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Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

David T. Cole

By David T. Cole
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bilgistic

bilgistic

(edited)
7 hours ago, Bastet said:

I only ever worked retail during summers, so I never experienced the Christmas shopping crowd and can't answer.  But if I'd had to listen to Christmas music all day long for weeks (or more), I'd have probably gone crazy.

That's what I still remember most about working the holiday season at Best Buy--freaking dogs barking to the tune of Jingle Bells. You can mindlessly sing along to the other songs--even enjoy a few (except for those goddamned Chipmunks)--but the barking grinds on a raw nerve of a person that's tired, sore, underpaid and underfed.

The day after Christmas was a living nightmare because of people returning gifts. The lines wrapped through the building. This was retail in the mid-1990s, before online shopping and what has become Black Friday. That used to be only a retail industry term.

My senior year of college, I quit Best Buy right before Christmas. I student taught my final semester in the spring, and couldn't have a job at the same time. I wasn't going to put myself through another post-Christmas week at Best Buy, so I took a nice couple weeks off between the hell that was retail and the hell that was student teaching high school.

Edited by bilgistic
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Prevailing Wind

Prevailing Wind

I'm not sure why, but I always sing along to that as "having a wonderful Chriz-Bus time." I don't know what it means or why it ever got stuck in my head, but I can't lose it.  I think even worse than the barking dogs is Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.  Now, THERE's something to play on your mental jukebox.

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FormerMod-a1

FormerMod-a1

7 hours ago, mmecorday said:

I like Christmas music, but I feel like I'm in a special section of hell when I'm in a retail store and Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time" is playing and I just want to go and live in a cave for a little while. I love Sir Paul, but I cannot stand that song.

Same here.  Plus the song seems to go on forever.  Just end already!

I actually miss working retail and although I normally hate crowds, somehow working the holidays never bothered me (maybe because I stayed in one place and wasn't trying to navigate the whole mall).  It was often fun even.  I had fun wearing seasonal earring and for some reason that would get lots of customers talking to me and buying more things.  Granted, I worked at Record Town, so no commissions or anything, but it was still fun.

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peacheslatour

peacheslatour

11 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Aquarian, that's been my experience, too.  Maybe I've gotten lucky with where I work.

Other than the fact that I'd rather not be working at all, I always like working the day after Thanksgiving, because it goes by so fast.

The only thing I liked about working the day after Thanksgiving was knowing I didn't have to cook dinner that night. Let's hear it for thanksgiving leftovers!

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bilgistic

bilgistic

10 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I'm not sure why, but I always sing along to that as "having a wonderful Chriz-Bus time." I don't know what it means or why it ever got stuck in my head, but I can't lose it.  I think even worse than the barking dogs is Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.  Now, THERE's something to play on your mental jukebox.

Oh god, I forgot about that one. It's so awful. It had a video that was equally horrible!

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peacheslatour

peacheslatour

11 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I'm not sure why, but I always sing along to that as "having a wonderful Chriz-Bus time." I don't know what it means or why it ever got stuck in my head, but I can't lose it.  I think even worse than the barking dogs is Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.  Now, THERE's something to play on your mental jukebox.

Maybe Sir Paul had a cold?

friendperidot

friendperidot

(edited)
Quote

 I do have to say, though, that of all the holiday season shifts, Christmas Eve was usually the easiest.  I guess most people had just given up by then.

Have to agree, worked at Hancock Fabrics for a couple of years. Actually the week before Christmas in a fabric store is pretty slow. 

Darn you all, now I have to listen to something to clear the earworms! Back to the Everly Brothers for me. 

Edited by friendperidot
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Maharincess

Maharincess

On 11/19/2016 at 4:09 PM, Silver Raven said:

Try "Christmas in Hollis" by Run DMC

I like that one. My all time favorite Christmas song is Billy Squier "Christmas Is a Time To Say I Love You.  My mom and I would wait for hours for that song to come on MTV and we'd sing and dance every time. GREAT memories with that song. 

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St. Claire

St. Claire

On 11/17/2016 at 9:43 PM, janie jones said:

Am I the only retail worker who wasn't driven to hate Christmas?  Holiday was always my favorite time of year, and I actually recently went back to my old store after over two years of being done with retail.  I'm really excited to do another holiday season.

