Well, it’s the holiday season. And we’re all supposed to be merry. With the endless commercials, radio plugs, and Christmas music blaring all day, every day…I’m starting to wonder how much can be too much. Then, I learned the joys of working retail during December. Welcome to holiday hell.
While I love my job and couldn’t ask for better coworkers, working retail during Christmas time is starting to taint my love for the holidays. As a kid, I would always ask my mom to ‘throw up Christmas’ earlier and earlier each year. And by throwing up Christmas, I mean my house would look like the cover of a Thomas Kinkade greeting card. And I loved every piece of tinsel and each extra poinsettia. Each year, I would countdown until the day after Thanksgiving until it was socially acceptable to put on some Michael Buble Christmas music and start preparing for my favorite day of the year. I loved how the holidays put not only your own family in a better mood, but you could see it everywhere. Strangers would smile a little longer and mom’s paraded their holiday sweaters up and down the aisles of every major department store. Maybe I thought that these stores would magically transform into winter wonderlands overnight or maybe I didn’t think anything of that at all. Now, I see just how much the holidays affect the workplace.
‘Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la. Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la. ‘Tis the season…oh dear god, it’s on again?!? Number one on my holiday hate list would have to be the constant music; you can’t escape it. On your days off work, it’s still in the grocery store and at the restaurant on your lunch break. And unfortunately, there isn’t much variation for Christmas, winter, and holiday tunes. You can sing about trees, Santa Claus, winter wonderlands, reindeers…and that’s about it. I never thought I would miss the constant repeating of Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ but I am starting to reconsider.
Secondly, and I might get some complaints on this, is holiday political correctness. While I have zero problems welcoming all holiday celebrations – I do celebrate Christmas with my family and Hanukah with some of my Jewish friends – there seems to be no correct way in saying “Happy whatever”. At workplaces across the county, you will hear Happy Holiday or Seasons Greetings. But lately, a resurgence of wanting to return to saying Merry Christmas has become the popular topic of political news shows. I’ve even had customers correct me after saying, ‘Have a happy holiday’. But if I start saying Merry Christmas, then I’m sure I’ll get a “I don’t celebrate Christmas” within the hour, because that’s what makes our world so great and is one of my favorite parts of the holidays, our diversity. At the end of the day, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or Christmahanskwanzaaka, you’re still celebrating something beautiful in the spirit of togetherness and our world can use as much of that as possible.
Lastly, this winter weather brings out some bitter attitudes. Being raised by a mom who put herself through college working retail, I was taught never to be rude to sales people or beware her wrath. I know that there are a million things going on in each of our lives. Kids need to be picked up from school, holiday cookies need to be baked, presents need to be wrapped, and in-law visits are heavy on the mind. So when the perfect holiday party dress isn’t available in your size, don’t get too mad. Because we didn’t do it on purpose, I swear. Things are going to go wrong in the world of retail during this time. We each have five customers, dressing rooms to clean out, and a lady on the line with a handbag issue—and somehow we still have a smile on our face as you’re screaming at us. So put yourselves in our shoes and take a second to remember that we’re someone’s kids too and it is the holiday season.
At the end of the day there is a lot that’s going to question my love for the winter season in the coming weeks: the angry customers, horrible repetitious Rudolph songs, and politically correct greetings. But there is something about this time of year that makes you forget the bad as soon as you see a reminder of the beauty of this season. Every time I see people handing out candy canes or wearing their dorky sweaters, I smile and know that at the end of the day, I love December and all the holidays that go along with it.