List of Christmas pet peeves

[Sheldonrs]

...Who would want one on Christmas Eve? They'd get to flip two little flaps and that's it!

The same guy that will never satisfy a woman or another man. :-)

[Catwoman2965]

My father-in-law passed away just before Thanksgiving last year (as in, wake on Wednesday, funeral on Friday), and I had to have my 14 year old yellow lab put to sleep in mid December.

And we still made an effort to get together with family and enjoy Christmas. Life has to be for the living.

Exactly. My dad passed away on Christmas morning 6 years ago. Last year was the first time I actually felt like it was a holiday and wanted to celebrate. So excuse me if I don't feel sorry for you, your kids, or anyone else who didn't get what they wanted, and therefore Christmas is RUINED.

[Estil]

Isn't the point of an advent calendar to lift up one little flap each day until Christmas? Who would want one on Christmas Eve? They'd get to flip two little flaps and that's it!

So they'll get half off and use it next Christmas silly! Geez, don't you know how how this works?

[Lace Neil Singer]

Apparently, us not having advent calendars to sell on Christmas Eve ruined this woman's Christmas.

[Kit-Ginevra]

I don't mind Christmas.In December. When it's a heatwave outside,it's August,everyone's out in sunglasses and shorts and the Christmas displays are going up,that bugs me like heck...

[EricKei]

They'd get to flip two little flaps and that's it!

Pssh. Those SC's are rank amateurs. You wanna get those calendars the week AFTER Christmas, so you can snag two dozen pieces of chocolate for a buck or so per set ^_^

[HawaiianShirts]

... they say to the wage slave having to work long hours on the holidays just to pay rent and put food on the table, hoping that they'll have money for gifts when all the essentials are paid for.

Bite me.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

If I could afford it, I'd take gifts or snacks or something to the employees of my favorite stores.

I have often heard people talk about public safety departments (police, fire, ambulance), hospitals, and a few other places that have to be staffed all day, every day, all year long, saying that those folks deserve AT THE VERY LEAST some kind of extra compensation for the hours they work on the holidays AND consideration so that they have SOME time with families. But hardly a word is said about retail, grocery, hotel, or restaurant workers. Disgusting.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Apparently, us not having advent calendars to sell on Christmas Eve ruined this woman's Christmas.

So have a couple for her to buy this year. Of course the first 23 days will be opened, but you will have it for her.

[fireheart]

Isn't the point of an advent calendar to lift up one little flap each day until Christmas? Who would want one on Christmas Eve? They'd get to flip two little flaps and that's it!

Last-minute cheap gifts because they're lazy sods who didn't buy anything for little Johnny. Or alternately, the parents of little Johnny decided to come over on Christmas Eve and they needed a quick gift.

Pssh. Those SC's are rank amateurs. You wanna get those calendars the week AFTER Christmas, so you can snag two dozen pieces of chocolate for a buck or so per set ^_^

Down here, they're ALREADY going for $1! (AUD)

I have often heard people talk about public safety departments (police, fire, ambulance), hospitals, and a few other places that have to be staffed all day, every day, all year long, saying that those folks deserve AT THE VERY LEAST some kind of extra compensation for the hours they work on the holidays AND consideration so that they have SOME time with families. But hardly a word is said about retail, grocery, hotel, or restaurant workers. Disgusting.

I've usually heard of this argument in a variant form: if ESSENTIAL services are needed, then stores should be open too! Usually the "for" arguments are coming from workers who know they'll snag double-time-and-a-half (the larger companies) on the day. Usually I shut them up by pointing out that retail is NOT an essential service and you will NOT die if you do not have that $2 tree topper that's now going for 50c.

To be honest, I'm surprised that we haven't copped flak so far for closing for two weeks out of the six over the summer in my current job. Sadly less monies for me

[Racket_Man]

I know I have posted a rant on this over at Fratching but it bears telling here in this thread.

The tight-fisted Scrooge's who knowingly (and I DO know they DO know about tipping) straight stiff me ALL year long whilst telling me to "Have a good night", "Keep warm", a generous "big hearted" "THANK YOU" or using their kids as "human shields" to shield themselves from my death glare.

FINALLY have their hearts grow 1/16 size bigger begrudgingly let slip a small token of their "appreciation" for my services so they can feel better during the "season of giving".

[Lace Neil Singer]

I know I have posted a rant on this over at Fratching but it bears telling here in this thread.

