We Get By Just Fine Here On Minimum Wage

"How does Christmas keep managing to sneak up on us? I mean, it's the same day every year. You'd think we'd know by now."
-- Some customer.

So I'm working at Burnstad's again. It's not too horrible. Sure, I'm making minimum wage doing fairly mind-numbing work. But at least I'm getting some kind of income--besides, it's not like I need a whole lot of money--and plus I finally have somthing to do during the days other than sleep and waste my time. So it's not as bad as I thought it would be, although it was kind of difficult making the jump from getting up after noon and not working, to getting up at 8(:30) and working an 8 hour shift on the busiest days of the year. Friday night when I got home, I just sort of staggered around for a while and recovered.

Anyway, there's a point to this story, and it's even topical.

I noticed a trend in some of the people that came in regarding how they felt about Christmas. Some of them had their carts loaded up with stuff, spending over $200 on last-minute stocking stuffers and dinnerstuffs. Those were the ones that talked about all they had left to do, all the stuff they still had to get. They were, generally, as cheery as anyone else in the store (extra points to them for that, considering many of them visibly winced while writing their checks) but they seemed to be lacking something that another group of people had.

This other group is the people that couldn't afford to blow 200 dollars at a grocery store for a holiday. The woman digging through her purse to look for some extra change so someone could have cranberries with their dinner. The woman on social security who didn't have enough money to cover everything, but absolutely refused to let the chocolate be the thing she didn't get because her nephews loved it. These were the people didn't seem to mind all the hassle because they were genuinely looking forward to being together with their family, even that uncle that always causes trouble between the different sides. They didn't flash a fake smile to get out of the store faster. These were the people that honestly appreciated what they had, regardless of what they didn't have.

And regarding the fire in my last post, when I last heard, the baby was doing okay--45% covered by third degree burns, and possible lung damage--but alive. The dog made it out and so did the outdoor cats. The two indoor cats probably weren't so lucky. The family's doing as well as anyone can hope, Brookwood raised over $5000 for them and Goodwill (or Salvation Army, one of those) gave them a voucher for clothing, and at those stores, that can get quite a bit. Next year is going to be really hard on them, but at least they stand a chance.

Here's hoping none of us ever find ourselves in a similar situation.

Merry Christmas, dear blogreaders. Thanks for the past year of support, sarcasm, stories, and the occasional shut up. I'm sorry I didn't get you anything. Maybe I'll just start posting more as a gift. No, you can't return it. Jerk.