The Bulimic Shopper

Chatting with a friend last night, he coined a phrase that stuck with me. Namely the bulimic shopper. What's a bulimic shopper? It's someone that goes to the store, buys a load of clothes and then a few days later, through guilt or whatever, returns most of them.

But it made me think. How many of us do the same sort of thing with something else in our lives? Maybe we overindulge in watching sports, only to promise to stay away from it for the next week. Or maybe it's the trip to the pub. We overindulge one night and don't go there in punishment to ourselves for another few days. Or maybe it's the book collector that goes to B&N, buys $100 worth of books and has to return $50 of them the next day.

I'm sure we've all been a little bulimic with something at some time or other. Of course, there's a serious side to the word bulimia and I'm not trying to lessen the seriousness of that condition, merely using a word to demonstrate its use in other manifestations. After all, that's what writers do.

So, here's to the bulimic shopper; the bulimic pub visitor; the bulimic sports watcher; the bulimic book buyer - may you recognize your condition for what it is and moderate accordingly... I don't want to be responsible for introducing a new term to the English language.

Have a great weekend...

These have been some 'utterances from an overcrowded mind.'