“What about this hat, with that coat you’ve never seen?”

Yesterday I had to pick up some cotton swabs and a box of cards. While at Target, I perused the aisles a bit. Since I’m still new to the lifestyle of no longer homeschooling, I thought it would be lovely to relish in the “me” time of browsing, but it wasn’t. With every aisle turn, my annoyance grew…

While I no longer have a little girl to clothe, I immediately felt sorry for the young, frazzled mom who was just trying to fit her distracted daughter for a dress for the school program. In all fairness, her daughter was distracted because Target had placed an entire Barbie display in the girl’s clothing department. Really, Target? Do you think some parent is going to go Christmas shopping for their child, in the clothing department and not even consider the toy department? Talk about selling your customers short. It’s not even good product placement…

Speaking of product placement and half of the reason I was there in the first place: cards. Um… What the heck? I don’t know if it’s just this new-to-is store, or all of them, but this is the first time EVER that I’ve seen the Christmas cards consume less shelf space/options than the tissue paper. Not to mention that the Christmas cards were in the farthest back corner or the store, next to the bagged snow.

Adding to this a customer service system that is deeply flawed (and short-staffed), a beyond inconsiderate woman who, with her card full of groceries and Rubbermaid bins, decided to have a fashion show of winter head-gear for the customer service rep- so as to get her opinion as to which pieces to buy to go with her coat THAT WAS AT HOME, and then proceeded to check out (in customer service) with her card full of then-room-temp groceries, leaving the ten of us in line to curse under our breaths while she talked on and on about why she was returning her copy of Ender’s Game.

I decided that maybe, for many months of the year, Target may be this magical refuge of a retail oasis. In December however, I suspect it’s akin to some kind of hell. People are rude, consumerism (from both sides of the spectrum) is nauseating and best to be avoided. If you feel I owe you a Christmas gift, and a home-baked good won’t suffice, please, enjoy some cotton swabs… or cross your fingers that I might redeem myself around your birthday because this girl is done with shopping until mid- January.