This might sound a little crazy to most people, but I love the holiday shopping season. Especially now that it's a mad dash to the stores because Christmas is in three days. I for one, wait until this time to run out to the store to do my x-mas shopping. The reason for such madness? I love watching the madness. Most of the things I buy for people are always going to be there, so I really don't have to worry about not finding what I wanted to buy people, but I like to go to the most crowded areas of the store and watch the madness ensue. Seriously, go to the electronics department of your local Target, and just watch. People are fucking nuts.
This all started two years ago, I went Christmas shopping on the 22nd, and was looking at CDs when I saw it happen. An Xbox 360 (probably the hardest-to-find gift of 2006) was just sitting on the bottom shelf of the video game case. Two ladies saw it at exactly the same time on opposite sides of the electronics department. Now I have to remind you that this was the 22nd of December, the store was packed...there were literally people everywhere around me. So from the two sides of the store these women come bounding through, pushing people out of their way I think one shoved a small child..it was like watching the parting of the seas. So all these people are wondering why they are getting pushed by this crazy broad when they see what they're going after, so other people start to follow ensuite...So now there is a small mob booking it for this glass case. They all get there at the same time and start pushing each other to get to the front, smashing each other against the case. The one lady who first saw it gets thrown to the back by this big guy and all the while the other lady is smashed against this case screaming at the top of her lungs for an associate to come and help her. Then other people start shouting for an associate and they have yelling matches to see who can yell the loudest so an associate will help them first.
So an associate finally sees all of this and thinks a fight has broken out so he calls security. He goes in and tries to diffuse the situation but everyone is claiming they got there first and "I want the fucking xbox" I shit you not...So security comes and looks where the fight is, and all they see is this group of people yelling at this poor associate who looked like he was still in HS. So security goes and like secures the parameter all the while this woman has pressed herself against the glass case and is still screaming for this associate to help her get the xbox 360. This is my favorite part. The guy goes to the case with this look on his face like "You have got to be fucking kidding me"He opens the case and pulls out the box and yells so that everyone in the department can hear him, "This box is empty! It is for display purposes only, if you had taken the time to read the sign on the case, you would have seen that we have been sold out of x-boxes for two weeks now! I repeat, there are no x-boxes here!" The lady looks up at the case, and turns the brightest shade of red I have ever seen. All the while I am literally pissing my pants with laughter because I had just witnessed a brawl over an empty box, and a sign that could have prevented the entire fiasco. It was like watching a boxing match between lions ringside...So from then on, I decided that if I ever wanted to get fun out of my x-mas shopping I should go towards the end to watch just how crazy people can be.
This leads into another related topic. If Christmas is supposed to be that time of year where we are supposed to forget all that separates us, and put all of our petty bullshit aside and be genuinely nice to each other, why does this still happen? It also just seems to get worse every year. One thing I have noticed since I started observing this kind of human depravity, is that people really don't care about all that when it comes to shopping. The xbox instance for example. Those two ladies were the first people to see it, and so if there was going to be a battle, it should have been between those two ladies, but at least ten people joined in and when the associate got there they all claimed to be the person who saw it first. As I mentioned before one of the women got pushed to the back by some big fat guy...That's not a fair fight at all. Even if there was an xbox360 in that box, she wouldn't have stood a chance...and she was the one who caught it first!
The holidays just make people oblivious to what they are doing to each other. A guy on Long Island died because he was trampled over on black friday at Walmart. Like, how on earth do you not realize that the ground you're running on doesn't feel like ground...it feels like, oh I dunno...a human?!?! That's when I think humanity as a whole is just falling into the toilet. People don't even realize that they are literally killing a man because they have to get those dell computers for 400 bucks.
