Columnist Susan Snyder: Shopping anguish is stored today

Friday, Nov. 23, 2001 | 9:38 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Were we out being patriotic consumers today?

Spend a little? Charge a little? Get up before dawn so you could be the first in line to get your hands on whatever it is that kids will want but the manufacturers won't make enough of?

Better you than me. Today, I'll observe International Buy Nothing Day.

This anti-movement to the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy was founded by a Canadian in 1993 and has spread across the globe to more than 30 countries.

It is designed to make people stop and think about how unbridled consumerism (i.e., "buying stuff") affects the environment and those working for a pittance in economically challenged countries.

In this country, where many are drowning in personal debt, Buy Nothing Day supporters say it might not be a bad idea to hang around the house and eat another turkey sandwich.

Actually, I think it's a swell idea. But not for any of the lofty reasons mentioned above.

I won't shop today because I had to go to the store five days in a row just to survive Thanksgiving. You can't drag me into a retail outlet today if they were giving away big sacks of money.

Saturday we headed to the grocery early to lay in the eats for Thursday's ordeal, er, feast.

Well, of course, I forgot the list my sister-in-law e-mailed of all the ingredients she needed for her sweet potato casserole. So I went back to the store Sunday.

I arose Monday to find enough coffee for one weak pot. The refrigerator contained a jar partially full of mayonnaise, the heel from a loaf of pumpernickel, a bag of cat treats and something with feet on it. The rest of the contents was don't-touch food for Thanksgiving.

Needless to say (but I will because that's what I am paid to do), I went to the store Monday because Thursday was a long time to wait for a meal.

I ran out of laundry soap Monday night with a load of sheets and a load of towels to go. By Tuesday, the grocery store had named a parking space in my honor.

And I needed the freshest possible shrimp and salmon for Thursday's fare, which meant another trip to the grocery Wednesday.

I wore a hood pulled down over my head in hopes of slinking past the Salvation Army bell-ringer unnoticed. You could drop a whole house payment in those buckets by the time Dec. 20 rolls around. The checker smiled when she saw me. We exchanged addresses for Christmas cards.

But if you do decide to hit the sales today, Buy Nothing people suggest you look at where your purchase was manufactured -- especially clothing. Women and children in some countries endure pitiful wages and long hours sewing our garments.

Although commendable in theory, in practice this works better for a Canadian man who has never been a 40-year-old woman trying to buy black pants for the holidays.

After five stores, 26 pairs of pants and wondering where in the world people are shaped like that, I don't care if Bozo the Clown starved his own mother into submission to sew them.

If they fit, they're mine. But not today.