Sunday Night Soundoff

As you can tell from the time of this post, it is actually now Monday morning, but I'm still going from Sunday, so this is my Sunday sound off before my Sunday snooze off and my lazy Monday morning (I hope). First of all, the weather has been poopy (I would have said Sh**ty, but decorum dictates delicacy). We got the big snow storm of Friday and I had to go to work Friday afternoon. The roads were kind of bad, but the worst thing was being stuck in my own parking lot. It took Ben and me about 20 minutes to rock, dig, push, pray, and finally maneuver the car out of the foot of snow in which it sat. I fought like that and drove on bad roads expecting the store to be a ghost town -- boy, was I wrong! The place was a fornicating ZOO! You would think it was the end of the world the way folks were buying up the place (and of course returning stuff almost as fast as they bought it -- see next paragraph). Saturday's store business was a repeat and more of the madhouse Friday.

OK -- the story about sales and returns. What is it that makes people buy a zillion items and then -- before Christmas even comes around -- bring the stuff back with lame excuses like, "I changed my mind" (People don't plan their gift giving?) or, "My mother and I bought the same thing for my daughter (Don't grandparents and parents coordinate gift giving anymore?) or "He didn't like it (How did "he" get to see his Christmas present on the 20th of December?).? I am quickly coming to the conclusion that we live in a very self centered selfish commercially oriented world and I don't much like it. Christmas for me surely involves giving gifts to those I love as it should, but I hope for the most part that I exercise reason, thought, and some effort in what I purchase to give. After a huge of dose of "service desk-itis", I am beginning to think that people don't give any thought to their gift giving until they walk into the store and see something on the shelf -- then they buy it, take it home and think about it, and often return it. How stupid is that? On top of that, based on the past couple of days, I think one of the most popular (and crass) Christmas gifts is a bunch of lottery tickets. A few as stocking stuffers is fine, but these folks are buying as much as $100 worth of tickets -- that would stuff a lot of sox, eh? Maybe they should just give their gift-ees a note that says, "A donation to the state education fund has been made in your name." I like to think that when I give a gift, the recipient will be able to enjoy it for longer than the moment it takes to scratch those losing tickets. Maybe I'm old fashioned.

Well, enough ranting about that. Now on to today. Church went well, although getting there was a bit dicey. The road were again attacked by the snow monster and his friend the big wind. I watched a car literally blow off the freeway into the median. Then there were the two tow trucks pulling people out, and my own slip sliding. Had a lot to be thankful for when I got to church. Before leaving for church, the phone rang and it was work wanting to know how soon I could come in (I was due in at 5PM). I told them I'd be there at 3 and I was. The woman who came in to work from 6 -10 griped all evening about how bad she felt (as per usual), and whined until the management let her go home early. The other person who was supposed to work the desk with me for most of the evening was put outside to push carts (Sure glad they didn't try to get me out there -- too cold and too old). The net result was that I busted my butt, put in 8 hours (God forbid we should have OT), and ended up leaving a couple of carts of merchandise unsorted -- too bad. I am off tomorrow (HOORAY), but it's back to the grind on Tuesday before being off on Christmas Eve and Day.

Then came tonight's drive home. The roads were fair to poor condition again. However, I was on a main road where the limit is 50. I was happily moving along about 40-45, being sure to leave adequate room around me for slips or stops. Then I encountered them -- the folks who think they need to be in the left lane going 25 to 30. If they wanted to go 25-30, the right lane was just about as good a choice as the left, but no -- they felt they have the right to set the slow pace for everyone, because after all, it's all about them. I finally got home, took out the trash, and am now settled in with a root beer and chips and unwinding before hitting the sack. Thanks for letting me vent -- hug someone and wish them well today. God bless!