The tight-fisted Scrooge's who knowingly (and I DO know they DO know about tipping) straight stiff me ALL year long whilst telling me to "Have a good night", "Keep warm", a generous "big hearted" "THANK YOU" or using their kids as "human shields" to shield themselves from my death glare.

FINALLY have their hearts grow 1/16 size bigger begrudgingly let slip a small token of their "appreciation" for my services so they can feel better during the "season of giving".

I used to find that during the time that I had a paper round as a teenager. Most of the people on my round were nice, but there were a few SCs:

1. The people who owned two dogs who would bark at me and hurl themselves against the door while I was putting the paper in their outside letterbox. They thought it funny and cute that the dogs did that; never mind that it scared me half to death and made me glad the door was always closed.

2. The crusty old git who'd whinge if his paper was even slightly wet. Never mind the fact that if it was pissing with rain, I was more than slightly wet.

3. The people with the minature Yorkshire terrier who barked at me thru the door and once bit my trouser leg after they let it out when I was outside. I kicked it up in the air and they had a go at me, only stopping after I pointed out that I could easily report them for setting it on me.

4. The rich people who had both the Times and the Torygraph, with the miniscule slit for a letter box.


These people never tipped me at Christmas, but I got tips from everyone else. Some of the other people on my round even waited for me so they could give me the money in person. I dispised the rich gits cuz they never tipped me, yet some poor old people did and were genuinely grateful for the service.

[EricKei]

I know I have posted a rant on this over at Fratching but it bears telling here in this thread.

Mind posting the link? *cough*ahem* That really would be a much better place to discuss this, along with certain other things that have been discussed in this thread -- and removed -- as it is. Ditto any comments anyone might wish to make regarding whether one should tip or not. Grazi.

[wolfie]

Did a search on threads Racket_Man started. This one seems like the most relevant, but it's a few years old.

[protege]

I used to find that during the time that I had a paper round as a teenager. Most of the people on my round were nice, but there were a few SCs:

Sounds like some of mine. Most of them were pretty damn nice. I'd always get a tip, some candy, or a card and cash at Christmas. But, the ones that stick out...

1. The cheap bastard who flipped out over a quarter. I went to collect from him, and forgot we had a holiday in the week. I told him the wrong price ($2.50 vs. $2.25), and he lost it. All over 25 cents.

2. The old bastard who didn't have a screen door. I'm sure every route has at least one. This guy had no porch (just a concrete pad), no box, nothing. But, he'd lose his mind if his Sunday paper got wet. For many years, I'd put his precious newspaper into a plastic bag, and hang it on the doorknob. Did I get a tip for that? Fuck no.

3. The asshole with the dog across the street. This guy, had a rather nasty German Shepherd...that did *not* like people. This damn dog would go nuts if someone was even walking past the house. So you can imagine how I wasn't surprised when after I dropped the paper on the porch...the dog smashed its way through the screen door, and sunk its teeth into my leg

4. The people that were never home. These folks would disappear for a month or two at a time, and then bitch when their bill came to $20-30. They'd scream about how I "never came around to collect."

5. The woman whose paper *had* to be "perfect." She'd get upset over the tiniest wet spot or rip. Usually accompanied with "Back in my day..." Uh, back in your day, weren't newspapers chiseled into stone tablets?

These people always found some reason not to give me a tip

[Lace Neil Singer]

Christmas spirit doesn't exist for grouchy gits like that. XD

Here's a Christmas story from yesteryear... several years ago, in fact, back when I worked at the shire horse farm. Now, obviously the stable staff had to work Christmas Day cuz the animals needed feeding and the show team had to be mucked out and fed, being too valuable to be turned out in the fields like the other shire horses were, and the farm animals were. But instead of one person having to work the entire day, we split it up into small two hour shifts so that two people would work each shift; one for the morning and one for the afternoon. I had the afternoon shift with my collegue Michelle; our job was to feed the show team in the stable, then go out on the quad to feed the animals in the fields.

Now, after we had finished and were just giving carrots to the shire horses outside before we went home, we saw a strange sight from the field. A lone car was coming into the entrance. There was a giant billboard sized sign next to the entrance stating that the shire horse farm was closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so it couldn't possibly be members of the general public, right?

Wrong. It was. They got out of the car and went to the entrance, which was closed off, wandered around vaguely, probably wondering why there were no other people there, then they saw us and started yelling and waving their arms. Michelle and I ignored them and carried on giving carrots to the horses. Seriously, we were about to go home and we were not going to engage with these morons, who'd ignored a giant sign. XD Eventually, they gave up and drove out.