Myth 08 – Myth-Nomers by Aspirin, Robert

turn themselves or their customers inside out before they’ll

let a sale get away.

I mention this so that everyone following this adventure

will realize what a shock shopping on Perv was to me. The

differences were so many, it was almost hard to accept that

the same activity was underway in both instances.

For openers, there was the basic layout. The Bazaar is

an endless series of stalls and shops that stretch over the

horizon in all directions. There are various concentrations

of specialty shops, to be sure, but no real pattern and, more

important, no way of finding anything without looking. In

direct contrast, Pervish shopping is dominated by what Edvik

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referred to as “department stores.” One store could take

up an entire city block with as many as six stories crammed

full of merchandise. The goods are organized into sections

or “departments” and carefully controlled so as not to be

in competition with each other. Signs are prominently dis-

played to tell shoppers where everything is-, though it is still

relatively easy to get lost in the maze of aisles and counters.

Of course, it also helps if you can read Pervish.

Perhaps the biggest difference, however is in the general

attitude toward customers. This was apparent when I made

my first stop in the luggage department.

There was a good selection of bags and cases there, and

the displays were laid out well enough so that I could distin-

guish between the magikal and non-magikal bags without

being able to read the signs. It wasn’t even that hard to