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ILLUSTRATION
ROB CHAM
Tim Tayag, comic by day and family man by night (or vice
versa), takes action for suffering boyfriends and husbands in
malls worldwide by designing a man-friendly hub
WITH ALL THE TALK
about how we
spend so much of our time in shopping
malls, you’d think they’d have designed
the perfect building — one that indeed has
something for everyone. But I still get the
sinking feeling that malls are designed
based strictly on women-only surveys.
How else can you explain why all of the
video arcades are tucked way up on the
high floors, and women’s labels line the
ground floor? And that sweet scent that
wafts out of those high-end stores aren’t to
make the shopping experience more lovely;
they’re to keep boyfriends and husbands in
a woozy trance, happy to be trailing (and,
sometimes, paying), and offering solicited
opinions that are shot down before they
can take flight.
Here’s the usual scenario. Woman
shops. Man waits. Woman takes forever
because she needs to try them all on,
knowing fully well she probably won’t buy.
Man gets hungry. Tension builds. Kaboom!
So to be truly family friendly, it’s time
to design man-only areas. Malls have
play centers where you can drop off your
kids with their nannies (or if you’re lucky,
some niece or nephew whose babysitting
services you can have for free) while
mommies go shopping, but they haven’t
installed a single man center to drop off
boyfriends and husbands.
I’d like to think that this kind of setup
would be best for women as well — they
can soar through the stores unencumbered
by men who can’t tell the different between
light green and teal, baby blue and
periwinkle, white and ivory — what
did
we
learn in school?
One afternoon, while obediently
following my wife as she tried on the
entire store, I sat on the couch, smiling,
pretending to be pleased with each piece of
overpriced clothing, and secretly designing
the perfect man-center. Frank Gehry and
Zaha Hadid will be pleased. Gentlemen,
you’re welcome.
c h i k k a
l a u g h t r i p
Man center
