Today only: 50% Off

My struggle with FOBRO

I recently ordered a set of blinds. When I first made my selections, and carefully measured the windows, there was a discount code automatically applied, giving me 45% off. But I didn’t place the order right away. When I went to check out 2 days later, the discount had expired. That day’s discount was only 40%. I felt robbed, more than if they’d never offered me a “discount” at all.

Because I suffer from a chronic psychological condition. You’ve heard of FOMO; I have FOBRO. Fear of Being Ripped Off.

And in today’s algorithmically enhanced world, it plagues me constantly. Back in some soft focus day of in-person retail, clothing stores had annual sales. Now I get texts every single day telling me there’s a sale I’m about to miss out on.

Sales that “almost never happen” seem to happen a lot.

For one retailer, I have a dress waiting in my virtual shopping cart. I watch its price go up and down when I log in, depending on that day’s discounts. It’s like watching the stock market, as the price bounces $40 either way. Will the price move further? Is THIS the moment to buy?

I recently went to a restaurant, and received a notification later that I was getting a cash back reward from T-Mobile. Unbeknownst to me, this restaurant was part of their dining rewards program, for which I had signed up. But I used 2 different cards (one at the bar, one at the table). And I only got cash back on one transaction; the one with the card I’d registered with T-Mobile. So once again I didn’t feel rewarded, I kicked myself for missing out.

I can’t buy tickets to an event without wondering if I should have checked Groupon. When I go to a specialty store, I flick through the current offers from Amex to see if it’s there. Or should I have checked AAA? Is there a Visa reward? It’s soul destroying, this sense of constant failure (or small triumph, that I managed to get a whole $1.50 off my total at Sephora).

It’s like a low-grade anxiety, paralleling the one about being outright scammed by phishers or data thieves; this is a fear that I’ll be manipulated into paying more by an endless loop of ads.

If everything’s on special, nothing is.