The Most Stressful Time of the Year

Working in the retail industry I have truly learned to really dislike the holiday season.  The retail holidays begin at the beginning of October.  We start with our holiday hiring, product preperation, training and 6 day work weeks.  Retail's biggest day of the year, known as Black Friday is a day we prepare for for months.  Black Friday is just one of those days you know you will be working long hours.  You never question what time you come in, what your duties are and how long you will be working.  What you do ask is what are you eating.  However as a manager, I take it upon myself to ensure my team members are running on lots of energy and excitement.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year.  For many years my family has gotten together at my grandmothers house.  Honey Bob (my grandmother), has always enjoyed hosting the family and bringing us all together.  Last year Cesar and I decided to have the family over to our new house for Thanksgiving.  This was awesome to have the family at our new home.  This year we decided to continue our tradition.  We just moved it from my grandmothers house to ours.  I truly can't express how awesome it is to have my family sit around a table and eat for hours.  The memories that are made, only make each year more memorable.  The same story about corn is brought up every year and it gets better as I get older.  We have added a little one to the new family traditions.  Daniel was at the head of the table this year and was able to enjoy everything.  After everyone is done eating we all help clean up in one way or another.  May it be washing dishes, clearing the table, putting away leftovers, or entertaining the elder and the little ones.

When Thanksgiving is planned I always have to think about what time I will be working that Black Friday.  This year I had to be at work at 2am.  That means I have to go to bed at least by 8 or 9pm to even think about any type of rest because I wake up at 12:00am to get ready.  Thanksgiving is a time that I wouldn't trade for anything.  There are no presents, no talk about what you received, or what you wanted.  Thanksgiving is just a time for a family to spend time together.  To make new memories and revisit the old.  These are the moments I would never give up.

Black Friday is the day that kicks off the retail money season.  This is when the consumers actually believe that they get the "best deal".  Consumers also believe that they deserve to be handed everything.  Customers are always right is the famous quote.  What customers do not realize is that the deals are not that great at any retailer.  Nothing that you can't get in the middle of summer.  Retailers are smart, and have figured a way to manipulate a holiday and capitalize on all opportunities.  Christmas just happens to be one of them.

This year Cesar and I had the pleasure of hosting our little prince Daniel's 1st Birthday.  What a amazing day.  It really is hard to believe how fast time flies when you have a little one in your life.  We invited 65 people to his party and ended up with about 45.  I never thought planning a 1 year olds birthday would be so tiring.  Cesar and I had to get everything together.  Figuring out what his theme was going to be was challenging.  I finally decided on the Prince theme.  I wanted to have a awesome cake, and delicious cookies.  I wanted the cookies so the other children could decorate them.  However my parents took on the task of creating the most awesome cookies ever.  I wanted a cake that would stand out and show we really did have a little prince.  I found someone through the internet who lives close and does a wonderful job.  The cake looked good and most important tasted good.  We were going to cook food, then we decided to just do finger foods, and then we just decided to order it.  Once I made all these decisions I was a little less stressed.  Daniel's party was a complete success.  Daniel was the best birthday boy ever.  He had so much fun, once he got warmed up to everyone.  Needless to say he slept real good that night.

The very next day I started my 6 day work weeks.  This ultimately means less time with my family.  I had two weeks until Christmas.  Fortunately I was done shopping and just needed to wrap presents.   Working 6 days is exhausting and majority of the nights after I put Daniel to bed, I followed shortly after him.  Wrapping presents is very relaxing for me.  I hand make all of my bows which can be very time consuming.  The thought of wrapping, bowing, decorating the house, and playing santa was running through my head.  How was I going to get it all done?

The days leading up to Christmas were very stressful at work.  Customers become more demanding and unwilling to listen.  Christmas Eve was a fun day.  Everyone at work was just having fun and enjoying themselves.  I believe it was because we all had off on Saturday.  My boss even let me go 2 hours early.  What a great present.  I was so excited to leave work and go home to be with my little love.  We had to get ready to go to Gran and Gramps open house.  I went to put Daniel to bed, and ended up falling asleep with him until Cesar woke me up telling me it was time to go home.  I missed out on spending time with my family, and friends.

Christmas Day is meant to be a day of relaxation and spending time together.  Well I got the spending time with the family, however the relaxation is far from it.  Because Cesar and I celebrate Christmas in two different ways, we have had to make some compromises.  Next year when Daniel is older, we will definitely be thinking about celebrating Christmas different.  Just thinking about how I am going to accommodate both families is very stressful, because I understand how important it is to be together as a family.

I asked to work the day after Christmas, because I was stressing over the biggest return day of the year.  I wanted to make sure everything was in place, and ready to go.  The day started off so good, until I had a customer who wanted to complain.  He wanted me to price match a old tag from last week.  The tag ended on December 25.  He told me that we better honor it because we were closed on Christmas.  I knew at this point that this customer was not going to get me to override the price.  I flat out asked him if he enjoyed spending time with his family.  He told me that he did.  I then told him that just because I work in retail doesn't mean that I don't have a family too.  He said he didn't care and that was my job.  At this point I told him that I wouldn't be able to help him out anymore.  He of course wanted my boss's name, and my name.  I had no problem giving him that information.

The holidays are suppose to be a very relaxing time, but in the end I think everyone looks back on how stressful this time of year is.  You may think I am crazy, but in some way you are stressing.  It may be crunch for time, financials, dinner planning, or what to wear.  Going forward I must learn to put my stress's in other places.  I just have to absorb all the wonderful moments to help me get through the stressful ones.  Next time you go into a retail store, please don't forget the ones who are helping you want to be with their families too, and tell them thank you.

Why Blog?

As I truly don't already have enough to do in the many hours that I am awake, I was inspired by a high school friend to start a blog.  I work a minimum of ten hours a day in what I find to be a very stressful environment.  I get around four to six hours of sleep a night.  I never truly sleep knowing that I am responsible for opening a building everyday.  I not only have a family at home, but I have a work family.  My family at home is what keeps me going everyday.  I have thought long and hard about what I can do for myself, as most moms have a hard time with this.   After reading some wonderful blogs by my friend, I thought it might help to just get it out.  The good, the bad, the funny, the tears and capture every moment in time.  Life is a journey and it is only what we make it.