So who is to blame for all of this? Do you blame the companies for releasing their biggest selling products around the holidays? The stores for not being able to meet the suply and demand of the product? Do you blame the parents who feel the need to get everything on their kid's christmas list no matter what the cost? Personally I feel it's a combination of all those things, and more if you put in other factors, like successful advertising, and buzz about the product, sales prices, personal needs, all that put together makes whatever being sold what it is. So the holiday shopping season becomes this frenzied dash to the store at ungodly times of the morning, sometimes nights before. A guy in my town died from hypothermia because he was waiting on the coldest night in November for Circuit City to open. I think that year HP scanners were being sold for $50. I think this is what Darwin meant when he was talking about survival of the fittest.
So, I think about all of this when I watch these people try to destroy each other over stupid things that in a few months will be obsolete to kids. Believe me, I know. I was a spoiled kid, and my poor parents had to get everything on the list for my brothers and me. I'm a little ashamed because I see what my parents must have gone through to get me something that I didn't touch come April. So then I ask myself, Why do we do it then? Why is it that if we know that people including yourself are willing to kill for this gift, why do we choose to do so? I guess it's all about making other people happy. Then, one has to ask themselves even though it seems we are forgetting what Christmas is all about, are we really? We're doing all of this crazy extreme shopping because we want to make the people we are buying the gifts for, happy. Isn't that what Christmas is about? Giving, not receiving, caring about the feelings of others and not your own? I guess the whole shopping thing is what makes it wrong, but we live in a consumerist society, what would we be if we didn't buy things?
The main point here is that we as a society don't know any other way to treat Christmas than as a huge shopping event. It is only on Christmas when we pause to think of how wonderful it is to be able to appreciate everything that we have. Personally, I think everyone needs to sit down and take a page from Dr. Seuss. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is all based on this whole notion that shopping for presents is the only way to make people happy. I personally, don't believe in the shopping culture that has become our entire society, but I do recognize it's what makes the US what it is. So that's really why I go to watch all of this, because I try to look at it as Americans doing what they do best, shop...Ironically I think the Grinch said it best:
The Grinch: It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.
Narrator:The the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
The Grinch: Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...
Narrator: He thought
The Grinch: ...means a little bit more.
So this Christmas, I will keep in mind while I watch others panic through the aisles of the sotre, that Christmas will come with or without presents, and I am greatful that I can shop and be shopped for, because I know I will make someone happy regardless.
Well, now that I have beasically given everyone my view on Christmas as whole...I'm going to end this. I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the Grinch:
The Grinch: MAX. HELP ME... I'm FEELING.
This all started two years ago, I went Christmas shopping on the 22nd, and was looking at CDs when I saw it happen. An Xbox 360 (probably the hardest-to-find gift of 2006) was just sitting on the bottom shelf of the video game case. Two ladies saw it at exactly the same time on opposite sides of the electronics department. Now I have to remind you that this was the 22nd of December, the store was packed...there were literally people everywhere around me. So from the two sides of the store these women come bounding through, pushing people out of their way I think one shoved a small child..it was like watching the parting of the seas. So all these people are wondering why they are getting pushed by this crazy broad when they see what they're going after, so other people start to follow ensuite...So now there is a small mob booking it for this glass case. They all get there at the same time and start pushing each other to get to the front, smashing each other against the case. The one lady who first saw it gets thrown to the back by this big guy and all the while the other lady is smashed against this case screaming at the top of her lungs for an associate to come and help her. Then other people start shouting for an associate and they have yelling matches to see who can yell the loudest so an associate will help them first.
So an associate finally sees all of this and thinks a fight has broken out so he calls security. He goes in and tries to diffuse the situation but everyone is claiming they got there first and "I want the fucking xbox" I shit you not...So security comes and looks where the fight is, and all they see is this group of people yelling at this poor associate who looked like he was still in HS. So security goes and like secures the parameter all the while this woman has pressed herself against the glass case and is still screaming for this associate to help her get the xbox 360. This is my favorite part. The guy goes to the case with this look on his face like "You have got to be fucking kidding me"He opens the case and pulls out the box and yells so that everyone in the department can hear him, "This box is empty! It is for display purposes only, if you had taken the time to read the sign on the case, you would have seen that we have been sold out of x-boxes for two weeks now! I repeat, there are no x-boxes here!" The lady looks up at the case, and turns the brightest shade of red I have ever seen. All the while I am literally pissing my pants with laughter because I had just witnessed a brawl over an empty box, and a sign that could have prevented the entire fiasco. It was like watching a boxing match between lions ringside...So from then on, I decided that if I ever wanted to get fun out of my x-mas shopping I should go towards the end to watch just how crazy people can be.
