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  • Holiday Savings At 3 A.M

    • 12/21/2015
    • ADB
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    I finally took the plunge and started my Christmas shopping.  While I do most of it online, there are instances in which a trip to the super duper mega mall is necessary.  After a couple of tastings at some Orange County breweries, I was ready to proceed.  

     

    The truth is, it wasn’t that bad.  It was hard to park and the place was crowded, but for the most part, I got in, found what I was looking for, paid and got the hell out of there.  Not bad at all.  What I didn’t realize was that if I wanted to, I could have shopped all night. 

     

    I was speaking to a friend last night and her daughter works at Kohl’s, a national department store.  Her shift was from 5 p.m. to midnight.  I had commented how that was a pretty brutal schedule.  Her response shocked me.  “Well at least I don’t have to work from midnight until 7 a.m.”  When I first heard it, I thought I was hallucinating but I heard correctly.  During the Christmas season, they are open 24 hours. 

     

    This has now gotten officially out of control.  It all started with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when people got up real early and waited in line for hours for stores to open to take advantage of Holiday savings.  Black Friday used to start at about 6 a.m.  Then it got pushed back to midnight and now it is at about 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving night so it really isn’t even Black Friday anymore.   

     

    There is not a single reason on the face of the planet that would compel me to get up that early or cut my Thanksgiving short to go shopping.  That being said, millions of people do it, so there must be something to the whole concept.  So I started to think about department stores being open for 24 hours.  Is there something that I am missing?  I started to ask around about it.  Most people I spoke with met the idea with the same level of belligerence as myself.  The only reason I heard that made sense was this. 

     

    “In some cases, people work really late hours and by staying open, this allows those people to do their Christmas shopping.”  On the surface, that sounds reasonable enough but most people who do shift work figure out ways around getting their shopping done without having to do it in the middle of the night.  Ok that makes some sense.  I remember an old bar I used to haunt in Imperial Beach, called Ye Olde Plank that was open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., that catered to the shipyard crowd getting off work from the graveyard shift, but hell even they closed for 4 hours. 

     

    Maybe they were catering to the bar crowd.  Nothing says Happy Holidays like going shopping after pounding cocktails all night!  It works for the Taco Bell drive-thru!  My dear departed father had a great saying that I think is applicable to this situation.  “Nothing good happens after midnight!”  While that is not entirely true, in more cases than not it is applicable. 

     

    Guy One:  “Hey man, what did you do last night?”

     

    Guy Two:  “Aw man it was awesome!  A bunch of use hit the club last night and I met this really hot woman.  We hit it off and danced and made out until the club closed.  After that we went to Kohl’s and saved 20% on our entire purchase.  Can you believe that man?”

     

    Guy One:  “Wow man, that’s awesome!  You lucky dog!”

     

    I guess if I had to come up with a reason why they are staying open 24 hours, it is to make money.  I am assuming that if they didn’t make money, they wouldn’t do it.  If a department store wants to stay open 24 hours, who am I to say that it is a bad idea.  Just know that is not going to get me through the doors. 

     

    From all of us at American Bars, please have a happy holiday season.  If you are going to be out on the road in the middle of the night seeking deals, remember there might be another group of people on the road as well.  Be safe and regardless of what you are celebrating, may it be happy, merry, awesome, cool and joyful!

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Holiday Savings At 3 A.M

I finally took the plunge and started my Christmas shopping.  While I do most of it online, there are instances in which a trip to the super duper mega mall is necessary.  After a couple of tastings at some Orange County breweries, I was ready to proceed.  

 

The truth is, it wasn’t that bad.  It was hard to park and the place was crowded, but for the most part, I got in, found what I was looking for, paid and got the hell out of there.  Not bad at all.  What I didn’t realize was that if I wanted to, I could have shopped all night. 

 

I was speaking to a friend last night and her daughter works at Kohl’s, a national department store.  Her shift was from 5 p.m. to midnight.  I had commented how that was a pretty brutal schedule.  Her response shocked me.  “Well at least I don’t have to work from midnight until 7 a.m.”  When I first heard it, I thought I was hallucinating but I heard correctly.  During the Christmas season, they are open 24 hours. 

 

This has now gotten officially out of control.  It all started with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when people got up real early and waited in line for hours for stores to open to take advantage of Holiday savings.  Black Friday used to start at about 6 a.m.  Then it got pushed back to midnight and now it is at about 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving night so it really isn’t even Black Friday anymore.   

 

There is not a single reason on the face of the planet that would compel me to get up that early or cut my Thanksgiving short to go shopping.  That being said, millions of people do it, so there must be something to the whole concept.  So I started to think about department stores being open for 24 hours.  Is there something that I am missing?  I started to ask around about it.  Most people I spoke with met the idea with the same level of belligerence as myself.  The only reason I heard that made sense was this. 

 

“In some cases, people work really late hours and by staying open, this allows those people to do their Christmas shopping.”  On the surface, that sounds reasonable enough but most people who do shift work figure out ways around getting their shopping done without having to do it in the middle of the night.  Ok that makes some sense.  I remember an old bar I used to haunt in Imperial Beach, called Ye Olde Plank that was open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., that catered to the shipyard crowd getting off work from the graveyard shift, but hell even they closed for 4 hours. 

 

Maybe they were catering to the bar crowd.  Nothing says Happy Holidays like going shopping after pounding cocktails all night!  It works for the Taco Bell drive-thru!  My dear departed father had a great saying that I think is applicable to this situation.  “Nothing good happens after midnight!”  While that is not entirely true, in more cases than not it is applicable. 

 

Guy One:  “Hey man, what did you do last night?”

 

Guy Two:  “Aw man it was awesome!  A bunch of use hit the club last night and I met this really hot woman.  We hit it off and danced and made out until the club closed.  After that we went to Kohl’s and saved 20% on our entire purchase.  Can you believe that man?”

 

Guy One:  “Wow man, that’s awesome!  You lucky dog!”

 

I guess if I had to come up with a reason why they are staying open 24 hours, it is to make money.  I am assuming that if they didn’t make money, they wouldn’t do it.  If a department store wants to stay open 24 hours, who am I to say that it is a bad idea.  Just know that is not going to get me through the doors. 

 

From all of us at American Bars, please have a happy holiday season.  If you are going to be out on the road in the middle of the night seeking deals, remember there might be another group of people on the road as well.  Be safe and regardless of what you are celebrating, may it be happy, merry, awesome, cool and joyful!

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