Can’t resist going crazy at the sales
I’D LIKE to be able to claim moral superiority and express my indignation at the January sales, but truth be told I will be there with the heaving masses, desperate for deals as I strive to satiate my consumerism on one useless item after another.
There is a chance I will manage to grab something useful, something wanted and dare I say something needed.
If I find myself arm-wrestling you for a cut-price toaster neither of us needs, I won’t judge myself too harshly — we are sharing a traditional experience. Joking aside, instead of falling prey to rank commercialism, let’s try to keep some of the Christmas spirit alive and make life better by being better to each other. Not buying the thing we don’t need and maybe buying something for someone who does need it.
Give a bit to charity and do something small for each other. You don’t have to spend money, just a chat with a neighbour or lending an ear to a stranger. And if our hands should meet while grasping for the same item at a 60 per cent off sale, by all means take comfort from our shared journey and our fellowship . . . as I shove you out of the way and race to the tills. I mean, it is the January sales and I saw it first.
DAvID McLOUGHLIN, Dublin. I WORKED in the menswear section of a large department store when Boxing Day opening was introduced. The first year we were paid triple wages, but it soon became a normal trading day with a day off in lieu in February. On Boxing Day, the shop was packed and we couldn’t believe how many customers said how glad they were to get out of the house.
There were also many angry and bitter people who’d had a lousy Christmas and wanted to take it out on someone. It was a day to keep your head down, only speak when spoken to and just look forward to going home.
JANE GRUMMITT, Shavington, Cheshire.
CAN’T we see the injustice when some people haven’t got enough to eat or can’t afford to keep warm while others will queue overnight to buy something they don’t really need just because it’s reduced in price?
JUNE ESTE, Newbury, Berks. THE lemming-like race to the sales is madness and a sure recipe for accidents, piling more pressure on the emergency services.
Name and address supplied.