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Christmas Crap in October!

Been stuck working at a grocery store since May. It honestly has been an ok experience. Well, I come back to work after a few days off and come to see Christmas decorations and products ready for sale. For crying out loud, we haven't past Thanksgiving or Halloween yet (if there is even going to be one). There's 80 Days till Christmas. I always thought that stores would start selling Christmas stuff after October 31st. I suppose a few know this, but I genuinely do not like Christmas as I personally think its lost its meaning and is more of a marketing thing. It's not about spending time with family; it's about buying things. Even when I try to be festive, something goes wrong (Last year I was bedridden during Christmas and New Years). Even in my department (Dairy), I got cases of egg-nog that are due to expire in two weeks and I was lucky to sell two cartons in a six-hour shift.  Well with 2020 being a gong-show, there isn't anything for me to be festive about aside that my family is healthy. Seriously, can stores just wait till the appropriate time than just shoving it down our throats, most people have less money in 2020 to spend due to the pandemic. They might as well start selling Christmas products year-round and have a Christmas parade in June. 

Oh wait, Costco sells Christmas Trees and decorations in July, nevermind. 

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54 minutes ago, Greatcoinz said:

I genuinely do not like Christmas as I personally think its lost its meaning and is more of a marketing thing. It's not about spending time with family; it's about buying things.

I agree wholeheartedly with you here. The spirit of Christmas should be year round, Love, Goodwill, Peace on Earth, should be all day every day. We've been saying all this shit every year at Christmas, but has there ever truly been Peace on Earth ever??? Always a war somewhere. How hard can it be to just lay down the guns and say I will not kill today, and keep doing that.

I also believe Christmas has become too commercial. Having said that, I do enjoy buying things for family and close friends. I do put a lot of thought into buying something that will be treasured, or useful. Nothing cheap or junkie. And I am always done by October, so not even giving into the Christmas hype.

I also believe firmly that one does not have to wait until Christmas to bestow a gift on a friend or family member. No reason, just here is a little something for you. Because I love you / treasure our friendship / saw this and thought of you..  Any time is gift giving time...

I would be perfectly fine without the commercial side of things, but my mom was always a fanatic at Christmas. I was fine with it as a child, but began to loathe it as a teen. Especially being the recipient of weird shit that never fit properly. (Moms are always trying to dress their daughters, ugh) Between 1977 (the year I left home) and 1984 (the year my son was born), I totally shunned Christmas. Having children / grandchildren kinda softened my stance on it, but without going overboard. 

I do wish they would hurry up with that Peace on Earth thing though. Would be nice if it were a given and we could take that out of the Christmas message.

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1 hour ago, Greatcoinz said:

Christmas Crap in October!

Been stuck working at a grocery store since May. It honestly has been an ok experience. Well, I come back to work after a few days off and come to see Christmas decorations and products ready for sale. For crying out loud, we haven't past Thanksgiving or Halloween yet (if there is even going to be one). There's 80 Days till Christmas. I always thought that stores would start selling Christmas stuff after October 31st. I suppose a few know this, but I genuinely do not like Christmas as I personally think its lost its meaning and is more of a marketing thing. It's not about spending time with family; it's about buying things. Even when I try to be festive, something goes wrong (Last year I was bedridden during Christmas and New Years). Even in my department (Dairy), I got cases of egg-nog that are due to expire in two weeks and I was lucky to sell two cartons in a six-hour shift.  Well with 2020 being a gong-show, there isn't anything for me to be festive about aside that my family is healthy. Seriously, can stores just wait till the appropriate time than just shoving it down our throats, most people have less money in 2020 to spend due to the pandemic. They might as well start selling Christmas products year-round and have a Christmas parade in June. 

Oh wait, Costco sells Christmas Trees and decorations in July, nevermind. 

 

44 minutes ago, captaintrolley said:

I agree wholeheartedly with you here. The spirit of Christmas should be year round, Love, Goodwill, Peace on Earth, should be all day every day. We've been saying all this shit every year at Christmas, but has there ever truly been Peace on Earth ever??? Always a war somewhere. How hard can it be to just lay down the guns and say I will not kill today, and keep doing that.

I also believe Christmas has become too commercial. Having said that, I do enjoy buying things for family and close friends. I do put a lot of thought into buying something that will be treasured, or useful. Nothing cheap or junkie. And I am always done by October, so not even giving into the Christmas hype.

