The Emerald Rose

       One of my favorite all time Loius Armstrong tunes. Ahhh,…and it is a wonderful world on Thanksgiving day,…because we pause and think, “It could be worse”. That’s our personal situations,…and then we reflect on others less fortunate, and we are thankful,…..OK, END OF THAT CRAP!

       “Say kids,…What time is it?” It’s crass commercialism time kiddies, yes the synapses of our grey matter have not even had time to adequately process our thoughtful “Thanksgiving-ness” our silent vow to try and make the next year a better Thanksgiving for others less fortunate, perhaps a “blow the bankroll next year” attitude on an extended family gathering, a “knock down drag out Thanksgiving”,….or in the case of our significantly older seniors and heavily inflicted bretheren,…this may have been thier last Thanksgiving we muse, thoughtfully in regret and remorse it could not have been better for them this year.

        But hey man, we ate the food, drank the beer and wine, watched a few football games, may have even been recruited for the cleanup, and if you were lucky, had a turkey endorphine induced “meditation” and lost a few hours. But it’s all over, done, kaput, finis, wrapped up and put away ’til next year, and “the shopping orgy” begins! “Gentlemen (oops! Sorry , not politically correct, I know.) Gentlewomen, start your engines!”

        Just after we moved down here to Florida, and before I got to be a “persnickity old bastard” , I was the manager of a retail store for seven years. (I am going straight to heaven, non-stop, no purgatory, no pain, no anxiety,…just an express rocket train to the promised land, and because I spent my time in hell on earth, RETAIL, for seven “Black Fridays” but even as I write it is evolving to even higher levels of mass insanity! (I had a lady of African American ethnicity who used to work for me and she came up to me the first year I was the manager and said, “I has a problum wit callin’ tomorra ‘Black Friday’, I don’t wants to hear none of our fellow employees calling it that, ..it’s discriminatory an’ de-meanin’ again’ Black folks.” I swear!)

        Now we went to Church yesterday morning to personally “Thank the Big Guy” for a good year, good health, etc., etc.. We went to Don Pedro’s Mexican Cafe for breakfast, came home and amused ourselves until 4 p.m., then we traveled a mile or two to have an “Old fashioned family style Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner” together (the wife and I) and share a bottle of Pinot Grigio at “Stinky’s Fish Camp”. (All I’ll say is this is the poster child for “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, and I am not a fish eater, except canned albacore white meat tuna in spring water.) It was excellent, even “stuff” we don’t usually have on our table, AND a great salad of green stuff with pralines, chunks of Feta Cheese, sliced strawberries, and a GREAT balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Of course Apple, pumpkin, or Pecan pies for dessert. (Only thing I really miss, as an old Boston/Plymouth resident was warm Indian Pudding with a dollop of French Vanilla Ice Cream). We ate, enjoyed and went home to wait!

(As the wife told everyone, who called and asked what we were doing for Thanksgiving, as we’ve always had a big “crew”, and then expressed regret that we were “going out to eat Thanksgiving Turkey”,…”Hey a lot of folks we know just flat died, eat “blender Turkey dinner”, or just plain can’t walk or drive anymore, just be Thankful it’s us, we are.” We rather enjoyed a whole entire day together, just each other, even after 43 years together.)

      So we settled back, watched a little TV, read a bit on our latest novels, worked a Suduko puzzle,  until 11:00pm. Then I got up, changed into “jammies”, took my vitamins, fed the cats, and kissed my wife good night and hopped in bed. She kissed me goodnight, got dressed and went to work. (HUH? Say what?)

      She has a little part time job at a woman’s clothing store at the mall, she’s been there 11 years, gets decent pay for eight or nine hours a week, plus at least a 50 % discount on anything they sell (YEA GOD, another thing to be thankful for!) But the rather “shitty” economy, the lack of cash flow, recessional and inflationary thinking,….and let’s face it,…GREED, of the retail industry it is insane. Even her little chain, with absolutely no “drop dead, can’t live without it” deals said they had to open up at MIDNIGHT and stay open until 10 PM Friday night. 22 freakin’ hours straight, so she was required to work, but negotiated only mid-night ’til 3a.m., and 5 pm to 9 pm tonight!

       Needless to say I didn’t sleep much until 3 am when she got home, and she said the store did about $2,000 in the three hours she was there! I got up at 5:30 fed her cat (who starts scratching the bedroom door at 5:30 like the entire house is burning down) , shoot him up with his Insulin shot, grab a cup of coffee and head for “the Pit”, so she can get some solid sleep.

      For seven years I put up with that crap as a retail manager, but sooner or later you lose it, usually about four a.m. when you see women with children, dragging them after them as they race from store to store so as not to miss a single damn “super-deal”. And RUDE, man they take a handful of rude pills before they come out shopping.

        “Where is my kid?”

        “Lady he’s your kid not mine, maybe some vampire got him, or Hannibal Lector ate him with Turkey stuffing, or fava beans, not my problem, just pay me and go find the kid before someone else buys him on a “two for one” deal.”

        So it goes, but today, while the “zombies” keep shopping,….I’m going to the Pub. The wife has to work 5 pm to 9 pm so maybe we get to sleep better this evening.

        As the Rome Mall Manager said once around 76 B.C., “We have crossed the Rubicon, it’s gonna be a good day for Rome!” (or something like that.) 🙂

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