Christmas Time is Approaching

Christmas time is approaching; and, I know that people expect everyone to be filled with cheer and good will. Of course, that is rarely the experience these days. Still it is October and my memories of working Christmas shifts in a corporate owned toy store are far behind me. The company has long since been swallowed by the mega stores of the 90’s, just as that chain swallowed the countless mom and pop stores that used to exist. I don’t remember anything else. The names of the places I have worked are no longer important. They all look and sound alike anyway.

I remember the little rodents that the company would play over the loudspeakers over and over until I and the hapless temporary workers were driven quite insane. It was years before I could listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks without crying on the inside. Suffice it to say that dealing with a company that refused to keep up with the demands of the customer and dealing with the demands of frustrated parents, the Christmas Spirit had fled the store and the mall it was in. Oddly enough, the kids were never a problem. I mean we had to clean up after them, after all it was a toy store. The little devils were just glad to be there. It is us, the grownups, that are on a mission during the holidays. Don’t think the corporate marketing group ignore that. Toys in corporate stores are made to sell to parents. As far as I can tell, children are an after-thought.

That explains the number of really grumpy people on both sides of the cash register during the Christmas season. I really cannot ask people to give these poor temporary employees a break. In fact, most of them are just warm bodies hired to fill quotas. A few of the more unscrupulous people take advantage of this; and, merchandise goes out the back door more frequently this time of year. Most of those idiots get caught, because corporations are very good at catching outright thieves. More often people set aside hard to find toys for family, or favored customers. That is a harder practice to prevent.

Those who shop for Christmas presents at the last hours before closing are so desperate that the employees can sell anything to them. I remember one father who arrived minutes after the gate was shut on Christmas Eve. He was begging us to let him in; but, even if we wanted to we were not free to keep the store open. This guy was discussed that night and the consensus was that he could have made the time to shop earlier, if it had been important to him. Now that I have a little bit of age on me, I realize that attitude was a reflection of tired we were that night. No man would beg like that if he did not care.

So after all of this, do I hate Christmas? The answer is No. Now, I will not go shopping in a mall between now and January. My family limits the amount of money we spend on gifts. I still have memories of the silver aluminum tree from my childhood. It came with some colored flood lights and rotated, which presented a great light show. I great memories of cousins and friends and some boring church services. I remember humoring my parents when they thought I still believed in Saint Nick.

Some of you will blame crash consumerism and greed for the conditions of toy stores. Perhaps there is some little truth to that. I have no control over other’s beliefs.

I feel the real problem is that the people involved really do not have skin in the game. What I am trying to say with that tired metaphor is that the people selling the toys are aware that they are just disposable pieces of a corporate entity. That does not make for inspired customer service. What is driving corporate toy stores is survival of the corporation, not greed. The people buying toys are buying because it is expected of them. The customers are driven by their own desire to be accepted. If you are truly going to give a gift you do not trumpet your deed and you do not expect anything in return.

I would say that we need to get back to way Christmas was; but, I cannot become a child again. I have never seen any other version of Christmas, since I grew up. I really prefer Easter as a holiday; but, I don’t want to give up the time off from work.

When I was working the toy stores the Christmas inventory started shipping in September. If you absolutely have to have the latest toy, the closer you wait until December the more screwed you are. At that point the best bet is to arrive early at the store and ask when the next shipment will come in. The managers will tell you that they cannot do this. The staff will usually share the information, whether they are supposed to or not. Good luck and remember to smile. It helps.

Or

You could wait until after Christmas, for the returns. You might even get a bargain. You might find out the latest toy is no longer popular.