Love is all you need

It's that time of the year again. And having worked retail over many holiday seasons it has taken its toll.

Things are always different on the other side. Grass is greener. But with retail it is just very eye-opening and a little bit aggravating. You watch all these people step into line buying things for people they hardly ever see, and most of these things will probably end up as gifts people never use.

Some of these shoppers you know have never stepped foot into your store all year. They even tell you that sometimes. "You know I never come in here." But yet here they are, spending money on gifts mostly because other people are and they don't want to feel left out and/or guilty. Showing up to a party without gifts automatically warrants dirty looks from the people that supposedly love you. So, a lot of people end up going out to get things against their own free will.

Sometimes it's sad to see. There are some customers that pull up to the till that you are pretty sure have no idea what they are supposed to be buying. All they have with them are junk food and random knick-knacks that says generic in the loudest way possible. All they know is they can't show up empty-handed, yet they have no clue what the recipients actually want. Not even the slightest. At least some people attempt buying a cheap bargain book that is somewhat related to some general category like music or science. 1001 Facts on the Greatest Rock Bands of All Time. But a candy cane and a chocolate bar mostly means 'meh'.

On the other side are those parents or close aunts who load up on two bags full and more stuff stuffed in their armpits for their 2 nieces and nephews. They know exactly what these kids want and spoil the crap out of them. It's like giving a junky the best fix ever. Get them addicted while they're still young. Then every year they will want more and better things until the day they have their own children to pass on the tradition.

And it's never the awesome uncle or the best dad in the world getting these mounds of stuff. Most of the guys that pass through the till have like 2 magazines with them on expensive audio equipment and maybe some sort of crude joke book for their buddy. Sometimes they ask for a newspaper.

I can't really blame them though. All the wives and girlfriends and daughters that come around all say the same thing. "Argh, I have no idea what to get for him. It's just impossible." It maybe a cheap shot to say this, but it's probably because women don't take on the interests of men. Women don't buy those tech magazines and read up on boring guy things because they don't get it. Strangely enough, men will sheepishly look in the relationship section, or fashion, or read the synopsis on female oriented literature. They try to look better, learn to dance, and be romantic, but for a lady to understand computers, programs, comics and other nerdy geek stuff? Impossible. And that's why women have no idea what to get for guys.

Yep. It is that time of the year again. It is the season for love, but only because it is trending.