Whose bright ideas are these...anyway!

We are one week from Christmas, and exactly how many plates do you have spinning in the air at the same time? Let me start with shopping. Being a retired person, I can go to the stores when, in theory, many of the general public is at work. I went to Kohl's yesterday morning at 10 AM and while it wasn't overly crowded, two things really annoyed me. The first thing that I wanted to take care of was to return something. Customer Service was in the farthest possible corner of the store...way in the back. Not what I would call 'convenient'. The good news was that the cashier was a former student of mine, and we had a very pleasant conversation. The bad news was that I was returning a bra...can ya get any more personal than that?

The other part of the shopping experience is what I like to call...'unnecessary roughness'.

When you choose something off of the rack, you can never be sure what the price really is...it can depend on your age, the time of day [doorbuster or midnight madness?], along with what percentage you can subtract as the sale price[60% off the lowest price on the ticket???] Sometimes the sale price is already reflected on the tag, and other times it will say 'reduction taken at the register.'

Buy one for $9.99 and get a second one for a penny! Maybe I don't want two pairs of Snoopy Glow in the Dark fuzzy slippers!! What really leaves me sputtering is when you go to the 'biggest sale of the year' and find something that you like, and in the following week's ads they bring the price even lower. JC Penney's is famous for that. Why does it have to be so complicated?

Today I went to my favorite store of all: The Christmas Tree Shop. They have neat stuff, the prices are clearly marked, and it doesn't vary by full moon or any other circumstance that might occur...leap year...the 1,000th customer, AAA discount...middle child discount...etc. You can get some unusual choices of product. I was able to get some promising soups for my brother[he's into that] and some unusual cookies for my mother.[She's definitely into that!] These are gifts that will be m-m-m good, and won't have to be returned because they were the wrong size or color. It's the thought... not the amount spent or the label of the rich and famous. Fa la la la la ...

And, this isn't even getting into the good/bad habits of the employees. I would like it if they just were knowledgeable about what they were presenting to the customer. I know when I worked for B Altman and Co. in the bakery, I achieved expert status in relation to the brownies and sticky buns!!

I'm ready for 2009. Let's hope that good things happen, and everyone gets on board to make it happen. Kindness encourages kindness. Smile are contagious.