Taking the fun out of the holidays....

Why on fecking Earth is Starbucks already serving Christmas Spice bold coffee and wearing the red aprons?

I mean, they do a good job and all, but it's not even Thanksgiving yet and already focusing on Christmas?

I don't like it these days that Christmas decorations start earlier and earlier.

 

They push the season holidays to makes sales... Here in Canada, the day after Hallowe'en, the merchants put up their Xmas items.... I agree with you Motc7.... they'se pushin it.. ::tas

 

I dunno it seems to start earlier and earlier every year but over here at least, anything after Bonfire night "Nov 5" has always been fair game as far back as I can remember.

I think most stores think they can save time by putting the Christmas stuff up as they take the Halloween stuff down as shelagh said.

My mum actually said she remembers when the Christmas ads started just after the kids went back to school in September.

 

motc, there is but a few scant weeks to rid the world of bad tasting Starbucks Holiday Lattes.

Please don't stand in their way so we can return to normal bad oily coffee served at Unfairly high prices.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f75/BoredOOMM/111909-005-santa-is-dead-kids.jpg

 

I agree with motc7. Where I live about a week (or maybe two) ago a friend was in wal-mart and said they already had Christmas trees up and were playing Christmas Music. Now I love Christmas but I mean come-on!

 

WalMart here had Xmas stuff out before Halloween....

Crazy! The place I work at does about 50% of our yearly sales in December. But come on, Xmas in October...

 

Call me scrooge but I absolutely hate hearing Christmas music so early. I purposely avoid stores that play it to the best of my ability and so far, I've been lucky :-D

Playing it all December, while still annoying, is acceptable to me. Playing it in October is not.

 

I am with Scrooge. I think it should be played the week of Christmas, would be nice, but in October and November... AARRGH.

 

I'm with Fred and Scrooge.

 

Yes the week of Christmas would be my ideal too! but like I said earlier, I'd even settle for just December. I read an article the other day that said stores play it so early because the customers want to hear it and a lot of the comments were "no we don't!!" :-D

 

Then there's the Christmas lights popping up here and there in town already. Kind of makes them meaningless

 

ditto!!!!!!

 

Saw some houses lit up last night on my way home. And yard signs for companies that will come decorate your home for you. :confused Seems the rich folks pay people to come light up their trees and homes, while some people just leave the lights up all year and plug them in around November. :-D

Jeez people, it is not event Thanksgiving yet!

 

motc7 - Guess it's all about marketing.

For Christmas, the major shops around my way started in September!

Whereas for Halloween (not as popular here as in the USA) displays started early October.

I've completed my Chrissy shopping...because I found all the best stuff comes out early, and there are often some great bargains about too!

Cheers

LS

 

Amen!! I kinda figure if you're going to Starbucks you get what you deserve, be it holiday aprons or just horrible coffee. :-D

 

Well, for all the 'Scrooges' out there, it's only five weeks to Christmas now - so it's no longer that early any more.
I know what you're saying, though. Once Christmas is over, it'll be New Year promotions, Valentine's Day, then Easter, etc, etc. It's called making money out of tradition - nothing new there.
I have made some preparations already, for once. I've bought most of the food, (which 99% won't be eaten by me, anyway). Still to come - the great Christmas present spendola, (mostly for people I don't even see). Not to mention the stupid tree and decorations, which I can take or leave - mostly leave as they are just extra work for me.


...Oh yeah...Merry Christmas. .:-D

 

Bahhh humbug!:-D

 

Bahhh humbug!:-D I hate this fat rosy cheeked remake by Coca-Cola of St. Nicholas and this total frenzy that the marketers create!:mad I am very happy when the 'season' is over and done with! The meaning has been lost sadly and the greed has taken over. Kids are programmed to want something that's usually useless anyways and the parents wanting their children's undying love by giving them crap! Get a dog instead!

/rant over and Merry Xmas as it's not Christmas anymore in many or most households. Call me Scrooge if you must, I don't bloody care. BTW, I'm not religious in any way.

 

Just for you, Augie....
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g309/Zobor/DontPout.gif
roflmao

 

I'm not whining man, it is what it is and I just choose to stay away from that crap as much as possible and keep a smiling face when the grandkids come over.

 

What counts for me is having the family together at X-Mas and don't want/need gifts. That's all. Grandson gets $$ since his teenage years because I can't keep up anymore about the latest gadgets or whatever he wants.

 

First thing today at work a co-worker whipped out his "Sound Bullet" and plugged it into his phone, then the Christmas music started. I stated "Mine gets louder." I then proceeded to play the most irritating Norwegian black metal YouTube could provide (at full volume.) Suffice it to say I think Christmas music won't be thought of again until well after Thanksgiving.

