It's beginning to look like Christmas!

It's that time of the year again! I speak, of course, of Christmas shopping. We all want to get the perfect gift for that special someone, a family member, or your Secret Santa. But where to get the gift?

You can go online, but you don't know how long it will take to arrive at your location, because everyone and their mother is ordering online! You could go to a retail store, pick something, pay for it, and leave. But while you're there, have you noticed that some workers are just frustrated and annoyed, yet forced to smile, especially after standing for almost 7 hours without a break?

Retail workers are the heroes of the holidays. I know this because I used to work retail. So, I know the hell they're going through. First of all, it is all on them to keep the store organized, well-stocked, and priced. But customers these days seem to allow their children or their egos to trash the place. It goes from clean, spotless, and organized to who the f*ck robbed us!

It doesn't take much when you grab something, look at it, then put it back where you found it, not leave it somewhere where it does not belong, because when the retail workers are closing, they have to go back and clean everything, and take more time putting things back! Especially trash: there is nothing more annoying than an empty hot chocolate cup left out on a counter, getting hard, because the owner was just too damn lazy to throw it in the trash.

Let's not forget the music as well; we know Christmas music is essential for the ambience and getting everybody in the mood. Still, when you're hearing a particular song over and over because it is a popular hit, it goes from popular hit to smash hit because the employee actually wants to break the speakers. I speak of course of "All I want for Christmas" by Mariah Carey,

it's a good song, like for a while, maybe like 2 times a week. Still, when you're hearing it repeat, then all that's going through your head is All I want for Christmas is to get the f*ck out of here and not come back.

I used to work in retail when I was 16. I worked at Toys-R-Us, and let me say, during the Christmas time, it was a battle zone.

Every hour, we would hear the kids screaming which toys they wanted, and then going into a death cry the minute we uttered "the words the toy is sold out." I remember the popular toy was the infamous "Furby."

This little damn toy would cause a riot in front of the cash registers. Parents would fight other parents to get their hands on the toys, eventually the toy would break because the parents didn't want to act like their age but their shoe sizes, Black Friday was literally black because all you could think of is darkness. After all, you just wanted to black out that day because of how horrible people can be then comes the week before Christmas when the store literally looks like every post apocalyptic film ever made the shelves are empty the employees are in the break room looking as if they're hiding. Yes, we bring potluck but let's be honest here the only potluck you want is in your house.

So, to all the retail workers out there you are true heroes thanks for putting up with us and you have my respect would I go back to retail work after all these years, f*ck no! I do all my Christmas shopping the day after Christmas or I give everybody money. There's hardly ever a line at the ATM at 6:00 in the morning after I get my McDonald's coffee.