I also believe firmly that one does not have to wait until Christmas to bestow a gift on a friend or family member. No reason, just here is a little something for you. Because I love you / treasure our friendship / saw this and thought of you..  Any time is gift giving time...

I would be perfectly fine without the commercial side of things, but my mom was always a fanatic at Christmas. I was fine with it as a child, but began to loathe it as a teen. Especially being the recipient of weird shit that never fit properly. (Moms are always trying to dress their daughters, ugh) Between 1977 (the year I left home) and 1984 (the year my son was born), I totally shunned Christmas. Having children / grandchildren kinda softened my stance on it, but without going overboard. 

I do wish they would hurry up with that Peace on Earth thing though. Would be nice if it were a given and we could take that out of the Christmas message.

Christmas creep has been going on for years but 2020 takes the cake for it starting in early October.  I saw an article a while ago about how retailers were likely to do this to try and make something out of the back half of the year since Halloween is likely to be a bust.  Sure enough, that's what they're doing and sure enough, Halloween's shaping up to be a complete bust.  Both Canadian Tire and Lobloaws have been discounting Halloween candy starting in the last week of September to try to move it while Halloween was still over a month away then.

As for Christmas, it's a retail holiday.  Anything associated with the religious aspect of it has long been detached from the broader holiday itself so I don't know why the people who take issue with it over religious grounds get so worked up over it when you could just as easily call it the "End of Calendar Year Late December Consumerism Spendfest" without really changing anything.  Personally, I've been done with Christmas for a long time.  The over the top blatant consumerism is one reason.  Another is the ugly family politics that Christmas causes to get reared up in spades.  For far too many people, there's a really ugly, nasty underside to the whole Christmas season that's hidden beneath the thin veneer of the decorations, the family gathering, the big dinner, the works that can be truly soul destroying.  About the only part of the whole thing I'm happy to participate in is putting the lights on the house and that's only because it's bright and cheerful and does much to push back the short days and gloom of that time of year.  I really hope they help cheer up anyone passing by that has a rough time over Christmas.

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2 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

Another is the ugly family politics that Christmas causes to get reared up in spades.  For far too many people, there's a really ugly, nasty underside to the whole Christmas season that's hidden beneath the thin veneer of the decorations, the family gathering, the big dinner, the works that can be truly soul destroying. 

True enough. I am lucky I have a small family now, so that is not an issue, although when I was in my teens I hated having to pretend to love everyone and everything.  But the fake smiles and gaiety behind the guise of Christmas Joy sickens me.  It's like Peace on Earth for one day and then back to fighting.

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Personally, the only thing that irritates me about the Christmas season is their insistence on beating you over the head with the music, so early, and so frequently. And it's never any of the good stuff either, it's always a cover of some already terrible song from some D-tier wannabe pop star.

I know I should be outraged by all the consumerism and all that but I am a simple man. I see flashy, gaudy decorations and my heart lights up.

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  • 1 month later...

There is a bridge in Bratislava named for Italian engineer Enea Grazioso Lanfranconi. Only, 35 years ago someone made a typo and spelled it Lafranconi. There is now a neighbourhood, tram stop, and student residence in the area all named Lafranconi. It has become a well used title to refer to the neighbourhood. The stop, but not the neighbourhood or student residence or bridge, is being renamed, after 35 years, to Lanfranconi.

Two stops in the centre, of many, have just been renamed to "Centrum" (Slovak for centre), as though they were the only stops in the city centre. "Bory Mall" (self explanatory) is now OC Bory (OC = shopping centre), despite the mall not changing its name.

61 stops are having their names changed in total.

Transit must be too good in Bratislava if they have time to deal with stuff like this :) Wonder who's getting paid for this garbage.

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2 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

Had a customer today return $961 worth of merchandise... in cash. I wonder if it's deeply brave or deeply stupid to walk around with that much money on your person.

That is a lot of merchandise to return. Especially getting refunded in cash.

Some stores are getting a bit more strict and would only issue a refund via gift card or debit/credit if they were suspicious. Hope that person provided their receipt. 

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21 hours ago, GTAmissions1 said:

Some stores are getting a bit more strict and would only issue a refund via gift card or debit/credit if they were suspicious. Hope that person provided their receipt. 

They did; if they didn't have a receipt, the person would've only gotten store credit.

