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I am so glad I got an e-mail yesterday that the earrings I had on backorder for my niece were being shipped. Big relief as I didn't want to brave the stores this weekend and try to come up with an idea something else for her...

I was working at a Target during the original "Cabbage Patch" craze in the 80s and think it is crazy how people react to a certain toy... We opened the doors at 0900 one winter morning and a mass horde of crazed women smashed their way to the back corner where we had stacks and stacks of the dolls. They took out anything in their path, like a tornado... Within 10 minutes, a huge number of dolls were gone and the corner of the room was a mix of settling dust, teeth, blood, broken glasses, and a few hair ribbons that were lost on unfortunate dolls...

Since then, terms like Black Friday and 10 or less shopping days until Christmas put fear into my heart and keep me at home.
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

My other favorite similar story... During the more recent "Tickle Me Elmo" craze, my niece was very young, if she was even a year, it was barely. Mom won a Tickle Me Elmo during a drawing or on a radio show call-in or something like that at the height of the craze, where you could not find any anywere in the Continental United States on the store shelves. It was something she really wanted for my niece, but we discussed it. My niece would probably be frightened by Elmo, with our luck, and she had no concept of Christmas at that time. Mom put him up for auction on EBAY and got in the neighborhood $100 to $150 for him. A nice tidy amount to help her at Christmas time. She then picked up Elmo for my niece a few short days after Christmas when every store in town had him and nobody cared. LOL...
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

Elmo scared ME to death....not only that he was an annoying little creature. Rather like the Furby that my brother felt the need to buy me. It is demanding. Feed me, pet me, ohhhhhh I'm scared hold me.....spare me. He is sitting on a table doing nothing, since he has not been "fed" in years.
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Tessa Onyx, Foudini, Charlee, Spottie, ShyRaven, Buddy, Tuxie, Widdle Attila Sipowitz, Lizzie, Minnie, ET, Mylo,(We be house cats at last), and Salem, Wicca and Marmalade (We iz also house cats, we guess)and the 5 porch kits also Riley da goggie and Buddha da baby hamster too
Tabitha and Samantha..always in our hearts//Fly free Penny 12/12/07
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

One of the benefits of doing craft shows though the year is the opportunity to shop, hence all of my shopping was done by Thanksgiving. No way would I go near a mall!

Oh, the craft shows are amazing. One of my biggest regrets is I didn't make it to one this season, although I had good intentions after hearing about Elizabeth's trek in an earlier post...
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

I remember the Cabbage Patch thing! I was working retail back in high school, and our Christams shipment arrived in Sept. along with a letter reminding everyone the company signed a contract to not only keep the dolls in the backroom until a set date in Dec., but we'd be sued if we mentioned that we had them. What a hoax! Shortage my a......

years later when Furbies were the hot item of the season (and who remembers them now?) I came into work before the 6 a.m. opening to discover a line at the door. They had bits of paper, torn up deposit slips, with numbers on them. They had organized themselves on a first come, first serve basis! When the door opened, they marched, in order, to the first register where one of the managers had the case (there were only 20 in stock) and handed them out. Every time I see another Walmart melee on TV I thank those kind, sensible people.

The worst day was during a season when the retailers were being sparse with discounts. A local TV station did a segment on getting the most for your money in our parking lot, with our ad in hand and capped it with - 'and remember some chains have out of the way locations that get less foot traffic.' That was it - the "C" level store I worked at (vs. the "AA" store just a few miles away) rang up well over a million dollars in business in a single day, blowing all previous company records out of the water. I was so-o-o tired when I got home that night. But the news segment had put most people in a good mood about shopping there at least.

I'm not sure what it says about my character flaws, but I always thought it was amazing that you could wait on hundreds of people and life was great, but it only took a few seriously nasty people and your whole day could be ruined. I try to remember it - like when our Jeep was broken into recently and the police gave us a really hard time about filing a report. I know the insurance lady didn't go out of her way to help me out, but the fact she kept working with me in difficult circumstances, I made a point of not only thanking her, but asking to speak to her supervisor to give her kudos.

I know the insurance lady didn't go out of her way to help me out, but the fact she kept working with me in difficult circumstances, I made a point of not only thanking her, but asking to speak to her supervisor to give her kudos.

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Good for you! I think having worked retail will put someone in a different mindset. My friend Robin and I both worked retail during our lives and we put things back where we got them after looking at them and you'll see us both fold the merchandise in the same way we got it after looking at it -- we both know how horrid it is to hit a table of snarled sweaters and have to fold them at the end of a long shift at a store... What is funny is our friend Denise never worked retaikl and she is the worst type of shopper. Robin and I have caught each other putting things back on shelves where she got them (she'll set them several aisles away) and re-folding messes she makes.

I would think folks that waited tables at some time in their lives are also very sensitive about tipping, etc... It does put it in perspective...
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

I am done shopping and just have a few more to wrap. So things are moving right along. I don't get the panic over particular items either. Certainly don't get the waiting outside, camping all night and stuff like that for something new. I can't think of a thing in this world that would make me camp out on a sidewalk in the freezing cold with a bunch of other insane people. I can wait, it isn't like they are not going to make enough of whatever it is. They will make more and I will wait patiently until I can walk in the store, buy one and walk back out without being beaten to death.
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Tessa Onyx, Foudini, Charlee, Spottie, ShyRaven, Buddy, Tuxie, Widdle Attila Sipowitz, Lizzie, Minnie, ET, Mylo,(We be house cats at last), and Salem, Wicca and Marmalade (We iz also house cats, we guess)and the 5 porch kits also Riley da goggie and Buddha da baby hamster too
Tabitha and Samantha..always in our hearts//Fly free Penny 12/12/07
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers