January 6, 2008

  • Wow, Christmas is two weeks gone, and people are still insane at work. It was almost standing room only yesterday, which makes me jittery at the best of times, but throw in rude or otherwise ignorant people and my back was in knots from the stress. I was late for my break already, but everytime I turned around, there was another person looking for help. I was perfectly willing to do so. As a supervisor, it's one of the things I'm paid to do, especially when I wasn't scheduled for a specific area when I came back so I wouldn't be making anyone else late. However, as I looked up from the last customer, there was a gentleman holding up a "Conscience of a Liberal" book, and he says, "Oxymoron? hyuck, hyuck, hyuck..."

    Um, no? Try the other way around? Grrr, times like that I REALLY wish we were allowed to argue politics. I may just be assuming (based on my own liberal nature) that all liberals operate on a strong moral foundation which causes them to ensure everyone has the same freedoms (instead of just the people on the Right), but I DON'T THINK SO! Anyway, after that, I started paging my replacement as I had been the floor supervisor and really wanted to get out of there before I got ambushed by another idiot. At which point, the idiot in questions says, "Are you throwing me out?"

    Yeah, if only.... So I finally managed to get to break, and after that, it was smooth sailing... even when I came back... because by then it had begun raining, and all the pests had decided to crawl back under their rocks. Gah! Somedays people are like zombies, other days they're like locusts, and somedays they're just like gnats flying up your nose. I mean, I try to be tolerant of the opinions of others. I only wish they showed me the same courtesy and didn't assume that because "the customer is always right," I'm going to agree with them. I may not be able to argue politics (due to company policy), but that doesn't mean I don't have a political opinion. It's funny though. We're not allowed to argue politics (or religion), but we're still expected to be able to give people a recommendation on what to read if we're asked. How can you recommend a book on politics if you don't buy into the dogma of a particular party and/or have not read the book? The customer is bound to ask why you recommend a particular book, and I hate lying.

    Today is Twelfth Night and Old Christmas day according to the Julian Calendar. It marks the end of the Yule festivities according to old Teutonic Pagan traditions. On this night, the Twelfth-cake is prepared to select the Rulers of Twelfth Night. This is a large cake, usually frosted and otherwise ornamented. A bean (king) or pea (queen) or coin is placed in the batter to determine the 'king' and 'queen' of the feast. The twelfth-cake is divided among the children, and the children who find the prizes are crowned, placed on a throne, and paraded in state. If a girl finds the male token, she must name her sovereign, and if a male finds the female token, he chooses his consort.

    Apple trees are Wassailed and given libations today.

    According to Frazer, the time between Christmas and Epiphany is a witching time. According to Swiss Lore, on the Lake of Lucerne at Brunnen, two female wood spirits, Strudeli and Stratteli appear on Twelfth Night.

    La Befana, the good fairy of Italian children, fills their stockings on Twelfth Night. She is Italy’s “Santa Claus.” Flying on her broomstick, she enters through the chimney, bringing gifts for children.

    In Japan, this is Dezomeshiki. The fire brigade goes back into formation after the holiday celebration. Firemen in costumes from the Middle Ages give acrobatic performances atop ladders, and demonstrations are staged at the Palace plaza.

    Joan of Arc was born today in 1412 and died May 30, 1431. It was around 1424, when she was 12, that Joan said she began to have visions of Saints Catherine and Margaret and the Archangel Michael. Michael had been chosen in 1422 as one of the patron saints of the French Royal army and had long been the patron of the fortified island of Mont-St-Michel, which had been holding out against repeated English assaults.

    This is the 22nd of Mechir in the Egyptian calendar, the Feast of Ptah and Horus.

Comments (4)

  • Sad though that this country has become so one sided in politics or so it seems. I used to be registered as a repug but switched to a democrat. And the more I look at the repugs the more I can't believe I was aligned with them. THe only thing I've been saying lately is "I'm not a republican"!

  • The frustration I find with the "Extreme Right", as it were, is that followers of this particular political spectrum are more subject to platitudes than any other party affiliation. It would have been interesting to note how the customer in question came by his opinion. Did it come out of his own brain? Or the mouth of a Limbaugh, O'"lie"ly or Coulter or any number of Fox news-type idiocrats who have taken it upon themselves to speak for those sheeple who find the least measure of critical thought nearly impossible. One does not have to define oneself as adhering to any specific political idea to view absurdity for what it is.

    I love Twelfth Night. I like the traditions of the days you have placed here.

    Blessings~

  • i had a guy wait 10 minutes (because i was busy with people ahead of him) to argue over a price discrepency. he said a sign said 2 for 8 when it said 2 for 10. i figured when i was told about this that someone (probably him i was thinking) went and changed the sign to get a cheaper price. well we went to look and he said see 2 for 8. i looked up 2 for 80. i told him i would gladly add on some more money but i thought it was probably a better deal for him to get the 2 for 10 and be done with it. it's amazing what people will argue about. and how they brains will drop a 0 at the end.
    ryc: i'll try that writing thing again. no promises i can't turn creativity on very well or the kind i'd like anyway.

  • I always hated having to keep my mouth shut around customers. Sometimes I think a suprise verbal attack from a store associate would do them some good! Even if it didn't, it would shock the hell out of them, which would amuse me to no end.

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