by
Steve Lazarowitz
January 2001
DECEMBER MADNESS
I don't have time to write the January column of Shattered Fragments. It's a fact.
I work in retail, seven days a week, far too many hours a day. I work until I can barely stand or think, let alone type. These last few sentences were produced by a supreme effort of will.
I had once thought holiday time was supposed to be fun and surely, it should be. I suppose to some people, it's a time of reflection. I have time for neither. I am not alone.
I wonder how many millions of people throughout the country also work in retail and are therefore inundated by the holidays. It seems strange that a healthy percent of the work force must work many times harder than they usually do, to bring the holidays to the rest of us.
Was it always this way? I'm not sure. But the commercialism that increasingly assails us, not only this time of year but constantly, certainly doesn't help. There's just so much to buy, so much we need, so much we want and what does that have to do with the "true" spirit of Christmas?
Nothing at all. Yet, in the end, what's stressed about Christmas is the gifts. We all have to go shopping. We all have to make lists. Santa has a list too. It's the naughty or nice list. I'm wondering if Santa is really the best guy to judge.
I mean, don't values change? What's acceptable today, would have been unheard of fifty years ago. And Santa is an old guy. And he lives in the North Pole. That's a bit out of the way. And he lives with elves. I wonder what the elves do after the Christmas rush? Does he hire Elf-temps as the big day approaches? What do they do when they leave? Apply for a job at Keeblers?
Okay, so it's holiday time and I'm not feeling very festive. Not even a whit. Not half a whit. The worst of it is, salesmen, in general, get a bad rap. No one likes us. No one trusts us. In that way, we're sort of like politicians. A necessary evil. We're tolerated, but not much more.
I can hear some of you wondering what all this has to do with fantasy. Christmas is at least in part a fantasy. I won't talk about the religious aspect of it (because it's gotten me in trouble in the past and I'm too tired to argue), but at very least Santa Claus and his flying reindeer qualify. For that matter, elves play a key role in both Christmas and Lord of the Rings. Not the same kind of elves perhaps, but elves nonetheless.
What ISN'T a fantasy, are the people behind the scenes, tirelessly working to bring the holiday season to us each year. The people who decorate the streets, the people who run the sales and of course, the people like me, who are in the front line, working day after day, hour after hour to provide the children (of ALL ages) with the new toys they crave.
Where am I going with this?
The next time you pass a store, hug a salesperson. Find one that looks like he/she's had a tough day and give them a hug. After all, salespeople are people too.
And now, I'm off to work. Shattered fragments will resume more normally next month, when I have two minutes to rub together.
Happy holidays to all (especially those in retail)!
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