(NOTE: I accidentally deleted a long paragraph here last night, while trying to edit in a photo while half asleep. Nyar. I shall attempt to re-write.)
Citibank hosted Wednesday's special preview to this year's sale. Because I had to be at AIM for a meeting Wednesday morning, I missed most of the first day of the annual madness called the Crocs Mega Sale (hihihi). Unlike last year where I took a leave from work to be one of the first in line, I had no choice but to try my luck at 45 minutes before 6pm. A and I walked to Mega Tent from our condo, since traffic was terrible on Meralco Avenue. As expected, the line snaked all the way around Mega Tent. My friends G and J were there 3 hours before I got there, and they just got in a few minutes before I arrived. Then I had to fall in line for another hour (you had to be within Mega Tent's premises by 6pm as they closed the gates then but allowed people to shop 'til 10pm). Good thing I saw Pastor L and whiled away the time talking to him about this and that. I was expecting chaos inside, and true enough, stocks were a mess and the lines to the cashiers were long! I spent a good 20 minutes looking for those Watermelon Malindis, to no avail. :( Well, none in my size. Or maybe I just gave up looking because people were crazy digging through mountains of shoes. Ha! Man, the place was packed! So I ended up empty-handed. :(
I did, however, get a pair of HSM Crocs for A, and had G pay for it, since J's mom-in-law was four customers away at the cashier for senior citizens. Nope, no time to shop since I had to be in another meeting in QC at 8pm. So that was it. I made a mental note to head back the next day and look for a nice pair for the little boy.
Yea, right. The next day, the City of Pasig padlocked the gates to Mega Tent mid-afternoon. People lining up outside the premises were turned away. Apparently, the organizers failed to secure the proper permits to operate that massive a sale in the city of Pasig. When I arrived to check out the lock-down at 5pm (Oh yes, I made usi, hehe), the guards couldn't give a decent explanation as to why they weren't letting anyone in, when obviously, there was still a crowd shopping inside the tent. Some lock-down! I would have thought that when a business is deemed to be violating business laws, a lock-down would have meant a complete cease in operations. But no, Crocs still accomodated the few hundreds of people who were already within the premises.
BUT! They failed to address the maddening crowd OUTSIDE the gates. They left that to the guards. Guards of Mega Tent, who were merely following orders, but who were rude to those waiting outside. And yes, they couldn't explain what was really happening, until policemen came to hang the banner that says they closed the venue because organizers failed to secure the right permits to operate. Nyar.
Why didn't anyone from Crocs face their customers? The ones who took the day off, half the day off, clocked out early, etc.? Why'd they leave the explaining to those who weren't even under their employ? They could've sent out their PR person, their marketing manager, anyone! Anyone who could release an official statement from Crocs. There were babies and kids outside the gates! Oh Crocs, you could've done better!
And to top it off, people were wondering why customers (who were already inside) were still allowed to shop. I mean, you're supposed to stop operations when you get a lock-down order, right? I guess management was able to negotiate a leeway for those who fell in line all day. Imagine the chaos if those people were made to leave after enduring at least two hours in line under the sun. But again, no one from Crocs bothered to say anything to those outside wondering why the lock-down wasn't quite the lock-down.
At 6pm, the guards started telling everyone that they were not letting people in because it was past 6, leaving out the part about the lock-down. Which pissed a number of angry customers waiting outside the gates since 4pm... One guard with the surname Cleofe, played his power trip so well, he irked a lot of women (what a power tripper he was). He only got back my respect when he turned away a va-va-voom girl in short-shorts. ;) John-D, you have power-tripping, YET honest guards! LOL! You must give this guard Cleofe a raise! Or tell your agency to... Hehe.
Today, on their facebook account, Crocs apologized and announced that their Mega Sale hours will be extended until 8pm through Sunday, March 21.
Hmmm... maybe I should go give the Sale another try... Ha!
~~~
EDIT: I did go back today (Saturday). I got to Mega Tent at 830am, only to find out they weren't letting customers in 'til 10am. As in, customers were lined up OUTSIDE the venue's gates -- on Meralco Avenue, beside the traffic, exposed to sun and smog. :P What's worse is that they weren't letting any of the cars in either! I had to circle the area twice to see if I could find parking nearby, only to be disappointed since St. Paul was holding their graduation rites and the streets were packed as well. So I dropped everyone off, and parked the car at home. I walked back. Defeats the purpose of having a huge parking lot at the venue when you can't even park there. They did let cars go in at 10am. But nyar.
Prices of some items were reduced from Wednesday's prices. So I was able to get a few pairs of the children stock. No luck with the women shoes, they either had size 4 or the gigantic ones left. I was so tempted to get a gold pair of Olivias (I saw a pair in my size lying around near the cashiers) but decided to let it pass. Who needs a ton of Crocs anyway? :P
2nd EDIT: So. It turns out that Mega Tent was the one lacking in this case. They forgot to renew their permits! All this time, I was thinking "wow, ang galing naman ng mga guards mo, John-D." When they acted out of duty because you were the ones at fault! Sigh.
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