Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas.
I hope yours is better than mine is... for the past 15 hours I have been throwing up on and off... Curse you germ-covered holiday shoppers!!!

Speaking of germ-covered holiday shoppers...

"Would you like to purchase a gift card for anyone this year?" I ask as I am supposed to.
"Yes! One for the sweater and one for the shoes." the G-CHS replies.
"No, a gift card is a card you put money on to give to someone, which allows them to pick out whatever they'd like, you imbecile!!! You are thinking of a gift receipt. Get it right! It's not that hard! Card. Receipt. Card. Receipt." I feel like yelling at them.
Congratulations. Score one me, score -18 for G-CHS.

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"Would you like any gift boxes today?" I ask with a smile on my face BEFORE I put their merchandise in the bag.
"Umm, no, I've got plenty of boxes at home," the G-CHS replies.
("Yes, one less thing to do," I think to myself.)
I hand them their bags and say, "Thanks! Have a nice day!"
"You know, could I get some boxes?"
("SERIOUSLY?!?")
"Yes, how many do you need?" I reply, inevitably sounding slightly annoyed, then, more often than not, just giving them another bag of just their boxes because you can't put boxes in a bag that already has clothes in it.
"Oh, I only need one bag though," G-CHS tells me after I had them their bag with only boxes in it.
("This is why I asked you before I put your clothes in the bag, G-CHS.")
"Have a nice day, thanks for coming in."
("Now get out of my face.")

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"If I have to hear another Hilary Duff or NSync Christmas song one more time I am going to punch someone."

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"Do you have this in an XXL?"
"No, our store sizes for women's clothes only go up to an XL. We have extended sizes on our online store at aeropostale.com."
"Could you go check in the back?"
"No, our store sizes for women's clothes only go up to an XL. But we do have extended sizes on our online store."
"Well, I need it before Christmas."
"I'm sorry, but we don't carry anything above an XL in our store for women."
"Fine, I guess I'll just have to come up with something to tell my daughter why you didn't have her size."
("Holy hannah, lady. Chill out. It's not our fault. Do your holiday shopping before the 23rd next time.")
"Well, if there was something I could do, I would. Maybe you could rush order it."
"*SIGH* Fine. Maybe there's another store in here. Maybe I'll look online. Bye."

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8:30 shows on the clock.
"Alex! We close in half an hour! Woo hoo!" I exclaim to my co-worker.
"I know. I can't wait to get out of here."
"Me neither. However, hopefully we can get all these people out of here."
"No kidding. There are so many people..."
9:00 rolls around and there are quite a few people in the store still, however a lot of them are hurrying to finish up.
9:30 -- most people are in line, however there are still a few stragglers around the store.
10:00 -- There are two Bosnian customers and one girl from Vernal.
10:15 -- The Bosnian customers leave. The girl from Vernal is still in the store. She's already made a purchase, mind you.
10:30 --
"Is there anything we can help you with?"
"Yeah, do you have this blue sweater in an XL?"
"Let me go check in the back."
"Thank you so much!"
"Here you go."
"Oh! Thank you so much!!! You are AWESOME!"
("Alright lady, get out. We've been closed for an hour and a half.")
10:45 -- Vernal girl's still in the store. Our store manager has gone up to her 2-3 times at this point and told her that we all need to leave.
"I'm just finishing up. I'm almost done."
11:00 -- Still in the store. Let me remind you we have been closed for a grand total of 2 hours now.
11:05 -- She finally gets checked out and leaves.
"Thank you so so much!" She exclaims as we lock her out.
Good grief. Respect, lady.
We didn't leave the store until after midnight that day. Lame sauce.

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Those are just a few examples of why I love my job.
It's a good thing I like the people I work with. Or else I would have to shoot someone. Or myself.


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But seriously though. Merry Christmas! I hope you remember that Christ is behind Christmas. It's what is most important. I feel as though people lose that in all the hustle and bustle of shopping and stupid 'Christmas' songs. Classical 89 on the radio has the most beautiful Christmas songs. But they're not your "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or lame songs like that. They're old carols that people probably wouldn't associate with Christmas anymore.
Forget the stupid blow up decorations, the lame songs, etc, etc, etc (refer to my Christmas Rant post for further annoyances.)
Remember the true meaning. Charity.

Love you all.

.Kelleen.

.December 2008.

HoHum.

