Black Friday

One of my co-workers is from Sweden. Her English is flawless. In fact, I had no clue until on the first day I was training her, I became concerned about how poorly she was handling cash and counting back change. She explained that she had just moved here from Sweden, and our currency seemed foreign to her. That's because it is. Customers sometimes pick up on her "accent," and while I have always thought it was rude to comment on how a person speaks, maybe that's just me. They ask her where she's from. One day I told her she should say Alabama or even better, Texas.

Yesterday was Black Friday, a day I have always celebrated and honored as a shopper. For the past two years, I have been a retail worker on Black Friday. The other side of the coin, if you will. I wore a white shirt with Santa faces on it, a red skirt, my red Converse sneakers, a green ribbon in my pony tail. One of my colleagues was dressed all in black, and she pointed out it is Black Friday after all.

And then there are the horns, as my Swedish friend calls them. Reindeer antlers. Last year, when we were under different management, the general manager forced everyone to wear headbands with reindeer antlers with little bells on them. Some of us (me) loved it, others not so much. The men especially did not want to wear the horns, I mean antlers, but she told them they had to. Some people think they are just ridiculous and don't want to be embarrassed. It didn't matter to her. Antlers were required.

Our manager this year did not force anyone to wear antlers. She has a more laid back philosophy. Horns are optional. I wore mine with enthusiasm, because one of the things I love about Christmas is that it is an over-the-top kind of fun time.  For part of the day, I got to manage the queue. I asked if customers had found everything, if they needed a price check, I told them about gift cards available in any amount, our store credit card, and if their joy seemed to anywhere begin to match mine, I would invite them to participate in our online survey. And. Get ready for this. I passed out lollipops. Really nice organic ones, the kind that don't have that nasty food dye or high fructose corn syrup in them. It was after I had encouraged countless, somewhat reluctant adults to have one with the line, "They're orGAAAAANic," when another worker relieved me for my lunch break. When I returned, she said one of our assistant managers told her to give them only to the kids. It seems we were going through the lollipops at an alarming rate. Who knew?

Christmas is for children. Yes. I have heard that line, and of course, it is fun for the kids. But why does that have to stop when we're all grown up? Who doesn't love a lollipop? They were as healthy as a lollipop can be, really small so the amount of sugar that jolts the system is minimal, and came in flavors like mango or pomegranate. And it never occurred to me to not offer them to the adults.

My Swedish friend told me that in her country, Santa Claus comes on Christmas Eve. While everyone is still awake! I had no idea. Here is how it goes down. Everyone is sitting around after dinner, when all of a sudden, Dad has to leave the house for something. A newspaper. A quart of milk. A new pair of reindeer horns. Whatever. Doesn't matter. And while he is gone, guess who shows up? I see you are way ahead of me here. Santa! He asks if everyone has been nice. Everyone yells, "Yessss!" and he passes out the gifts. Then he leaves, and then Dad comes back. Everyone is all, "Daddy! Santa was here! You missed him! AGAIN!" How fun is that? I think that is a lot better than Santa coming after you fall asleep, because in case you don't remember, it is really hard to fall asleep on Christmas Eve.

It's Christmas time, everyone! A month from today will be Christmas Eve! I am not a Christian, but I love all the secular aspects of the holiday, which is in my American culture, the big day of the year. It is sparkly and fun and wonderful and the best holiday ever. But you don't have to be all crazy about it like me. You just enjoy it in your own way, but please do enjoy. Reindeer horns are optional.

Susan