Beware the ghosts of Christmas

December 8, 2009

Beth let me in on the fact that she changed my blog's password, and that is why I could not access my account. She has restored it and I am back. Since there has been a lot going on, I will give you snippets on the happenings.

As for work, I still haven't lost my temper with coworkers or guests, though they seem to be challenging me to do so. If you are ever in a big box retailer, look up and see how high the ceilings are. Then imagine a dude telling you that he "dropped" his phone which is currently stuck above one of the ceiling tiles. He was a big dude wearing a University of Cincinnati shirt, so I assumed he is on the football team. They are currently undefeated and playing in the Sugar Bowl on New year's Day (congrats), so I think these guys may be a little too giddy right now. Without reviewing the video, I'm guessing one of his also rather large buddies took his phone from him and tossed it into the air where it entered and stayed in the ceiling. I obtained a very large ladder from the stockroom and retrieved it for him with the promise that any more shenanigans would bring a beat down from me. They chuckled (I am 5'10", 160 pounds). Fortunately, they left not long after.

Another adult female the same night decided to bounce one of the super bouncy balls very hard on the floor, thus, knocking down one of the decorative ornaments hanging from our ceiling. She then had the nerve to complain that it almost hit her on the head.

While I can't say that I was pleasant with either of these two folks, I also refrained from losing my temper. I am really trying this year. Our whole management team has tried very hard to stay calm and get the job done, and I think we are managing thus far. We are all very tired though, so if you shop at our store, or just about any retailer this season, please be gentle.

As for more personal things, I created a stir with a comment on June Garden's blog inadvertently this past week. She has asked for volunteers to perform random acts of kindness towards strangers, and then report back. It was and is a great idea and has spurred many good tidings. One person paid for the Starbucks order of the person in the line behind her at the drive thru. At first I thought that paying for another person's Sbux seemed like helping the not so needy. Other people had gone to their respective downtowns and handed out money to homeless people and such. However, the more I thought about her act, I realized that it is about the act of kindness, not monitoring the income levels of the recipients. Besides, what if this RAoK spurred the recipient into a pay it forward mentality and a whole bunch of people started being nice to other people. That would really be something. So I posted a shorter version of this sentiment which was promptly received as an insult by the person who had performed the act. Wow, was it taken out of context. She posted a rebuttal, her sister posted a scathing rebuttal, during which she threatened to cut me (I assume cut metaphorically), and it got ugly for a bit. I never posted back as I had headed off to work and didn't know what had happened, but it got touchy for awhile. I have decided to just be a lurker on June's blog as there is no reason to create that kind of stir again.

At home, we have stimulated the economy of late with a television purchase, a computer purchase, and a new furnace/air conditioner. We got great deals on all three, and two of the three were necessary purchases. It has caused Christmas to come early at our house. CJ was very sweet when he saw these purchases as we have already put them into use. He realized how lucky we were to be able to get these things and said to just buy him some chocolate for Christmas. Beth and I love the fact that he has a sense that money does not grow on trees and there won't be much more money spent on gifts. Beth and I do not exchange anything big as we like being able to spend money the rest of the year without having blown our whole wad on Christmas. CJ's birthday is 12/20 and he will be a teenager. That is the subject of a whole other post, but it sounds scary. However, we do plan on getting him a birthday gift, please don't tell him.

So while I am really looking forward to the holidays being over, I am trying to keep in mind that an almost 13 year-old may actually like this season. I'm thinking of putting up our tree today to let him know that I don't need to be visited by the three ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. I'm workin on it...