Pride

I could sense the hue of irony in L's reply.

"What happened in reality?" I asked.

"Nothing," my friend continued with his wicked smile, "Or I should say the business of the two shops remain very much the same. If anything, the real big spenders tend to go to H a trifle more."

"Why should that be the case?"

"That's quite natural. First, many potential customers pick a brand of handbag rather than the other by the brand per se; customer service has very little to do on the decision. If the craft and material of one brand is better than the other - or, if, in reality, one brand is the market leader because of a longer tradition - customers from a strong nation will follow their tradition and vote by their legs."

"I can understand that. But I suppose many of the customers do not have any pre-determined idea on which shop to go?"

"Very true. But, you know, handbag is something that they carry along with them, probably for many many years. The bag is a symbol of the owner's pride and something to show off. A shop run by cool and mask-face shopkeepers would be interpreted as elegant and high class, while an excessively friendly and obedient team of servant may appear to be grovelling - the honor of getting into the shop would be, ironically, depreciated."