IMPULSE BUY
Scene inside a shop. A woman goes up to the counter with a few groceries.
Shopkeeper : Thank you madam. That will be twelve pounds 60 please.
Customer : There you go.
She looks towards the rack of cigarettes clearly on show behind the counter.
Customer : What are those?
Shopkeeper : These? (he points to the cigarettes)
Customer : Yes.
Shopkeeper : They're cigarettes.
Customer : They look interesting. What do you do with them.
Shopkeeper : You put them in your mouth, light them and inhale.
Customer : Sounds interesting. Give me one.
Shopkeeper : They're in packs of 10 or 20.
Customer : Really? Go on then. I'll have a packet of those pretty green ones.
Shopkeeper : Menthol?
Customer (laughs) : Well I'm a little bit scatty.
Shopkeeper : No - the green ones are menthol flavoured.
Customer : Do you have any chocolate flavoured ones?
Shopkeeper : I guess you've never smoked before.
Customer : How can you tell?
Shopkeeper : Just a hunch. So why do you want to start now?
Customer : Just an impulse really. I mean I saw all those little packets, all different pretty colours and I thought it would make a change.
Shopkeeper (Handing the packet over) : That will be four pounds 80 please.
Customer : (Reads the packet) Smoking Kills? That's not a very good advert is it.
Shopkeeper : They have to put that on there by law.
Customer : Oh well - you only live once. Live dangerously - that's what I say.
Customer leaves the shop.
Comes back a minute later, packet open with a cigarette in her mouth.
Customer : Um - excuse me. What do I do now?
Shopkeeper : Here, (he leans over and lights the cigarette)
Customer (starts coughing) : Wow - this is fun.
Shopkeeper : Lucky I had them on show wasn't it. Next week they're bringing in a law saying cigarettes must be kept below the counter.
Customer : Lucky me eh? What good timing.
)
Playwrite extraordinaire.
http://www.eols.org.uk/
Close