I do not advocate shopping on Thanksgiving, or trampling people to death over a TV, but I've never found it to be a worse time to work than any other busy time of the year (back to school, for example).

I spent a few years in retail and never hated Christmas, but I hated how the department store I worked at in the early 90s broke down the Christmas displays on Christmas Eve. I hated how frazzled people were if I was working on Christmas Eve, though; I got engaged two days before Christmas in 1993, and I think the emotional high was the only thing that kept me from wanting to knock people's heads together at how ridiculous they were acting. 

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FormerMod-a1

FormerMod-a1

We celebrated last week.  I did all the cooking, it was fun and good.  Today is a lazy day for me.  No big time cooking, no guests, no chores.  Just whatever I feel like doing.  Until...   (dun dun dun!) I meet a friend for some "Black Friday" shopping - in quotes since it's Thursday.  I  never go BF shoppping.  i mean never. I don't like crowds, in general, let alone crazy pushy crowds.  I don't even have anything in particular I need.  I just haven't seen this friend in a while and she wants to do this.

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mmecorday

mmecorday

Sorry, Sliver Raven. :(

This was the perfect kind of day for me. My wonderful girlfriend made a great breakfast -- soft scrambled eggs with cheese and heavy whipping cream, toasted French bread, corn beef hash and bacon. We watched the Macy's parade and "White Christmas" on Netflix. Dinner was at 5 p.m. and we had turkey baked with bacon, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, green bean casserole, homemade biscuits, stuffing, deviled eggs and pecan pie for dessert. Then we found ourselves fighting sleep the rest of the evening. I wonder why? ;)

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frenchtoast

frenchtoast

That sounds awesome. I have to admit something shocking: there were no mashed potatoes at the place we went to for Thanksgiving. It was like a bizarre alternate universe. I took some turkey left overs home and am going to go get some mashed potatoes today because my body needs turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes this time of year.

Now I get to start planning for Christmas! 

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riley702

riley702

(edited)

We always did ham as well as turkey, because Dad came out of the Navy in Korea with a newfound, lifelong aversion to poultry of any kind. He said they fed them WWII surplus chicken in cans that had to have been really bad, because he liked chicken and turkey before that and wouldn't touch either afterward for the rest of his life. I like both turkey and ham, so it was all good for me. We did ham for Christmas, too, and Dad would also have fried clams, oyster soup and oysters in the dressing. Since Dad has been gone, we've gone to soups and meat trays for Christmas. Last year, we had chili, beef and noodles in the crockpot (slightly cheating on the soup theme) and potato noodle soup (the latter a family thing where we throw freshly made noodles into potato soup, which thickens it up like a chowder). Yum!

Edited by riley702
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Bastet

Bastet

Quote

I have to admit something shocking: there were no mashed potatoes at the place we went to for Thanksgiving. It was like a bizarre alternate universe.

We never have them, either.  It's tradition to have the cornbread dressing from my dad's family recipe with Thanksgiving dinner, so that's the starchy side dish.  I don't like potatoes, and I don't like the dressing, either, so maybe another reason for the lack of potatoes is that my mom would be making two dishes that only two people would be eating, but even back when my grandpa was still alive, I can't remember there ever being mashed potatoes on the Thanksgiving table.

backformore

backformore

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 1:23 PM, ari333 said:

The kid is destructive. The management put in new light fixtures over the doors outside. He has the basketball and aims at the lights. Other times he aims at peoples' cars. He walks on the hoods and trunks and roofs of neighbors' cars. We've had small footprints on our hood.  Cant prove who it was.

There are some decorative shrubs in front. He pulls off the leaves into a messy pile and breaks off the limbs. the shrubs are an empty dead plant by the time he's finished. He gets a stick and beats cars with it; and then he stands and beats the side of the building.  Just stands there beating the corner of the building with a stick.  Not the building he lives in. Ours.....

@ari333   please consider that this kid's behavior might be a cry for help.   he has a messed up life, he's clearly angry about something.  It is possible to call a police officer, or go to the police station in person, and ask that the family not be told who reported them.   You might be helping this family more than you know by doing something. 