Still, though. Come into the 1950s and get yourself a card!!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Two Things from Today. (Actually Three but won't post one of the moments, for now at least)

1) Heard it on the news in the states but never expected to witness it. Some f*cking b*tch decided on cough on (Yeah, without a mask on) nearly 10k of produce (fruits and vegetables) at the store I worked at. Resulting it being either thrown into compost or the trash compactor. The manager called security and then the police on her. Security did jack shit and the cops said they were busy, even though they are just 5 minutes away. Truth be told, I just believe they don't give a shit. So they told her to leave. So they basically let this crazy b*tch get away with destroying $10000 in someone elses property. So in a world where the pandemic has created bigger hardships where hunger and poverty exists in our own backyards, we let this get swept underneath the rug rather let her face the consequences? I wish she got busted and was forced to pay back the store what she coughed on. $10k in produce, told to stop, but she kept on doing it. I've had it. I knew the place I worked at is in a higher crime neighborhood, I just didn't believe that shit like this was possible.  

2) After perhaps the worst night of work I've had where witnessing some crazy women cough on 10k groceries and coworkers turning against on one another cause they are snowflakes, I drove to the middle nowhere before heading home to just have some alone time to scream and deliberate if I should just quit my job at the grocery store and focus working full-time at the airport. After being there for 15 minutes, I decided to head home when a couple of nice cars with more than one person in them came the opposite direction. What surprised me was this, this road is barely on the map. It only leads to a dead end with nothing 2-3km within, aside the highway nearby. The only thing I thought of was I just left before some shady deal gone was about to happen. (I'm assuming drugs or something). So my favorite place to cool off alone after work (at night) isn't so secret after all. Might have to find another place just to be alone if I see anyone else there, which sucks as I could do whatever I want without disturbing anyone. Well I bet they were surprised to see me, I drove away without my lights on, until I got back to the main road. 

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There was a customer today that came in with a broken piece from a shelf he bought. He told me that the shelf was built and standing in his home, but this piece was broken, so he wanted to get a refund.

I told him that this wouldn't be possible and he needs the actual product in the store, and he told me that I was wasting his time and mine. I was adamant, and he said that he would go and buy a new shelf and replace the item in the package with the damaged one he had and then return that, and as he skulked off he said "Thanks for wasting my time." I don't know what ended up happening, as there was a curbside order to take out when he came back. Where do these bozos keep coming from? Is there a factory nearby that is pumping them out en masse?

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4 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

There was a customer today that came in with a broken piece from a shelf he bought. He told me that the shelf was built and standing in his home, but this piece was broken, so he wanted to get a refund.

I told him that this wouldn't be possible and he needs the actual product in the store, and he told me that I was wasting his time and mine. I was adamant, and he said that he would go and buy a new shelf and replace the item in the package with the damaged one he had and then return that, and as he skulked off he said "Thanks for wasting my time." I don't know what ended up happening, as there was a curbside order to take out when he came back. Where do these bozos keep coming from? Is there a factory nearby that is pumping them out en masse?

Reminds me of people who return stuff saying "it isn't opened" or "I didn't use it." To instead have a closer look and indeed was opened/used. Some people are really demanding thinking the retailer has unlimited capacity to handle their needs.

If the retailer had that capacity, then I am pretty sure they wouldn't be taking a careful look at their operations on a regular basis. Especially with the razor thin margins that are being operated on. Being a make or break scenario for a retailer. 

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On 12/18/2020 at 2:02 AM, Greatcoinz said:

Two Things from Today. (Actually Three but won't post one of the moments, for now at least)

1) Heard it on the news in the states but never expected to witness it. Some f*cking b*tch decided on cough on (Yeah, without a mask on) nearly 10k of produce (fruits and vegetables) at the store I worked at. Resulting it being either thrown into compost or the trash compactor. The manager called security and then the police on her. Security did jack shit and the cops said they were busy, even though they are just 5 minutes away. Truth be told, I just believe they don't give a shit. So they told her to leave. So they basically let this crazy b*tch get away with destroying $10000 in someone elses property. So in a world where the pandemic has created bigger hardships where hunger and poverty exists in our own backyards, we let this get swept underneath the rug rather let her face the consequences? I wish she got busted and was forced to pay back the store what she coughed on. $10k in produce, told to stop, but she kept on doing it. I've had it. I knew the place I worked at is in a higher crime neighborhood, I just didn't believe that shit like this was possible.  