 

Christmas would be miles better if people still made decent Christmas tunes,instead the same ones over and over.

I love Christmas but as I'm getting older I do feel a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog day,if I hear Maria Carey singing All I want for Christmas is you one more time I'm gonna rip the speakers off the wall and shove them down Ned Ryerson's throat.:-D

 

Having spent many years of my life in retail, I think the whole Christmas Creep thing is near a tipping point for several reasons.

* In the US, Black Friday (the big shopping day after Thanksgiving) used to start with stores opening at 7 AM....then 6 AM...then 4 AM. This year, most major retailers are opening up at Midnight. Some (Walmart, Toys "R" Us) are starting their Black Friday deals as early as 9 PM Thanksgiving Day.

* Is it really worth camping out for 24 hours in advance to save $50-$75 on a crappy low-end notebook PC or XBox that's limited to five per store? They need to change the name from Black Friday to "Occupy Best Buy's Parking Lot". :-D

* No sales tax at Amazon or Newegg is often a better deal, especially in states like Texas that charge 8.25% - and you get to shop at home in your PJs without fear of being trampled. In my book, Cyber Monday rules!

* The Muzak in most stores is bad enough the rest of the year. Now, it gets even worse. I think there are only around 25 Xmas songs, each recorded by at least 10 artists. If I hear White Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock or Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer one more time I'm gonna hurl! uke

It seems like changing over to Jerry Seinfeld's "Festivus" is getting more attractive every year.

 

That got a chuckle this morning out of my System Admin and myself. Total quality!

 

"It seems like changing over to Jerry Seinfeld's "Festivus" is getting more attractive every year."

Festivus, the celebration for the rest of us!

:-D

http://youtu.be/HQFLqMyo0fo

 

How about some old tunes done a new way?:dancer :cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUyQdolNop0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGirb_wgkcw&feature=related

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Mv2-Iin5M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNz5Ams87MA

Lot's of other stuff out there.

 

I'm with gman. couldn't pay me to go near a store on black friday. wonder how many people will be trampled to death or seriously maimed this year. Ho Ho Ho, let the BS begin. I'm not anti christmas just how commercialized it has become

 

Bwhahahahah POTD

FWIW - WalMart started BF death sales on Veteran's Day weekend 2 years ago. This opened the frenzy worse than Presidential Candidates reserving space in Iowa.

This year they started pricing on NOV 5.

All except CVS and a few other ads are out. The deals are flat this year.

 

+1 on the idiocy of retailers.

As my wife succinctly put it -
Grocery stores - Essential items - Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Retail stores - Non-essential items - Opening at o-dark-thirty for idiots on Black Friday uh Plaid Thursday uh What day is it?

Where's the logic in this?
Do they think laid-off, cut back hour and part-time minimum wage earners will magically have more money the longer they are bombarded with SALE adverts?

I personally think the commercialization got carried away 15 to 20 years ago. I used to enjoy getting presents for the kids and family but now it's a chore. At least we still have the family get-togethers with too much groaning over the quantity of food consumed and once a year afternoon naps.

/Rant over

 

It is no different here, right after Halloween the Christmas bombardment begins.
Here the patisseries open on Chistmas day but nothing else.
As we are now alone Christmas is not such a big affair, earlier we had a lot of family over but it is now a quiet dinner for two.

 

Yeah, it's much the same down-under, David. Seems much the same in all western nations that I have experienced. Tradition just goes from one over-commercialized crap-fest to the next so-called celebration.
I guess what you get out of it depends on what you want to put into it. If friends and family values are what is important one, (including me), then that's what the focus should be, not whether someone got more/better presents than someone else. Not that I'm adverse to having cool presents, but I can easily live without them.
Always did seem to me so much money, time and effort is put into just one of 365 days of the year.

 

I feel the same way. It's all about the money now days. and has been for the last 20+ yrs. Thinking about NOT getting the kids or anyone anything for Christmas this year, instead taking them to a Christmas play or something.... cept' I have a 2 yr. old.
Every year about this time there is a.... discussion about how much we are gonna spend on each kid. When I was a kids, I'm only 29 now, but my parents were divorced, my dad spent 100-200 dollars on each of us kids,a nd my mom spent around 100 dollars. So I'm thinking we should do the same, well my lesser half believes that 100 dollars 20-25 yrs ago, is more like 600 now days!!!! As much as I hate to admit it.... she's right and hopefully she won't see this thread. :cry I mean you really can't buy crap these days for 150 dollars.

 

I love that episode!!!

 

Another photo....

