Yesterday, my mother and I made a stop in Visions to pick up a few things. We waited at the front counter while the man in front of us bought gift cards for his staff. Ten thousand dollars worth of gift cards. I kid you not.
Nice of him, right?
(And to think we haven't gotten anything from Safeway, I think they're still sore over the 95% strike vote a few weeks ago.)
Astounding, I know but not really. Safeway may be cheapskates, and the Union only cares about keeping their fancy office building in Edmonton. But particularly in the oilfield industry right now, ten thousand dollars really isn't much at all. Alberta's economy is booming, and it's mostly what's driven the Canadian dollar so high.
Another thing I've noticed this holiday is that a lot of people seem extraordinarily hassled, more so than usual for the time of year. Sure, people bitch and moan and complain about almost anything, and stresses are multiplied exponentially over the season, but no one REALLY resents buying gifts for their friends and loved ones, being Santa for their children, creating Christmas for their families.
Right?
As I considered the buying power of the guy in front of me, and the considerable amount of money circulating in Alberta right now, it came to me why everyone seems to get more and more grouchy every year.
It's the money. The rising wealth of the population, and the rising cost of living. Everyone has too many posessions, and no one knows what to buy someone who has everything they could possibly need or want. No one has time to cook a proper holiday dinner anymore, they'd rather pick one up for fifty-nine bucks at Safeway, ready-made and fully cooked save the two-hour preparation time. What's Christmas without the visiting? The preparation? The chatting, gathering in the kitchen rolling cabbage rolls and folding perogies by hand while Great Grandma lectures Dad on how to carve the turkey? People are so obsessed with what to get, how to make Christmas perfect (and I never thought it was possible to give selfishly, but trying to outdo each other in size and expense is exactly that), that they've forgotten what the season is supposed to be about. Family. Communion. Joy, relaxation, catching up with old friends. And yes, greeting everyone kindly rather than fighting over the last shopping cart.
I was in Wal-Mart a few nights ago around 11:30, and the cashier who rang me through had been there since eight o' clock that morning because no one had come in to relieve her. She was tired, hungry, and her feet hurt horribly.
You aren't the only one that works hard this time of year.
This Christmas, take a moment to think of the cashiers who ring your gifts, the butchers who order six pallates of frozen turkeys and stock them every fifteen minutes, and the deli clerk who made that cheese platter you didn't have time to make yourself, and thank them.
And NEVER let the gifts get in the way of the giving.
Unknown "Frankie" Content
- 16 years, 11 months, 13 days ago