2) After perhaps the worst night of work I've had where witnessing some crazy women cough on 10k groceries and coworkers turning against on one another cause they are snowflakes, I drove to the middle nowhere before heading home to just have some alone time to scream and deliberate if I should just quit my job at the grocery store and focus working full-time at the airport. After being there for 15 minutes, I decided to head home when a couple of nice cars with more than one person in them came the opposite direction. What surprised me was this, this road is barely on the map. It only leads to a dead end with nothing 2-3km within, aside the highway nearby. The only thing I thought of was I just left before some shady deal gone was about to happen. (I'm assuming drugs or something). So my favorite place to cool off alone after work (at night) isn't so secret after all. Might have to find another place just to be alone if I see anyone else there, which sucks as I could do whatever I want without disturbing anyone. Well I bet they were surprised to see me, I drove away without my lights on, until I got back to the main road. 

I was going to say it's unbelievable but it's totally believable.  I saw a ton of food get thrown out at a grocery store years ago after some nutcase with open wounds walked in and bled all over the open bins of produce.

To be honest, I do sympathize with the security guards though from having been one way back in my college days to keep the tuition fees paid and a Metropass in my pocket so I could get to class.  That's a low wage job with a crappy uniform, all the responsibility but no actual authority to carry it out.  Things might not be as bad in Alberta as they are here in Ontario but about the only enhanced piece of authority over any other regular citizen security has here is the fact they're considered to be among the owner/occupier's designated agents for the purpose of the trespassing laws.  Other than that, they'd need to be able to write up one incredibly airtight, ironclad report outlining the whole found committing an indictable offence for the purposes of making a citizen's arrest and getting it to stick so either that or physically throwing the lady out of the place under Alberta's trespassing laws and either way, having to handle someone who might be sick during the pandemic meanwhile every cellphone in the place is being put into record to get the whole thing on video, forget it.  The police are the ones who are properly trained, equipped, mandated, and frankly paid to deal with this and given the public health issues this raises, their apathy is really disappointing.  Not surprising, having been around that block with the police many times, but disappointing.

I hear you about getting some alone time to blow off steam from it all, and how hard it is find somewhere to be alone to do it.  Here in Toronto, it's become flat out impossible to find somewhere to be alone with your thoughts or get it out of your system as time has gone by and the place has become more and more crowded.  It used to be possible to leave the building at work and be on your own withing a minute or two of walking and the surrounding area was dead on weekends or after the business day ended and you could easily find somewhere to be alone during the off hour shifts.  Now, with the encroachment of condos that have totally overrun the area and more being added all the time, it's a 24/7 circus.  One night a few weeks ago, I took the long way home after a 4:00 to midnight shift, took a winding road right up to the top where it dead ends after the last cross street it intersects with pretty much the same idea you had in mind and with pretty much the same results.  Three other cars were already there in different spots on the dead end section and all I could think was, "you have to be kidding me."  I turned around and went home.

Actually, thinking back to that security job I had in college, I have a good story from right around this exact time of year.  It was the last couple of days before Christmas.  The place I worked the weekends at laid off the part time guards over the holidays and I had to get hours wherever they were available and this took me to some low rise building that was being completely gutted and redone.  I was at the end of my rope for a bunch of different reasons.  Family BS.  Work BS re. the Christmas layoff.  Christmas in general.  The money worries from trying get through college with being ineligible for financial aid.  The scheduling was a shambles and multiple people were showing up for each shift thinking they had eight hours of work only to find the site double or triple booked and then someone would have to get out a cell phone, call the office and find out who's really scheduled to work and the lucky person would stay and the others would turn around to go home to figure out how they were going to cope with a short paycheque from suddenly having their shift of work go up in smoke that day.  Right over the Christmas holiday period too.  This one night a couple of days before Christmas Eve two other guys showed up for the midnight shift at this building so we made the call and I was the lucky winner.  I felt bad about the other two getting shorted but I needed the money too.  I had just gotten the course list and book list to go with it and I was adding up the prices and looking at the course descriptions to see which classes I already knew the most material for to decide which books I could skate by without and which ones I was going to have to get no matter what and come up with a plan.  I couldn't come up with anything that worked out so I had all the books I needed while leaving out the ones I thought I could scrape by without meanwhile my family was making it clear I was in serious shit if I didn't spend money I didn't have buying gifts for everyone.  I finally had enough around 2:00 or 3:00 AM.  I walked to the side of the building where there was this insecure door that didn't lock that the construction people were worried about people sneaking in through to steal tools but wouldn't fix, out to the residential street that it exited on to, took a look around, standing out there in full uniform in the middle of the night.  Everything was dark and still and quiet.  Then I took a deep, deep breath of cold night air, tilted my head back and emptied my lungs out.  Emptied them all the way out at full volume.  When I finished, I took another look around to see if anybody saw me, walked back to the door, pulled it open, went back inside the warm building and finished out the rest of the shift feeling better for it.

