Holidays in Retail

It might be four more shopping days until Christmas, but this is really the last blogging day, with the four day weekend coming up. I hope every one has a happy and a healthy! This an excerpt from my chapter on Christmas in retail


“It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, I sing during the holidays when I’m working at the toy store where the situation and circumstance give it a unmistakably ironic ring.

I worked in retail a long time before I got thrust into the capitalistic Vietnam that is the holiday season. It is a chaotic time that has driven fellow retail soldiers to mental breakdowns, relationship problems, serious illness and, for the most desperate, back to college. I myself have had a relationship or two end in its emotional bluster and was even hospitalized once. The front line retail worker not only has their own personal holiday stress to deal with, but all of the angst that is transfered to them by customers.

If the lethal cocktail of sleeplessness and bad vibes got the better of my attempted pleasant outlook, a customer’s reaction gave away their own retail experience. Their own unpleasant memories had them pouring on the sympathy, “Wow, I feel so sorry for you guys, you look so tired, it reminds me of when I worked at the Gap.” I started asking customers who would remark on our lack of holiday spirit (“You Scrooges!”) if they themselves had worked Christmas in retail. Unsurprisingly, none of them had.

One customer completely blew me away one Silly Season at the toy store. She remarked without a single perceptible glimmer of irony, “It must be great to work at a toy store during Christmas!”

The social graces that would have normally caused me to keep my mouth shut over such a staggeringly naive comment were on vacation until about December 25,”Oh yes, I LOVE only having one day off a week, I LOVE staying here three hours after we close, it is TRULY the most wonderful time of the year!”
“Well, at least the customers are happy when they come in,” she replied.
WHAT? The first statement merely suggests that she’s never worked retail this time of year, but the second one suggests that she’s never done Christmas shopping on the planet Earth, or at least in America. Nobody’s happy when holiday shopping.


Ironically, for me the best day of the season is Christmas itself. Not only is it a guaranteed day off, but also it’s the one day where you don’t have Christmas shoved in every available orifice. Sure, there’s plenty of Christmas to be had on TV December 25th, but you are protected from full penetration by the glass of the picture tube. Having family that lives a lot more than a day’s drive away, I often spend that day alone -much to the consternation of my Mother- I'm just happy it's all over. It’s the expiration date for all that misplaced anger and anxiety. If they weren’t done before, they are now. If they were going to get it, they can’t get it now. Another holiday season survived. The stored-stress meter is finally at an acceptable level of pressure.

Until December 26th, that is.