This leads into another related topic. If Christmas is supposed to be that time of year where we are supposed to forget all that separates us, and put all of our petty bullshit aside and be genuinely nice to each other, why does this still happen? It also just seems to get worse every year. One thing I have noticed since I started observing this kind of human depravity, is that people really don't care about all that when it comes to shopping. The xbox instance for example. Those two ladies were the first people to see it, and so if there was going to be a battle, it should have been between those two ladies, but at least ten people joined in and when the associate got there they all claimed to be the person who saw it first. As I mentioned before one of the women got pushed to the back by some big fat guy...That's not a fair fight at all. Even if there was an xbox360 in that box, she wouldn't have stood a chance...and she was the one who caught it first!
The holidays just make people oblivious to what they are doing to each other. A guy on Long Island died because he was trampled over on black friday at Walmart. Like, how on earth do you not realize that the ground you're running on doesn't feel like ground...it feels like, oh I dunno...a human?!?! That's when I think humanity as a whole is just falling into the toilet. People don't even realize that they are literally killing a man because they have to get those dell computers for 400 bucks.
So who is to blame for all of this? Do you blame the companies for releasing their biggest selling products around the holidays? The stores for not being able to meet the suply and demand of the product? Do you blame the parents who feel the need to get everything on their kid's christmas list no matter what the cost? Personally I feel it's a combination of all those things, and more if you put in other factors, like successful advertising, and buzz about the product, sales prices, personal needs, all that put together makes whatever being sold what it is. So the holiday shopping season becomes this frenzied dash to the store at ungodly times of the morning, sometimes nights before. A guy in my town died from hypothermia because he was waiting on the coldest night in November for Circuit City to open. I think that year HP scanners were being sold for $50. I think this is what Darwin meant when he was talking about survival of the fittest.
So, I think about all of this when I watch these people try to destroy each other over stupid things that in a few months will be obsolete to kids. Believe me, I know. I was a spoiled kid, and my poor parents had to get everything on the list for my brothers and me. I'm a little ashamed because I see what my parents must have gone through to get me something that I didn't touch come April. So then I ask myself, Why do we do it then? Why is it that if we know that people including yourself are willing to kill for this gift, why do we choose to do so? I guess it's all about making other people happy. Then, one has to ask themselves even though it seems we are forgetting what Christmas is all about, are we really? We're doing all of this crazy extreme shopping because we want to make the people we are buying the gifts for, happy. Isn't that what Christmas is about? Giving, not receiving, caring about the feelings of others and not your own? I guess the whole shopping thing is what makes it wrong, but we live in a consumerist society, what would we be if we didn't buy things?
The main point here is that we as a society don't know any other way to treat Christmas than as a huge shopping event. It is only on Christmas when we pause to think of how wonderful it is to be able to appreciate everything that we have. Personally, I think everyone needs to sit down and take a page from Dr. Seuss. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is all based on this whole notion that shopping for presents is the only way to make people happy. I personally, don't believe in the shopping culture that has become our entire society, but I do recognize it's what makes the US what it is. So that's really why I go to watch all of this, because I try to look at it as Americans doing what they do best, shop...Ironically I think the Grinch said it best:
The Grinch: It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.
Narrator:The the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
The Grinch: Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...
Narrator: He thought
The Grinch: ...means a little bit more.
So this Christmas, I will keep in mind while I watch others panic through the aisles of the sotre, that Christmas will come with or without presents, and I am greatful that I can shop and be shopped for, because I know I will make someone happy regardless.
Well, now that I have beasically given everyone my view on Christmas as whole...I'm going to end this. I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the Grinch:
The Grinch: MAX. HELP ME... I'm FEELING.
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