On 12/18/2020 at 10:25 PM, PCC Guy said:

There was a customer today that came in with a broken piece from a shelf he bought. He told me that the shelf was built and standing in his home, but this piece was broken, so he wanted to get a refund.

I told him that this wouldn't be possible and he needs the actual product in the store, and he told me that I was wasting his time and mine. I was adamant, and he said that he would go and buy a new shelf and replace the item in the package with the damaged one he had and then return that, and as he skulked off he said "Thanks for wasting my time." I don't know what ended up happening, as there was a curbside order to take out when he came back. Where do these bozos keep coming from? Is there a factory nearby that is pumping them out en masse?

Oh brother - this guy was trying to scam a free shelf due to the broken part.  Do you think he might've taken a part he didn't absolutely need for his shelf and broken it on purpose to scam a refund or was it a legitimate defective part right out of the box?

When I was buying furniture for my workshop in the basement, I got a large roll around cabinet and was putting it together when I discovered parts were missing.  I went back to the store and asked how they wanted to handle it and if it would be possible to raid another one for the part.  Getting it down into my basement was one thing but I wanted to avoid having to take the partially assembled one I had down there apart and muscle it back up the stairs into the truck to return it to the store.  They said no problem, happens all the time, and got another one out of the back, ripped the box open and got me the part that was missing.  That's when I saw a bunch of parts that weren't in the bag of hardware that came in mine so what we arranged was for me to take the whole bag of hardware home and they processed it as an exchange so I went home with the parts to make my incomplete one complete and the one at the store that got raided was the one that got sent back to the manufacturer.  The store was really good about it too - I asked if they could keep the one we tore open and parted out in the back until I finished putting the one I had together just in case there were any more surprises from it in terms of damaged/missing parts that I hadn't discovered yet and that I'd let them know when I was done so they could tape the parts donor back up and return it to the manufacturer.  They were agreeable with that and I dropped by a couple hours later to let them know that the rest of it was fine and they could package it up and send it off.  The two people I was dealing with there were great.  Both of them were surprised though that in the bunch of furniture I'd bought over the year or so I was outfitting the workshop, that I'd only had the one item be a problem.  According to them, they have returns or the have to break open other packages like this all the time.

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8 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

Oh brother - this guy was trying to scam a free shelf due to the broken part.  Do you think he might've taken a part he didn't absolutely need for his shelf and broken it on purpose to scam a refund or was it a legitimate defective part right out of the box?

It looked like a component out of the box, but whether it was broken when it was purchased or not is anyone's guess.

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Skimming auctions on PublicSurplus, is this some sort of college joke or do they legit need to attempt to sell an empty pickle bucket before tossing it? Considering you can buy a brand new bucket for $2-$3 (US) from many home centers, I would think any small amount of revenue generated from the sale would be negated by the administrative time needed to coordinate pickup, posting the auction, etc. ?

Auction #2687885 - Don Hermann 5 Gallon Bucket

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Okay, who the hell travels with a suitcase with screws sticking out of it? Nice patch job, they didn't think that the ground handlers at the airport could injure themselves. I ended up cutting my leg this morning resulting in a peroxide / alcohol flush in to prevent gangrene. Told my boss about it, they reported it but not sure what will come out of it. This wasn't the best start to a 13 Hour shift. 

20201226_083641.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

I passed through the food court in the building next door to work on my way to my favourite coffee place this morning.  The music's playing on the PA system.  It's an undertalented female vocalist attempting to sing along to a mediocre backing band which, to be fair, is a lot of music for the last 20-25 years or so but then I heard the word "mistletoe" being croaked as the band clanked along.  I stopped to wonder if I misheard.  No, this lady's shrieking and croaking about mistletoe while the band's attempting to do something with their instruments that would've probably sounded better if they tuned up first.

Ok, even if Christmas wasn't cancelled in the first place, it'd be over by now anyways.  Turn the damn garbage off already.

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