If I Hear "Holly Jolly Christmas" One More Time...

Joe, your post brought tears to my eyes, for I too have been working in retail this season.

I understand the reason for Christmas tunes, but would it be so terrible to have music only, no lyrics. Please.

My personal #1 hate: Madonna's Santa Baby

Anyone who survives the Christmas holidays working in retail without going insane must be a superior being.

I was at a gift shop a few years ago, standing at the counter talking to the man at the register. I mentioned that the music got a little repetitive and he gasped, his eyes got huge and he started telling me just how awful it was. The chipmunks were playing at the time, so you can understand some of his hysteria. He was becoming more and more incensed, so I started to step away from the counter, thinking that I really didn't have that much change coming after all, when he seemed to realize how close he came to losing it there in front of all the customers. Ever since, I have had nothing but sympathy for those who have to listen to it all day long.

I have a few jazz albums of Christmas music that I love and there are a few old favorites, but the cheesy ones only get more irritating as the years pass.

Joe, poor thing, come on out to Albuquerque and we'll have some mariachis over for your listening pleasure...

I'm relieved to see that no one has cast an aspersion on the doggie version of Jingle Bells. It captures the true spirit of the holiday.

Arf woof arf
Arf woof arf
Woof woof woof woof arf

LordE, that last one was GREAT!!!

I hereby nominate Rich & Lorna as Honorary Members of A2K.
(Especially Lorna.)

It's just as well, really, that I've never worked retail over Christmas.

I do remember really liking some Christmas music as a child, and still can envision liking a bit - a bit, I said - as an adult, probably because I rarely expose myself to it.

My parents had a Bing Crosby Christmas album that I liked.
In the fifties, say, it wasn't this constant thing when you went into a store or restaurant...

Mostly I've worked in hospitals and laboratories and design offices around the holidays, and music hasn't been piped in or there would have been homicidal activity, not just from me. I never minded the odd party, though.

I mean that I'd guess you probably think in terms of models and physical action than in terms of narrative osso.



(Explaining myself here instead of on the more serious thread re: dys and unfounded concerns of mental deficiency...)

Oops, just caught your tiny print.


I'll think on that...

Just sumthin' I recognize in the way you post. "Kinetic" I come up with because I took some test as a kid when they thought there might be something wrong with my brain and my potential as a student (before Ritalin, thank god) to determine what sort of learner I am. Most people are "visual" or "auditory," went the thinking. I came up as "kinetic."

Anyway, it turned out I didn't have to take any special classes. But I can definitely conjure up in brain the structure of a molecule than, say, the plot of a novel I read last year...

Once in my life, just out of university and jobless, I took a temporary job working in a large retail outlet during the pre-holiday rush. (They made me an assistant floor manager; I think I was the only applicant with a college degree.)

I blame my subsequaent psychosis, evident to this day, on the Muzak that was piped into every nook and cranny of the store that season. Never again!

Hey, I worked in a deli for a while where the owner would come in every day and turn the radio from KPIG to Paul Harvey. Much worse than Christmas carols. Much, much worse.

Paul Harvey -Good day.

I differ to beg.

That was Paul Harvey's sign off line- - after the rest of the story.

Ah, I see. I generally had managed to get up front to work the counter by that point so I couldn't hear it very well.

It was partly so objectionable because control of the radio the rest of the time was the only tolerable thing about that job. That and making my own sandwiches for lunch. I pretty much fed myself for the day off that meal.

Interesting, Pd. I don't want to throw off the thread, but just this bit - I'm visually attuned, and can envision kinetic now that you mention it; am also somewhat poetic, full of word/thought play, - which is visual, somewhat aural - I like word sounds though I don't learn as well by hearing as seeing, and kinetic. Am very freely associative, I like the bounce. The model stuff I had to learn that I understood, if you follow me. In any case, I'm not Ms. Linear, though I can do that upon assignment.

Nuff about me. Will you stop those trucks honking "Jingle Bells"!!

My manager used to come in from the other property and put Rush Limbaugh on. Fortunately, I had the option to leave the office for long periods of time.

Thought as much, osso. I find that it really gets in the way of communication with the hyper-linear, though. And the linear with no sense of irony? -- might as well be speaking another language. Which is why I struggled early on in school, I s'pose...

Roberta, woof,woof, arf right back atcha, but with the arf signifying hurl.

I do admit it is sort of endearing the first time.

At least you can sing ;-)

Merry Christmas :-D

That last one is hilarious