Let the Madness Begin!

Our store opened at 6:00 AM today. I saw adds on TV all last week for a store offering a wake-up call service so that you could be make it to the store for the special early bargains. You could choose between an Elvis impersonator, a child-diva singing, "Wake Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!" (to the tune of "And I...... will always love you!"), a rooster crowing, Ice-T barking, "Get up. Don't play with me!" or one of many other types of get-out-of-bed messages. It's just all too much. I don't understand. I know it is ridiculous, since I work at the mall now. I actually do enjoy shopping. I suffer from materialism like everyone else. But this just seems crazy to me. I am just grateful that I didn't have to be at the store until 11:00 AM. Some people wheeled in shopping carts to the store because they couldn't carry all their bags. By the end of the day some shoppers' eyes were glazed over. The last hour of my shift my eyes were glazed over. How did Christmas become this monster? It just seems so unnecessary and manipulative. The ads and the marketers tell us all what to do and the stores do everything they can to squeeze the last drop out of everyone? It's not about celebration or Christmas; but it is nicely wrapped in warm feelings, nostalgia, and love for our families and our fellow men.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now. None of these things are news to anyone. Many people have been complaining for years. I just had to put my two cents in with them. It's in my face more than usual this year.