
China mall introduces 'husband storage' pods for shopping wives - vezycash
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-40609115
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IanCal
It's a nicer alternative to the "idiot chair" that's usually in shops.

With the comment about why come out at all: some shopping we'd do together,
others parts not. I am not interested in (insert item here) and my wife is not
interested in a bored husband for example. I'd rather spend the rest of the
day with her, do the shared shopping and then head off for a while and do
something I'm more interested in and let her enjoy the part she likes.

We don't have to be attached at the hip or in different towns, there's a happy
medium.

~~~
baby
Every time I enter a clothing shop and see chairs, I thank the heroes of that
establishment who thought about bored boyfriends.

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gorm
The only sane thing to do is to find the chair that is always close to the
dressing room, sit down and read HN, and whenever she exists the dressing room
I put down the phone and make a remark that signals I'm deeply interested,
then I give her some advice. Then repeat. Pro tip: Remember to bring a charger
or extra batteries.

~~~
ComodoHacker
Does she really like such hypocrisy?

~~~
telesilla
Giving advice signals he's genuinely engaged. When I take a friend shopping
for clothes, you just want someone to give you a second opinion, gender-
regardless.

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cupcakestand
Why are husbands and men often framed as some degenerated chumps in media
(just check the cover pic)? Aren't there any smart guys who just stay home or
head to the gym while the wife is shopping? Or some who go along and enjoy the
time with their wife/family?

~~~
VLM
For political reasons it must always be portrayed that way. See all TV sitcoms
since roughly the 80s, etc.

Two decades of marriage indicates that much like a root canal, thirty minutes
of selecting a new shirt for the big party seems like it takes hours of
waiting but its really a very small slice of an otherwise enjoyable afternoon.

Due to aspects of contemporary style and higher physical variation in the
female form, if we shop together to get new date night outfits or whatever,
the vast majority of the time will be spent on her outfit. It drives my wife
nuts that I can select a shirt or pants in about five minutes, and they
actually fit me and my butt doesn't look fat or whatever it is she's selecting
for.

I am so old I remember when enclosed legacy shopping malls had a variety of
stores, not just 95% womens clothing stores, I can remember going to book
stores and believe it or not, music and software stores when we were
newlyweds. Perhaps much as vinyl makes music stores cool again, people will
start distributing steam keys on floppy disks again, it could be very hip and
cool with the youngsters. Also pre-Amazon, department stores were more
interesting to shop at, if she was going to spend three hours trying on jeans
I could buy a blender from housewares and I probably needed more AA batteries
or dish washing soap or who knows, but now a days if I want a blender I
comparison shop on the phone and its delivered tomorrow for cheaper than
department store price, also I probably bought it when I thought of it weeks
ago, not weeks later when I was bored shopping with my wife. I think of stuff
that comes from Amazon boxes today, in the old days I shopped manually while
my wife was trying to find a bra that fits or something for hours. Sears is a
dead company now, but I spent a lot of time and money in my youth in its
hardware store component, for example. To a large extent, "I'm bored" as a
male shopper is a very "era of internet shopping" phenomena.

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wiredfool
Local coffee shop has a "Free Husband Creche -- just buy drinks" sign. It's
located in the front half of a pub, and they have decent wifi. I'm good.

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arethuza
The simple answer to this problem that seems to work for us (married 26 years)
is to not go shopping together unless its to look at stuff we are both
interested in. Which is pretty rare....

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OJFord
> Currently, the service is free, but staff told the newspaper that in future
> months, users will be able to ...

Changelog v0.2: Now with mandatory payment!

~~~
bobwaycott
The phrasing _users will be able to_ sure was an interesting touch. Don’t they
mean _users will be required to_?

~~~
OJFord
I'm confused, you're not excited by the forthcoming payment feature?

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johan_larson
Why are these women bringing their husbands/boyfriends along at all?

~~~
arkitaip
Mobile Storage Facility Usage

~~~
ksec
More like Automatic Mobile Payment System, it is better then WePay or Apple
Pay or Cash! It is all automatic!

Seriously this is part of the cultural norm in certain part of SE Asia. And
leaving the your wife to do the ( her ) shopping by herself is viewed as
inconsiderate and to some degree rude.

------
knaik94
I wonder if they were inspired by Jerryboree from Rick and Morty.

~~~
quaz3l
Or Nathan for You? Pretty much the exact same thing.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi-3eRMpOC4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi-3eRMpOC4)

~~~
azeirah
That was _insanely_ painful to watch, thank you.

~~~
quaz3l
Pretty much all of his stuff is amazing. He did Dumb Starbucks awhile back if
you're familiar.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo_deCOd1HU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo_deCOd1HU)

One of my favorites is Souvenir Shop:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBzW1xUjwew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBzW1xUjwew)

~~~
yazr
x10 for souvenir shop. thank you.

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didip
heh, I've always wondered why arcade machines aren't peppered all over
shopping malls.

