The Countdown to Christmas Begins

How many shopping days left until Christmas? Friday signaled the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. For you it may mean lots of insanely great deals on the product you want. For me it means sixteen hour work days and cranky customers when an item sells out (read the ad people, it says "limited quantities available.") So, yes I did work 16 hours on Friday. And 12 on Saturday. And now I'm the one whose tired and crabby and just counting down the days in between my rare and precious days off. I should love this time of year. It's every retailers wet dream. The throngs of people waving credit cards and money burning a whole in their wallet. Well, that's the way it should be. But Michigan's in an economic slump and no one actually wants to spend money. They want the most for the least amount of money. And they're not willing to spend extra money on anything. And that means I've got my district manager breathing fire down my neck wanting to know why our add-ons are so low and we haven't sold any protection plans or memberships. I'll tell you why -- Michigan's economy sucks. So, I'm expecting a fabulous holiday season full of tough sales and snarky customers. Ok, so maybe I'm a tad cynical. Or maybe I'm just exhausted and I need a nap. Either way, here's to Christmas. Now go spend some money.