38-year-old Tao Hsiao leapt to his death from a 7th floor balcony after a row with his girlfriend at a shopping mall in Xuzhou, China, over Christmas after she insisted they visit a shop where there was a special offer on shoes after they’d already been shopping for five hours. From the sounds of it, Tao Hsiao completely lost the plot.
A witness said:
He told her she already had enough shoes, more shoes than she could wear in a lifetime and it was pointless buying more. She started shouting at him accusing him of being a skinflint and of spoiling Christmas, it was a really heated argument.
Eventually Tao chucked his bags to the floor and leapt from the balcony, smashing through Christmas decorations on his way down and hitting the floor seven stories below.
You’ve got to feel for the guy — after 5 hours of being dragged around the shops by his girlfriend, he just couldn’t take it anymore. He preferred to jump from a balcony and fall 7 floors to his death than spend another hour watching his girlfriend try on 50 pairs of shoes that he’d probably end up paying for. He literally thought “I’d rather die than carry on this shopping trip for another second.”
Of course, there was always the option of waiting it out, or reasoning with his girlfriend, of breaking up with her right there and then, or leaving the shopping mall, or pretty much doing anything other than kill himself. But still, a powerful point well made.
