Boxing Day

Boxing Day.

On the day after Christmas...

  • In feudal times the lord of the manor would give boxes of practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land.
  • Many years ago on the day after Christmas servants would carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day's work. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts.
  • In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day and distribute it to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day.

Take your pick.

In the world of retail Boxing Day is the day everyone brings back all the crap they got for gifts that they didn't want or is the wrong size or the wrong color or that they shoplifted and now want full retail for instead of the 10% that the local fence will give them.

Now fortunately for me I never had to work the counter during this period of long lines and testy, hung over sales people and managers dealing with irate customers who think that making their sob story more pitiful than the last one will get them any treatment more special than what everyone gets.

  1. Is it all there?
  2. Is it undamaged?
  3. Did you buy it here?

Bingo, have some store credit. Go nuts. Have a nice day.

What makes it especially crappy for the clerks is that you don't normally get a lot of practice with the return procedures because your manager will handle it since it's easier than training you. Now you have 20 in a row and the first 7 or 8 are slow until you get the hang of things.

As a customer I have to warn you, this is not a swap meet. If they didn't have a blue size 6 on Christmas Eve, they don't have it now either EVEN IF THE CUSTOMER RIGHT AHEAD OF YOU IN LINE JUST RETURNED A SIZE 6 IN BLUE!

It has to go back to the warehouse for processing and re-packaging. Really.

So if you braved the surly stares today you have my admiration for your tenacity. If you waited for the rush to pass my respect for your brilliance.

But don't wait too long. It all has to be out of the store before February inventory so it doesn't have to be counted.

Cross Posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette and DocuDharma

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Open for business. I'll bet you wish I wasn't.

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mimi's picture

@ek hornbeck
a family member for over 17 years. Hmm, may be because I hadn't much of a family. Honestly I can't relate anymore to Christmas presents. I was done with it when my son was leaving High School. I just cook.

NO business for or from me. Be happy. Smile

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@mimi This is your family. It's the family you chose. I don't feel bad about it (though I'm not estranged, we all get along and yesterday was quite pleasant) but the people you associate with by choice say far more about you and your values than mere blood relationships.

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mimi's picture

@ek hornbeck
I was not estrainged from my family, my family was estrainged from me. We estrainged each other so to speak. I happens. But it can be an enlightening experience. Just a little bit exhausting. And of course I exagerated for drama queen effect. I think I bought some Christmas presents, I just forgot about it, because everybody is dead anyway in my family for quite some time. Just two survivors, one is going to heaven now for the last thirty years and still didn't arrive there. But I am confident God will be pleased to have him. Just my sister is here, I take care of her, because ... she is a half-dead walking and doesn't want to do anything anymore alone. And my son is still around, ie 7,226 miles away, for practical purposes.'What's Up' makes us a family. Blessed be the mobile phone apps. Excellent substitute for the real thing, err family love whats-up style.

I hope that clarifies it.

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QMS's picture

@mimi was like a gift of song. Thanks Mimi, I really enjoyed it.

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question everything

mimi's picture

@QMS

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Wink's picture

@ek hornbeck
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, "I will Kill you before you get a nickel or any exchange here. Good day. I said good day!"

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

@Wink Ramming Speed!

I uh... actually crossed the Canadian border looking just like that.

Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits—a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.

It is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. - Stockton

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lotlizard's picture

@Wink  
http://forbiddenplanet.blog/2006/webcomics-to-print-the-perry-bible-fell...

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Bollox Ref's picture

So, one set of grand parents came on Christmas Day, the other set came on Boxing Day, and reverse for the next year.

Watching both sets of grand parents meeting each other at the same time was... awkward for all.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

QMS's picture

@Bollox Ref let em have their nostalgia, it's the other 364 I'd like to talk about. Holding ones tongue is like sucking on a candy cane without the sugar. Smile

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question everything