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f75/BoredOOMM/th_HoHoHoOHNO.jpg

 

A sobering thought on the hours many retail employees have to work on Black Friday:

When I worked at Fry's a few years ago, every associate (full and part time) had to clock in at 4 AM. The store opened at 5 AM, every associate had to work until at least 10 PM (or later depending how much "recovery" work was required to clean up in your department after the mobs left).

You clocked out 30 minutes each for breakfast, lunch and dinner - all of which were catered by Fry's in the employee break room. Your 15-minute break (on the clock, as required by Federal Law) every four hours consisted of either hiding in the stockroom or making a mad dash for the bathroom - provided you could avoid getting grabbed by a customer.

Could it possibly get any worse???

Yep. I found out yesterday from a friend who still works there that Fry's decided to back their opening up to Midnight (presumably due to Walmart, Best Buy, etc. opening at the same time).

He has to come in at 11 PM Thanksgiving Night, and his schedule states he'll be working until "at least" 7 PM Friday - a minimum of 20 hours straight. :eek

But for the grace of finally opening my own repair shop go I. rolleyes

 

Holy crap! 20 hours straight?:eek I hope at least you get overtime. That is just insane. Who the heck goes shopping at those hours anyways? The Twilight crowd?rolleyes

 

20 hours straight is ridiculous

 

And be friendly and helpful too. Get real. I have worked longer than 24 hour shifts. Good thing I was powering pump to resupply the frac tank. I would have been useless in the retail world after 8 hours or so.

 

Hehehe, CNN has a poll going on this question and so far it's %84 against shopping on the day, I wonder if Fox has similar numbers? What a waste of money and time.

 

Come on guys, you are missing the point. See, back when the very first xmas happened and the little dude was born in a barn etc there were only 10 months, so what retail has done is simply back off the last 2 months of the year, therefore xmas is in October :-D

 

I've got the most beautiful 18 month old Great granddaughter, and I intend to light the house, garden, two Christmas trees and spoil her rotten.

You should all have ended your posts with BAH HUMBUG:wave

 

on the black friday subject, actually Thanksgiving night last year we went to Toys-R-Us to maybe get the Android tablet they had. The line went around the building, there was no beginning and no end... we went back home, did I mention it was raining?

One thing that burns me about the "holidays" is its Christmas time. I never go to church but I am christian. Now days they sanitize it to Happy Holidays.
If your not willing to tell someone "Merry Christmas" you shouldn't be allowed to participate in the days off, the seasonal sales, none of the other stuff that goes along with it!!
If it is not your belief, just smile and nod your head and keep going. Why is everyone so offeneded now days?

One more story. I worked at grocery store in a predominatly Jewish neighborhood. An older lady came up to buy some postage stamps, so I rang up the sale and gave her a book of stamps.
She picks them up and the disgustingly threw them back on the counter exclaiming "I don't want them with those people on them!!" I looked and it was a book with Mary holding Jesus.
I cracked up and gave her wreath stamps, we where prepared.

I did 2 years as a mall Santa. Merry Christams to All.

 

Here is your daily faux news link. http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/16103501/poll-should-retailers-stay-open-on-thanksgiving

:-D

(includes a poll and a Facebook link.)

Oh, and for the link impaired, so far 79% of people on the Fox poll say that the people deserve the day off. Dang softies! Should make them work, it is all about the $. :-D:-D:-D

 

When I worked at Fry's and they opened at 5 AM Black Friday, the parking lots were packed, people had to park at neighboring shopping centers. By 4 AM, the line stretched all the way around the 80,000 square foot building (about the size of a regular size Target or Kmart).

When I worked there, overtime was only paid for hours worked over 40 per week. Management tried to avoid this at all costs - there were a few Sundays (the last day of the pay period) other associates and I were sent home early, resulting in our department being grossly understaffed between 3-8 PM.

I confess I may go out there at Midnight - it's only 10 minutes from my house, and I'm not too proud to do it if (and only if) the deals beat what I pay at wholesale. Cutting to the chase, is it worth two hours of my time if I can save $100 or more on resale stock for my shop.

What's even more bizarre than department and electronics stores opening at Midnight? Furniture stores. I kid you not. The 12 or so Ashley HomeStores in Houston are opening at Midnight Thursday with 25% off everything in the store between Midnight and 6 AM. I doubt I'd trust myself (or anyone else) to make decorating choices I'd have to live with for years to come at 2 AM. :tired

 

I have a Black Friday success story.

I wanted the 40 in Emerson TV for our bedroom. I got to WalMart in Corinth about 10 minutes until 7pm, and already, there was a line. however, it was only about 10 people deep.

I got the TV at midnight, and while I was waiting in line, the wife got the other crap for the kids.

That morning at 7am on Thanksgiving Day, she made it to Big Lots and got some toys and Wii games at ultra cheap prices.


Yaaay capitalism....