Last Tuesday was my last session for Practicum. After assessing the students, I chose to work on increasing participation duration with student J. Wow. He really has improved. During our last session he sang most of "Hakuna Matata." Now J. only speaks using 1-2 word phrases. This was phenomenal! I was so excited. And he was waving his scarf the entire time.
I am really going to miss those kids.

Also last Tuesday was a great concert. Benton Paul came up to Logan, UT. I took a few pictures for him and talked to him after. He's basically awesome.







Tomorrow officially starts the week of death. The outcome is unknown to me.
We'll find out...
However, something made me extremely happy last week. I get a message from one of my friends who is taking a computer art class. She needed to make a magazine cover for it and didn't like how the pictures she was taking were turning out and was looking through mine. She asked if she could use one of them! Yay! And she was so cute, she just told me (more than once, even!) that she'd give full credit to me as the photographer!
I was completely honored and I can't wait to see how it turned out!
And it made me so happy that she asked and said she'd give me the full credit at the photographer and she "wouldn't put her name on it as her own."
I really am excited to see how it turned out.


Well... I have a few other things to say, however, I have a lot to do today in preparation of the death week...

Christmas Rant

Well, I was looking down at the pictures I posted of Kadie... and well, we'll just say that you can tell it's the end of the semester... I obviously couldn't figure out how to make the pictures look good, and it's not even showing the whole photo... I guess you'll just have to click on them to see the whole picture. Dang.


Yes. IT is the end of the semester. Three days left of classes, then the week of death comes. I have so much to do, and no time to do it. I know what you're thinking... "You could do it now."
You're right... but let me tell you something. Yesterday, I was on campus from 9:15 AM to 8:10 PM. Eleven hours and fifty-five minutes.
Today I was at school from 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM then I only stopped at home to practice a couple things for practicum then I was off to it. (Practicum was especially good today. So fun, but that will have to be saved for a happier post.)
I needed a break before I went insane...er...




OK. Well. Last week was Thanksgiving. And my grandma's 90th birthday (on Wednesday). My family, my grandma, aunt, and uncle went to Anaheim, California to celebrate. My family and uncle flew out Tuesday night. Wednesday we went to Disneyland. "The Happiest Place on Earth..." (I suppose it could be... but only once out of every 3-4 years.) Well, we arrive at D-Land, and the whole place is decked out in Christmas decorations. And you can't forget the Christmas tunes blaring through the speakers.
Me, being the biggest Scrooge on the face of the Earth, wasn't thrilled, to say the least.
A few rides were modified to fit the Christmas season as well... such as "It's a Small World." And, the most significant to American society, "Haunted Mansion."
Now, "Haunted Mansion" was modified to "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I have never seen this film, but as I mentioned before, I feel it fits American Society.
Halloween is a pretty big holiday. Then as soon as November 1st hits, Christmas music is playing, all the extra Halloween candy is on sale, and Christmas decorations are on display and on sale everywhere.
OK, OK, I may be pushing it a bit. But not much.

Seriously folks, what about Thanksgiving?!

Even if the stores do wait until the middle of November to put out their Christmas stock, the day after explodes with Christmas everything. Black Friday... People shout death wishes to people they might be best friends with just so they can get the best "deals". It's a mad house. All over the country. Before you know it, an elbow is in your face, the woman next to you is stepping on your foot, and her little girl is pulling your hair. Oh, and Merry Christmas.
I don't know about you, but something about that picture seems completely wrong.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Christmas is the time of year where people are generous, cheerful, and to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Hmm...
Well, another thing. Let's see. The entire month of December (and most of November) is spent thinking of Christmas. Thanksgiving is just that other holiday in the middle of Halloween and Christmas. Just another day of the year. One day.
But once again, 24 hours later, Thanksgiving is thought of no more.


Seriously. You see all these people with ridiculous blow up toys in their yard, excessive hideous lights all over the place. Gross.
Is that what Christmas means to them?

(Wait, who am I to talk... I am grumpy throughout the entire season... But I work retail, keep in mind.)


So, through all the hustle and bustle, the elbows to the face, excessive lights and stupid blow up lawn decorations, the same music being played for months on end, etc, etc, etc. The true meaning of Christmas is lost.
Thanksgiving gets one measly day out of the year. Maybe Thanksgiving is better than that.

Good job, America. Good job.

.Kadie.

November 2008