The Spirit of Christmas

The Spirit of Christmas is in full swing. The evil spirit of Christmas that is. You know, the one that makes everyone greedy, rude, obnoxious and absolutely unbareable.
I myself have witnessed the evil spirit of Christmas a few times this week.
As a cashier at a grocery store, I put up with a lot of crap. And I mean a lot. It's as if cashiers are not allowed to make mistakes, not allowed to be overwhelmed or completely stressed out.
With Christmas only a few days away, people are anxious to finish their shopping, buy all the food they will need over the next few days because we all know that the world is going to end because stores are going to be closed for ONE FULL DAY!
At work, we were understaffed. With eleven registers and only seven open, we could not meet the standards of customers. The grocery store I work it, is completely different than the competitors. We are a discount store meaning that we have really low prices when it comes to food, but the customers are required to purchase their own bags and pack their own groceries. Packing groceries for customers is not a service that we offer. But some cashiers such as myself will help customers who have large orders or need some assistance (such as the elderly) and this seems to piss off waiting customers.
It's ridiculous. People seem to be angered by small inconviences, especially around this time of year. I had one waiting customer complain to my manager that I was taking too long. It seems, that my helping a customer pack $400 worth of groceries was a problem. My manager did not understand what the problem was, because although this is not a service we offer, if there is no belt space and the customer is overwhelmed what are we (the cashiers)to do, stand around and watch as people struggle.
Another customer complained because he claimed that one cashier, did not greet him today. He continued to scream at the cashier, two managers and the bookkeeper. Finally, the manager told the customer that he would have to refrain from verbally abusing the employees or the police would be called.
Last night, I took an adventure to the corporate whore known as Wal -Mart in hopes of finishing up some Christmas shopping. I have a love/hate relationship with Wal -Mart. Anyways, I had been to at least four diffferent stores looking for one particular board game. I had been to Wal -Mart several times and every time I went, they were sold out. They always offered the reply "We will have more on Wednesday..." and my response was "Could you tell me which Wednesday?" When I arrived last night, I hunted down all the toy aisles for this one game. I finally found the very last one in the whole entire store. Another customer had her cart parked in front of it and was reaching to put it in her cart. And I must admit the evil spirit took over me for a brief moment. I intercepted her and grabbed the game. I dashed out of the aisle before this other customer could say anything to me. I paid for the game and held on to my purchase like it was a life or death situation. I know it was rather evil of me but the person I bought it for is going to LOVE it!
Although, I snatched the item from the other person, I wasn't rude or yelling at cashiers or other customers. I wasn't bowling them over with shopping carts or screaming at kids to stop running through the store. I haven't wrestled anyone to the floor for a toy, purse, watch etc.
What is it about this season that makes us all into vicious animals? What is so important that we must forget what the season is about? I'm going to be honest. I love presents, I love shopping for them , I like the anticipation and the excitement of it all. But I also love knowing, that I will spend Christmas Eve in church. That I will spend time with my family. I know that this is the one time a year you are guarenteed to visit with your extended family, see all your cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. This is what I love about the holidays.
I think that people lose sight of that with all the 'stuff' we feel obligated to buy one another. Sure, there are a few more things that I would like to buy my Mom and Dad tomorrow but I know that if I can't, they will be happy with what they have. They will love what I did get them, and they won't care about what I didn't get them. I know, that my Grandma is going to love the cookies I baked her. And it's not about the money I spent, but the time I put into making them and that I thought of her when I did it. My parents will feel the same way. They won't care how much I spent but rather the time and effort I put into picking out something that I thought they would really enjoy.
That's the thing about families, they don't care about money, what really matters is that you thought of them.
I used to hate Christmas because of the greed that surrounded it, but I realise now that, the season is what you make it. If you choose to be overwhelmed with greed and the evilness that surrounds this season then you too will start to hate Christmas. If you choose to make the best of the season, then you will enjoy Christmas and it won't matter that the rest of the population has turned themselves into animals.
It's all in your perception and no one elses.
That's it. I'm done my rant.
Have a Merry Christmas.