Tension building up - - -

The scene at work has totally changed from what it was a week ago. It is interesting and painful at the same time. I mean the happiness and chuckle that was in the voice of customers just a week ago has suddenly changed into rudeness and defensiveness. When people were helping each other and exchanging coupons and letting people cut in line a few days ago it was like Christmas was already there in the store. Now people are getting impatient and fiesty and insensitive about other people's needs. It seems like they are entitled for the best and fastest service. Am I right in attributing this tense situation to bad planning on some people's part or is it that the fact that some of us cannot afford to get presents is making things seem darker than they are? Or maybe a lot more is going on with people who are tense more than they have to be.

I must have sent half a dozen blessings to Paul, the trainer who taught me how to be a good sales person a long time ago. I must have had six different jobs since then, but this holiday period each one of the tips  is coming handy.  So today when customers come and ask me what they can get for their spouses or kids, the first thing I ask them is how much they can afford. Then when the customer says that he can charge, I simply suggest that they get what they can afford without having to charge, so they don't get "after holidays" worries. They look at me strange, but believe it or not a couple of young people actually told their parents that they are fine with just one gift each. It was then like a blessing was around us. People heard each other talk. Then they wanted to do the same. Three other customers got the idea of buying only one gift each for their family members. While I was standing calmly hoping that I have solved a problem or two, someone who worked in the store was complaining that instead of selling I was stopping people from spending. What are we to do? Let the tension build just so our numbers go up?

Michael Offutt: I'm a Pied Piper and the Easily Flushed Blog Hop

Michael Offutt: I'm a Pied Piper and the Easily Flushed Blog Hop Congratulations on the award you just recieved. All those bloggers are new to me. I will read their blogs one by one as soon as I get a chance. Also I will tweet about the polar bear and post it on my blog too, as soon as I figure out how. I am tchnologically challenged so it may take some time.
Please read Michael's blog. He is a Sci-Fi writer soon to be published and is a recipient of several of blog awards.

Pains behind gift giving

My brother, a retired US Navy Chief is loved by family and friends and coworkers alike for his hard work and his sense of humor. However, when he came to the US in 1977,  he was not very confident about how he would survive as he had not finished his college. Our Mom used to worry about his future as well, you know how people worry about a man supporting his wife and kids. Then he joined the Navy and soon after that he met a very nice girl. She became an inspiration for him. He pulled through the verbal abuse that comes with the basic training and the physical hardships as well. They had a simple wedding and he would sometimes take her on his ship and sometimes leave her home with her parents. When they had a beautiful baby girl, he did the same thing. A year later, they had one more cutie. Now a father of two little girls, he would go abroad sometimes leaving them with his in-laws and somtimes with our Mom and very rarely taking them with him. Now that he is retired, he spends a lot of quality time with his wife and his daughters who are in their teenage years, teaches them how to stay away from troubles and the importance of education. However, when it comes to spending money, anyone who knows him thinks that he is spoiling them. He says that when his wife and kids ask for something, no matter how expensive it may be he will not say no. His logic is that they were very patient when he was away and very supportive when he would be too tired to do anything fun with them. He always says that what they gave him is more than he could ever give them, so he tries to buy them what ever they want.
When I come home from work and talk to my husband about how people are spending money, he tells me that I do not know what they could be going through. He tells me to look at my brother and understand people's pain behind their gift giving.

Gray Hair Representative

Corporations do not really have room for comfort. So my comfort days are over, at least for this year.
Instead of sneakers and khakis I have to wear black pumps that kill my feet and polyester/silk blends that don't allow my skin to breathe. Instead of getting my daily walk, I am standing behind a counter helping people with spending their money like they grow it in their backyard. Instead of being behind the scenes I am working up front.

One good thing came out of this change in my job. I am learning how much people still have to learn.

A father of three kids wanted me to help him decide whether he should get a five hundred dollar winter jacket or a diamond teddy bear pendant for his daughter who is in Junior High School. I showed him different options within his budget of five hundred dollars for each of his kids and two thousand dollar budget for his wife. I thought that it was very generous of him. After he spent close to three thousand dollars and got free gift boxes he was really happy. He also got a free wreath as he had spent so much money.

My next customer started whispering things that I really did not want to hear. I did understand her point though. So I just said, "When it comes to parenting, we are all work in progress."

Happy Thanksgiving

  HAPPY THANKSGIVING  to my family, my friends, my blogger friends, my neighbours, my coworkers and my bosses. I hope everyone's wishes come true.

Drive carefully everyone and stay safe.

Elite go green - - -

We saw this tote bag in Barnes and Noble today. It looked interesting to me, so I went close and looked at it. This is made from empty juice boxes that were recycled. I was really tempted to buy it and it took a lot of strength to stop myself. I found the price to be a little steep for a tote bag. I mean, my mom always sewed tote bags, from gabardine pants that my brothers wore out in the knees. We used those to buy dry groceries. Plastic bags for carrying groceries was a foreign concept to me when we moved from India to New York State in 1974. I wanted to take those bags back to buy groceries in them, but I was told that it looks cheap. So instead, I started using them as liners for small garbage cans in our rooms. We were still buying the big hefty bags for the kitchen and for leaves. Then somewhere in the eighties, supermarkets started giving back 2 cents per bag we used over again. Still my friends told me that we get looks from the packers if we brought our own bags. So I felt ashamed. So we all went with the flow and hardly recycled anything until almost the end of last century, when we started bringing our own bags. Now why did I go with the flow? Fear of looking cheap?

Last time when my son came home from Hawaii, I told him how I am a closet environmentalist as I washed and saved plastic forks. He laughed and said that everyone is into recycling, I do not have to be ashamed any more.

Would I listen to myself ? Now why did I feel ashamed to recycle when I come from a place where recycling is the way of life? We left India to make a better life. Does it mean that we start copying the elite ? Well, who are the elite? I would not know.

The snowstorm of last month left us without power for forty hours. Then there were people without power even up to a week. So a lot of people went to hotels, but some hotels and businesses did not have a working generator. People were forced to do without refrigeration and hot coffee and even heat. They had to make use of blankets and live minimally. Then they realized how difficult it is to do without resources. Now just about everyone, especially the elite, is trying to be careful with hot water and heat and electricity. 

How often do we need storms like these?

A Gift Of Gardening Experience

 These were grown in Orange County New York.  However kids in Junior High and High School in Texas will not be able to complete their garden that started growing.  Thanks to Donors Choose program a lot of kids throughout the United States are able to work at projects or receive necessary equipment their school would not be able to provide. This year in spite of getting help, from Donors Choose Program, Texas kids are not able to enjoy the harvest of their hard work. Please help if you can. I am sure they will appreciate a lot.

Here is the link if you would like to help.