others, the re-interpretation of the error as for example an unanticipated opportunity for charity or other beneficent contribution. And with the latest fashionability of on-line auction there are as well commercial opportunities for those with the energy.  What is paramount in any instance of error is the determination to step aside or over or through it, but in any event not to be eternally obstructed by it. This is so even where there is an expense involved to do so.  You are fooling yourself to imagine that some day in the future you shall awaken with a newly enlivened adoration of the thing.  You will not.  It’s still only a thing. And it is quaranteed you shall never recollect the price you paid for it. I shall presume in the meantime that you have better things to do than to imagine the inevitable.