Spring Break
Holiday consumerism: American as apple pie
Yes, I Have a Point
Angelo Lanham
Issue date: 12/8/08 Section: Opinion
But I remember distinctly as corporate memo after corporate memo let me know that I would be working more and more holidays on which the store had previously been closed.
While they didn't make us work on Thanksgiving, most other holidays fell prey to capitalism. One year, I got a little letter from some head OSH fat cat, saying that because of the financial success garnered by being open for the first time on Memorial Day, they "might open on days traditionally closed, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving."
Christmas? Who the hell would come to a hardware store on Christmas? The sadistic reincarnation of Scrooge?
While I worked a few Christmas Eves there, the whole Christmas thing never came to pass. But it is sort of funny that a star and stripe company like OSH would consider atheistic notions such as those described above.
And think of the poor saps working Black Friday, which saw several stores overloaded and proved the end of an unfortunate New York Wal-Mart employee.
According to a New York Times article, a crowd of people that had gathered around the store, which has been known to sell American flag flip-flops, decided at 4:55 a.m. that they weren't going to wait another five minutes for the opening at 5 a.m.
Under the mob's pressure, the glass doors shattered, and the store was flooded by holiday shoppers who ended up trampling 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour to death, all to save $10 on Guitar Hero.
The article said that the shoppers, stating that they'd been waiting since the morning before, didn't take kindly to the notion of leaving, even after it was discovered that a man had been killed.
That enough Christmas joy for ya?
I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that you should enjoy your automated holiday season. Get your pies the day before or the day of, buy an electric drill from OSH on Christmas Eve, and go ahead and get your 40s from 7-Eleven on Christmas Day - they'll be open.
But don't forget the people behind the scenes who make this all possible. And waiters, tip your bussers.
While they didn't make us work on Thanksgiving, most other holidays fell prey to capitalism. One year, I got a little letter from some head OSH fat cat, saying that because of the financial success garnered by being open for the first time on Memorial Day, they "might open on days traditionally closed, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving."
Christmas? Who the hell would come to a hardware store on Christmas? The sadistic reincarnation of Scrooge?
While I worked a few Christmas Eves there, the whole Christmas thing never came to pass. But it is sort of funny that a star and stripe company like OSH would consider atheistic notions such as those described above.
And think of the poor saps working Black Friday, which saw several stores overloaded and proved the end of an unfortunate New York Wal-Mart employee.
According to a New York Times article, a crowd of people that had gathered around the store, which has been known to sell American flag flip-flops, decided at 4:55 a.m. that they weren't going to wait another five minutes for the opening at 5 a.m.
Under the mob's pressure, the glass doors shattered, and the store was flooded by holiday shoppers who ended up trampling 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour to death, all to save $10 on Guitar Hero.
The article said that the shoppers, stating that they'd been waiting since the morning before, didn't take kindly to the notion of leaving, even after it was discovered that a man had been killed.
That enough Christmas joy for ya?
I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that you should enjoy your automated holiday season. Get your pies the day before or the day of, buy an electric drill from OSH on Christmas Eve, and go ahead and get your 40s from 7-Eleven on Christmas Day - they'll be open.
But don't forget the people behind the scenes who make this all possible. And waiters, tip your bussers.
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