There are so many bored husbands/boyfriends who could use them.

~~~
0x4f3759df
Because malls don't want to give broke teenagers a place to hang out.

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jtraffic
A workable solution for kids would _really_ be something. It's much harder to
get anything done with bored kids than with a bored adult.

Maybe the bored adults can take care of the kids while the rest shop. ;)

~~~
heisenbit
Ikea understood this a long time ago: Småland

~~~
tomjen3
Indeed. The local IKEA understand this, but there is a time limit (3 hours, I
think) which means it isn't very useful unless you need just to go in and grab
a few items - if you need new furniture for a room, that will typically take
longer.

On the other hand if you offer child care for 8+ hours, people will use it as
a cheaper alternative to babysitting, and if you charge for it, most likely
fewer people are going to use it.

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rdl
I usually end up talking about supply chains and counterfeiting and such with
staff when I go to shops with people, or their inventory management systems,
turn rates, numbers of SKUs, etc., assuming I don't care about the product.
The other fun game is "why is arbitrary product A worth more than arbitrary
product B". This only really works in higher end stores; wouldn't work in a
Walmart, but there I'm busy scouring the ammo shelves for deals.

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rgrieselhuber
Maybe as a solution to this?

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520753/Chinese-
boyf...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520753/Chinese-boyfriend-
jumped-death-girlfriend-insisted-going-clothes-shop.html)

------
kinofcain
In early 2000s a mall in Hamburg did a similar thing, calling it a
Männergarten, though theirs had arts and crafts:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Männergarten](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Männergarten)

------
PaulHoule
My mom sold men's clothing at a department store, my dad would never go a
department store or the mall, I think the crowds spooked him out.

I married a woman who likes woman's clothing stores less than I do.

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IgorPartola
I can't figure out if this is something I'd use or feel that it's insanely
patronizing. I suppose the market will tell which is which.

~~~
syntheticnature
Embrace the power of "and."

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dreamdu5t
American malls would need a bigger box. Probably three times that size at
least.

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mythrwy
Of course. Keep the guy saying _" Honey, you don't need that! it's too
expensive and you already have 6 at home!"_ willingly confined and out of the
way. Brilliant.

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fit2rule
Its nice to see retail outlets catering to the needs of men for a change.

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teddyh
Casual sexism is casual.

EDIT: Mayby I should clarify. Assuming that such a feature is only for “bored
boyfriends” is casually sexist. And it is also homosexual erasure, come to
think of it.

~~~
IanCal
I shouldn't rise to this, but it's a relaxed Sunday and I have some time to
waste, and think it's important to look at what others say and think about how
they may have meant it.

They did not assume it was only for bored boyfriends. They thanked the person
who thought _about_ bored boyfriends. That means the chairs are at least
_partly_ for bored boyfriends but not _exclusively_ for bored boyfriends. The
person replying, if a boyfriend, would have a convoluted thought process if it
was 'I'm glad the person who designed the space thought about other people
than me that I can also obviously make use of' rather than 'I'm glad the
people who designed the space thought about me' when seeing something that
benefits them directly.

> homosexual erasure

I feel your assumption that a bored boyfriend being considered is homosexual
erasure ignores the boyfriends of other men. Or perhaps you meant something
more specific but didn't specify? Perhaps you'd like myself and others to
check before jumping to a conclusion about your motives rather than calling
you a homophobe? Why not extend us the same courtesy.

~~~
teddyh
The comment I replied to could easily have avoided any comment by me by not
referencing “boyfriends” as such, but instead “Significant Others” or some
such more inclusive term.

I also think you read too much exactness into the original comment; it was
casually written, and used the term “boyfriends” as a term for those who come
into a store, not to shop themselves, but in the company of someone else who
will. I feel that this is casually making unnecessary assumptions, and making
some people feel like they are not “normal”, such as women who are not
interested in clothes.

One must be careful when speaking and writing as to not make people with less-
than-majority traits feel unwanted or excluded. Using gendered language where
it is not strictly necessary is one such thing which should be avoided.

~~~
throwanem
Can't speak for women, but I don't feel particularly "erased". Or normal. On
whose behalf, precisely, do you imagine yourself usefully intervening in this
way?

~~~
teddyh
Anyone not covered by the term “boyfriend” is being implicitly “erased” by the
original comment’s wording. Some of those people, like maybe a man-woman pair
who are platonic friends where the man is not strictly a “boyfriend”, are less
important to assert their rights for, since their existence is being less
denied by the rest of society. Others, like maybe a woman-woman lesbian
couple, is more important.

~~~
rublev
Your life must be utter torture viewing every human interaction through the
lens of supposed 'gender equality'.

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demonshalo
I CALL SEXISM!!!!!!

But then again, I like it so what does that make me? O.o

~~~
jstanley
As long as wives are also allowed to use the pods while husbands go shopping,
I don't think it's sexist.

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Pica_soO
Why not take a laptop to the mall and work where you are? Ever since i learned
realizing any dream i have by coding. boredom has been absent from my life.

PS: Objectifying Guys as something to be stored, is okay. And we demand guy-
stuff-quotas in every female clothing store.

~~~
dabei
Same here. The only things is not all shopping malls have great coffee shops.
I'd happily pay some fee by the hour to have a nice environment for coding and
coffee.

