Lisa has posted about her Thanksgiving dinner plans. I got hungry just reading it. Thank goodness there is garlic roasting the oven for my afternoon snack. Her post reminded me that the holidays are well and truly here and I am just beginning to feel it.
I used to work in retail. When you work in retail the holidays can never sneak up on you. They're larger than life,taking over everything from the buying to the merchandising to the music in the store cd player. Even so, Christmas was always my favorite time. Usually when I say this people peer at me, wondering if the experience didn't leave me several cards short of a full deck. Perhaps I am delusional, suffering from PTSD. And it is true, it is exhausting and at times maddening. But I know a few others who work in retail who will back me up, Christmas has advantages. For one thing, people are in a hurry. They've got a dozen gifts to buy, including that secret Santa gift for the new girl in the office, and they do not have time to dilly dally. They want to get a gift and get out. This means they will not torture the sales staff with endless questions about the product. They may not even really know what they're buying. There are those of us (you know who you are) who hunt far and wide for the perfect gift. We are in the minority. As countless yard sales and thrift stores can tell, most people just want to buy something. If it's big or jeweled or requires lots of batteries, all the better. All of this is a plus to the overworked sales person. They are only required to ring it up and bag it and maybe to wrap it but at least they don't have to really sell it.
The other advantage to the holidays is how quickly the days go. There is no time for boredom. You arrive in the morning and before you know it the day has passed, hustled along in a storm of tissue and bags and little gift cards. It is a little worrisome to find a solid week of your life gone without you really noticing but it is only once a year. For two solid months the sales person's constant enemy, ennui, is held at bay. Of course it will be back with a vengeance in January, the doldrums of retail. But for now, days pass quickly and there is no need to find odd little projects to fill the time between shoppers, no need to clean the tops of shelves and endlessly fold and refold the sweaters. For now there is some excitement, a feeling of optimism in the air as retail gallops into the black.
I know, predictions are dire. John Q Public is not going to be spending this year. Gifts will be curtailed, dinners shortened, vacation plans put off. And it will probably be like that, mostly. Retail will be down this year, stores will make deeper cuts in prices, kids will not get everything on their list in spite of managing to clean their rooms at least once this year. But it is still a season of optimism. You just can't help yourself when faced with gold ribbons and colored lights and carolers in the street. Not to mention bowls of wassail punch. And this year we have the Inauguration to look forward to. It is right that we should feel this way, right that the Yule should bring hope as the days begin to lengthen. It's what we need now, not doomsday predictions but acknowledgment that we are still here, that we have breath and life and dear friends and family. So try not to worry too much, let the best of the season fill you with hope and joy. (And wassail punch.)
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3 comments:
I am thankful each and every holiday season that I no longer work in retail. Last year, I voluntarily went to a mall between Thanksgiving and Epiphany (my own personal blackout dates) for the first time since I left retail work in 1992. While it was a lot less stressful a trip than I prepared myself for, I'm not in a hurry to repeat the adventure - I much prefer to shop without all the frenzy! I should, however, get myself together with regard to gifts...the holidays will be over before I know it.
I detest shopping and instead do my Christmas shopping year round at various fetsivals and online. However, I, too, loved the holidays during my retail tenure. It was fun. There, I said it. I thought it was fun. Of course, I passed those days on the corner of 59th and Madison in NYC, which is considerably nicer than your average mall...
A yes, that's just it. It was better to be the seller than the shopper in the maelstrom, standing on endless lines sweating in heavy winter clothes. This is why I bake and knit and buy from little pokey shops that aren't wall to wall people. I have been known to go to Macy's on Xmas Eve, just to watch. I don't last very long but I get to feel smug when I stroll out the door.
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