Time with family is most satisfying

It’s one of those things you grew up hearing your parents gripe about. But, like the tales of how hard they had it walking to school, you just sort of rolled your eyes and thought, “Yeah, yeah.” So whenever I hear that Christmas decorations keep going up and the ads keep starting earlier and earlier, I just figured they really weren’t, it just seemed that way. But I have to say, I was wrong.

This is the first year I can recall seeing Christmas commercials in early October, and some of the stores in town had Christmas decorations sitting out weeks ago. Why?

My philosophy on it? Christmas shopping is when retailers make a ton of money, and every year they just keep getting greedier and pushing the “start shopping now!” date up a bit earlier than last year in the effort to start sucking our bank accounts dry. I see that this year, several stores plan to start Black Friday on Thursday. Yes … they are actually going to be opening their doors Thanksgiving evening. Maybe that just makes you shrug your shoulders. You’re used to it, but I think it represents a failure.

I can recall my ex-wife hurrying to get home and get to bed early on Thanksgiving so she could get up at 3 a.m. the next day and jump on all the Black Friday sales. Not me. More than any other day of the year, I flat-out refuse to leave the house that day. I won’t do it.

“But that’s when all the best sales are! You save lots of money!”

No you don’t. You spend money on junk that you probably would have otherwise not wasted it on. And those “one day only” sales? Trust me, that stuff will be on sale through the end of the year. In fact, I usually see the all that stuff just keep coming down lower and lower as we get closer to the big day. (Right now I’m picturing retail managers out there freaking out, cursing at my column as they shout “No! Shush! Shhh!” and pound at the picture of my face. And I love it.) So anyway, as my ex-wife ran all over town plundering our account like the world’s most ruthless pirate, I slept in and spent the day playing games with my son. I think I was getting the better value.

I spent some time working retail. I had an odd experience working retail; I was pretty good at something I hated doing. I think it came from having this philosophy of putting my crew’s morale as the No. 1 priority. We all loathed this time of year because we knew the memo was on its way from corporate — the dreaded corporate directive for everybody to work grueling hours, minimum six days a week and forego any real time with your family.

I bucked it. I called my guys together and we worked out a radical new schedule wherein everybody still had two days off (in a row) and had quality time on Thanksgiving and Christmas. My boss hated it, was furious and when he saw the figures showing we were still blowing sales through the roof and the customers were happy, he just got quiet, turned on his heel and walked away. A happy employee will work 10 times better than one who is fed a line about “what’s good for the company” any day.

I think the one gimmick I saw that bothered me more than any other was the bait-and-switch game. This is where they send out an ad with some great product on sale knowing full well they won’t have enough in stock. The idea is to get you into the store. Upset they don’t have what they advertised? Worried they won’t have it in stock again before Christmas? Then hopefully you’ll be stressed enough to buy a similar product that, while it isn’t on sale, gosh-golly-gee they just happen to have a ton on hand. Funny how that works.

OK, so I ripped on the retailers for their greed and games. But really, can I put this all at the feet of these companies? Sadly, no. If we weren’t eager and willing to dance to their tune, they wouldn’t be able to do these things. I know it’s a fool’s folly, but when I read about Target and other stores popping their doors open on Thanksgiving Day, I like to imagine if nobody came. The idea of the money-grubbers counting on people foregoing what is supposed to be family time in order to save a dollar on some plastic toy, only to be disappointed because the money they wasted the money to keep the lights on and pay the employees, just sounds perfect.

So this year, I sincerely hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I hope you spend time with family laughing, joking and reminiscing (even that one annoying relative you only see this time of year.) And I hope, above all, you can relax for a few days! How often do we get to do that anymore? Stay up all Thanksgiving night playing games, sleep in on Friday, get up and eat leftovers and make it a four-day mini-vacation. Let all that junk sit in the stores. Between now and Christmas, it will be there. Trust me.

And if store A doesn’t have it at that same price next week, trust me that store B will. The time you spend with your family will always leave you infinitely more satisfied than saving a dollar.

Ben Compton is a Palmer resident and publishes his column as “Compton’s Corner,” the same title used by his grandmother, Phyllis Compton, a longtime Frontiersman columnist.