Curmudgeonly Monday – Please, I Beg You, Just Wait Even If Retailers Can’t

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22920 – 1007

Here’s the haps:

I have had this blog for 18 years although there was a time of major depression when I didn’t post on it at all until I reached a dark epiphany about myself which you can read about here if you’d like. Anyway, during that time, from back when it was a web log then a ‘blog until now when it’s a blog, I have ranted and raved about various topics, reserving to myself the right to write about whatever I wanted. One of those topics has been holidays.

When I first started in retail in the mid-seventies and on into the early eighties there was an unspoken rule that everyone followed, the Christmas decorations didn’t go up and the sale tags didn’t go on until the Wednesday night before we celebrated Thanksgiving. EVERYTHING was closed on Thanksgiving day and there were no convenience stores in our town. If you forgot something or needed something you had to call around and see if anybody that was coming over had what you needed or you did without. We (retail workers) mentally prepared ourselves for opening the store a few hours early and being non-stop busy for the whole next couple of days.

There were lines. Not just the lines of people waiting for your doors to open, but boundaries, lines in the sand if I may use the term. Now, with radio stations playing full-time Christmas music starting November the First and businesses having “Black Friday in September” sales, I do find myself feeling old and curmudgeonly and longing for those simpler days sometimes.

23 Comments

  1. Our Goodwill Store began playing Xmas music on November 1st this year. Customer complaints and employee grumbling convinced the store manager to resume playing conventional background music. I count this as a win.

  2. We’re in this incredibly weird period where Christmas is both being de-emphasized and supersized, and both for the same reasons: it just feels too commercialized. And its ubiquity bothers people who consider it a religious concept and those who think it should still BE a religious concept. So I’m not going to complain about an elongated season so long as the tradition continues. As long as it remains a prominent institution it remains a touchstone to the idea it represents, which can never be replaced by a jolly fat man delivering presents. Because even if most people are celebrating it that way, they’re still being kind to the people in their lives. Which is kind of the point. And plenty of people donate to charities at this time, too. Which covers the other part.

  3. I am not a fan of overdoing the holidays. Christmas music should be two weeks before Christmas. When I was growing up in New England stores were closed on Sundays. The blue laws days. I have gone to Black Friday once in my life and that was to buy a new fridge. I make it a point to make sure that we are shopped for the holiday. I think families should together on the holidays. I worked a shift in healthcare every Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving as a single mother when my kids were growing up.

  4. I completely agree. I spent twenty years in retail electronics myself. You have got this totally right. I am not into self-promotion, but that being said, wait until my November 29 post and you will see how I feel about all this! 🤣😎🙃

  5. My local warehouse club had Christmas decorations up and on sale before Halloween. I figure it will be another 5-10 years before “Christmas in July” will no longer be tongue in cheek.

Leave a Reply to J PCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.