Here come the holidays.
We’ve got back to school coming down and Halloween going up. But aside from that, I have the fall décor set up near the back of the store, I have lawn and garden still out for another two weeks, and I’ve begun to get Christmas toys and housewares. And all anyone has to say about it is “Ugh, Christmas already?!” (This, of course, is the polar opposite to the complaint of “This is all you have left?!” that we hear at the end of the season.)
But yes, Karen, Christmas already.
It’s shocking that people still get all worked up over this. Year after year, we start setting all the holidays at once after Labor Day. You’d think they’d be used to it by now. Of course, anyone who hasn’t worked retail before doesn’t understand why it’s done this way. Just once I’d like to explain to them just how many boxes of Christmas crap we get throughout the entire season. And I’d really like to know how they think we’d get it all put out and neat in less than a week. Because it takes time and space. If they sent all of the holiday stuff at once, we’d have nowhere to put it in the stockroom; not to mention a place to put it on the salesfloor.
But that doesn’t matter to the customers, of course. We’re just inconveniencing them by making them look at tree ornaments in October. Because that’s just so awful, I guess. Even though there are several people that start to buy it the second it hits the shelves. I need to introduce the haters to those customers, I think. Get them to understand that some people are ecstatic to see the red and green all around the store.
I’m not one of those people, by any means, but if it adds a few dollars to a customer’s basket, I’m not complaining.
So, here’s to an extra 200 cases on each week’s truck and a ton more people crowding the aisles. Merry Hallowthanksmas everyone!