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DeLurker

DeLurker

On 11/27/2016 at 1:58 PM, bilgistic said:

I've now eaten all my leftovers I brought home from my sister's. I'm sad.

That's why I bought a spare (smaller) turkey and need to make it today.  The one for Thanksgiving gets divvied up between various family members to take home as leftovers, so found I was always left with a less than satisfactory amount.  This way, I get a whole bird!

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janie jones

janie jones

My sister's been trying to give me Thanksgiving leftovers for days, but I've been sick and feel to crappy to go over there and get some.

 

On 11/22/2016 at 1:43 PM, St. Claire said:

I spent a few years in retail and never hated Christmas, but I hated how the department store I worked at in the early 90s broke down the Christmas displays on Christmas Eve. I hated how frazzled people were if I was working on Christmas Eve, though; I got engaged two days before Christmas in 1993, and I think the emotional high was the only thing that kept me from wanting to knock people's heads together at how ridiculous they were acting. 

Christmas Eve is weird, because there's the frazzled people, and then the people who are surprisingly chill.

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St. Claire

St. Claire

20 hours ago, Jamoche said:

My friends are outliers - we all like dark meat. This year the person doing the turkey got two of them, took the leg quarters off one and used the rest of that bird to make stock that went into the stuffing. There was no leftover stuffing this year.

I like dark meat, too. I have a ton of leftover dark meat anyway- the hazard of getting a larger turkey than originally planned- and I plan to put it in tonight's soup (the final turkey-related leftover meal...)

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ari333

ari333

On ‎11‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 0:01 PM, backformore said:

@ari333   please consider that this kid's behavior might be a cry for help.   he has a messed up life, he's clearly angry about something.  It is possible to call a police officer, or go to the police station in person, and ask that the family not be told who reported them.   You might be helping this family more than you know by doing something. 

I did report these behaviors to the police. Since that time we (all the residents) have had notices from management  put on our doors that children must be supervised when outside and that damages will have to be reimbursed and could lead to eviction .Apparently I was not the only person who said something. These reports must have gone to management. (or the police spoke to them IDK.)  I called anonymously, deliberately  from a payphone for privacy. (I did manage to find one payphone. There are so few these days)

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Silver Raven

Silver Raven

Sigh.  My 88 year old mother has shingles.  Get your vaccinations, guys.  She is in a great deal of pain, and the pain meds they initially gave her caused a lot of collateral problems.  She spent a night in the hospital Friday night, and since then, has been home and suffering.  This afternoon, she finally seems to have perked up, but they say that even when the rash clears, she can be in pain for months, and possibly forever.  My sister, who was just undergoing chemo, was told by her doctor not to come, because even though she has had chicken pox, her immune system is compromised and she could get it again.  My niece hasn't had chicken pox, though she has had a vaccination when she was young, but we told her not to come till Mother's rash is gone.  Shingles is contagious if you haven't had chicken pox.

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OSM Mom

OSM Mom

6 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

Sigh.  My 88 year old mother has shingles.  Get your vaccinations, guys.  She is in a great deal of pain, and the pain meds they initially gave her caused a lot of collateral problems.  She spent a night in the hospital Friday night, and since then, has been home and suffering.  This afternoon, she finally seems to have perked up, but they say that even when the rash clears, she can be in pain for months, and possibly forever.  My sister, who was just undergoing chemo, was told by her doctor not to come, because even though she has had chicken pox, her immune system is compromised and she could get it again.  My niece hasn't had chicken pox, though she has had a vaccination when she was young, but we told her not to come till Mother's rash is gone.  Shingles is contagious if you haven't had chicken pox.

My dad had shingles when I was a kid in the early 70s. How he suffered.  I fully intend to get my shot when I can.  Hope your mom feels better soon. 

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friendperidot

friendperidot

Quote

I called anonymously, deliberately  from a payphone for privacy. (I did manage to find one payphone. There are so few these days)

Which is why there's so much trouble in the world today. There's no place for Superman to change his outfit.

or privacy for Wonder Woman to do her spin to change hers...all those pesky cameras...

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