Happy Boxing Day

Good King Wenceslas looked out 
On the feast of Stephen, 
When the snow lay round about 
Deep and crisp and even;


On this Feast of St. Stephen, the first christian martyr we give thanks and homage to the retail clerks who made our holiday shopping possible.  Few things are more difficult than dealing with frenzied people. Holiday shoppers are often irrational zombies in search of white blackbirds or 5 of the single most coveted item on every kid in the universe's list to Father Christmas. It's a wonder the clerks don't go postal.

What I find difficult to understand is why consumers are so quick to rail on the unfortunate few who can actually help. On three occasions when I actually visited stores in December I found an abundance of tired, overworked retail clerks who were more than willing to help, while on several occasions I found the clerks of an entire department store in cahoots to stick it hard to their masters. "That box looks crushed, let's take an additional 25% off" I was offered.  On another instance clerks offered to hold an item for me for several days because it was going on sale.  Underappreciated troops will extract their revenge, and bend over backwards to assist anyone displaying an ounce of human kindness. To them I say THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

To the soulless bastard who invented the "let's stay open for the last 100 hours for Christmas" strategy I hope he finds his job outsourced.

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