Life's little Ironies...

I haven't blogged this weekend, and for that I apologize. Weekends are so jam-packed for me, sitting down in front of a computer is a futile desire.
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Now for the conclusion of "Retail Woes..."
As I blogged previously, the entire store was on "CEO May Arrive Any Minute" alert, and I spent the next hour very tense and angry and frustrated.
To make a long story short, the CEO never arrived at our store. All our angst was for nothing. He was mostly likely doing last-minute christmas shopping at the store closest to his home, and then on to other things.
We had tricked our minds into thinking that on the all-important Saturday before Christmas, he was going to methodically visit each store and criticize, (since that's what he normally did, on business days).
The one thing we forgot, is that Corporate Management are People Too. They have families, they do wear clothes other than power suits, and they are generally REALISTIC about chaotic selling days before Christmas.
Case in point: and here's where Life gets a little ironic: My hubby is one of those Retail Corporate people. He spends his time traveling to New York and L.A. and other places, and he tours stores (with all his buyers in tow) and the whole shebang.
Just this Saturday; the Saturday before Christmas, we decided to go out shopping as a family. We were finishing up, and I suggested we go to the mall. My hubby's response was interesting:
"We won't find a parking space, and to be honest, I don't want to freak out the store people. If they see me there, they'll go into a tailspin and think they'll have to clean the store and we won't get any shopping done because everyone will be coming up to me and telling me about their departments, and problems and sales."
He was absolutely right. I remember that awful time when we had "rumors and whispers" of Corporate Management about to descend on us (the sky is falling! the sky is falling!) and Chicken Little was in full force.
Not this Saturday. Instead, we went and had a wonderful lunch with the kids at Panera, and topped it off with Hot Chocolates with whip cream and chocolate syrup.
In reflecting back, I suppose maybe on that awful Saturday, the CEO's wife whispered in her husband's ear: "Honey, maybe we should stay away from the stores--these people are panicking!" If she did, she is nothing less than an Angel of Mercy.

...This is why we should be nice to retail people over the holidays. They are working their butts off, and they have to endure so many parts of Hell that we would never understand. They have pressure from Within, and pressure from Without. They have no quality of Life around the holidays.
So next time you go shopping (if you are one of the crazy ones who actually does shop the week before Christmas) please, please be kind to the salespeople and even maybe wish them Happy Holidays.
It will make all the difference in the world. Otherwise they'll end up "people-haters" like I did, for several years. That's a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone.