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Black Friday, which does not even start on Friday anymore, is only a few days away. There will be deals that you may not be able to get throughout the year. This may be a tradition in your house to patronize these sales by waiting in line and being one of the first in the store. Or if you are like me, you will go online to grab a couple of items. I like the deals but I don’t like waiting in line or the crowds. I have no real tips on how to shop on this particular day/weekend. I do however have a few tips for this day and the rest of the holiday season.

I worked for 7 years at Target. Seven holiday seasons. If you have ever worked in retail you know that it can be rough. No vacation days off from mid November to after the first of the year. Mandatory to work on Thursday/Friday of Thanksgiving weekend. Longer store hours. Less family time. Not really exciting for the workers. And yes we realize what we signed up for by working in retail. We even realize that customers are going to be a little rude. What we don’t sign up for is to be disrespected. So with all my ex-team members in mind, here are a few tips.

1. Team members, cashiers, sales associates, whatever you want to call them, are people. People with feelings.

2. Majority of the people you will encounter are probably working for minimum wage or a little more. They don’t get paid enough to put up with your shit. If you have an issue, ask for a manager. But they are also still people with feelings.

3. If an item that you want is not in stock, it is not the employee’s fault. We think that it is stupid as well to have items in the ad that we do not have. The ads are the same for all stores in the area but all stores don’t get the same stock.

4. If you waited to the week before or a few days before Christmas and the store will not have an item until after Christmas, your fault. That does not give you the right to cuss at or be mean to anyone who is working in the store.

5. Yes I know that you have stood in line, probably in the cold, waiting for that one special item. Once the doors open, please no pushing, fighting or running. It is not that serious. Let’s us be courteous and considerate.

6. This is a statement that doesn’t just apply in the holiday season but each and every day. We do not get paid to clean up after you. When you leave stuff laying around the store or a table of shirts totally trashed, we do have to clean that up. But cleaning up grown people’s messes hinders us from coming to the registers when the lines get long. Or keeping areas stocked with the items you want because we can’t put the product out due to you having shoved a bunch of items you didn’t want in that location. If you decide that you no longer want an item, just give it to the cashier at the register. Do not leave it laying all around the register. We have carts that are sorted out to go back to the departments where they belong. When you hand it to us, we can put it in those carts. Makes sense right? Yes damn good sense.

I don’t know when the holidays became strictly about buying things. And at this point I don’t care. What I do care about is how the holidays have become a time to be rude and disrespectful to workers and others. We should be treating everyone with the spirit of the season not the just the people we know and love. I always say you don’t know what that person is going through or how their day has been going. To acknowledge them with a smile and a kind greeting could mean so much to them. As workers, we are not asking for special treatment. We are just asking to be treated like human beings.

Let’s be better. Better people. Better customers. Better representatives for others to follow in our footsteps. You don’t get a pass because you are stressed due to overloading your holiday season. Or because the store doesn’t have what you are looking for. Don’t go to people’s jobs acting a fool. For the people who have worked in retail, share your stories. Have you encounter any rude and disrespectful customers? Do you have any uplifting stories of proper customer behavior? Please leave a comment in the box or feel free to email me at elsims27@yahoo.com.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I have enjoyed a three day weekend with not a single post created. I thought of plenty of stuff but not one that would create a full page. More like a Facebook sized post. Then I thought about doing a post that contains a few smaller ones. And it does sound like a good idea. So that will be something I will work on for the future. The only worth while thing I did this weekend was crochet. I have at least two projects that I want done by December 20th and I just started on them. I am not a person that is always in the mood for crocheting so it takes me a while to finish a project. I only like to crochet blankets, don’t ask me why because I don’t know. I will maybe make a scarf and rarely a hat. Never clothes or any items that I consider complicated. I use crochet to relax and none of those things are relaxing to me.

I won’t bore you with all the intricacies of crocheting but I will bless you with some pictures of blankets that I have completed. This will be my third year at my job and I have crocheted a blanket each year for our gift exchange. This year will be the same gift but different design. Here are the two previous blankets.

Of course this is the blanket that I made for the MS walk this year. I will be doing another one for the walk in 2018 as well.

I have made blankets for babies, kids and grown ups.

Here is my masterpiece that I created for myself. I have another that I will make but it is a little intricate so I am being lazy about it. Got all 170 plus squares made but not put together yet. One of these days.

I used to be a part of a crochet ministry at my church. We made blankets for the sick and shut-in, our pastor, and for the pastor of individuals who were in our ministry but didn’t attend our church.

Ok my mom made this last one but she did it as part of the crochet ministry. I believe the funds from the sale was used to purchase more yarn for the ministry.

The one thing that I want to do but have not started is creating blankets for the homeless. That will be my main focus next year once I finish my MS walk blanket. I have put it off long enough. I am even thinking about starting a ministry to teach others to crochet and have them help to make blankets. Or squares to combine together to make blankets. The squares are usually a challenge because everyone crochets a little different, but we can make it work.

With that being said, anyone interested in learning to crochet? I will provide the yarn and the crochet tools to get you started. Like all posts, feel free to leave a comment or email me at elsims27@yahoo.com. If you are interested in learning to crochet, you can text me at 419-213-9391. I didn’t usually answer numbers I don’t know so that is why I didn’t suggest calling.

October 25th, 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the Million Woman March which was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was a part of that day in history. I was 19 years old about to be 20 years old. My memories from that day are vague because I have a horrible memory of older events in my life. I attended with my mom and some family friends. I feel like we wore matching shirts that day. If so I no longer have it nor would I probably be able to fit it. Lol. I remember after the event walking to the mall all by myself and buying a few clothing items and a famous Philly cheese steak, not a fan. I know I’m going to get some flack for that statement. Not enough vegetables and too much meat for me. The next day walking around and seeing some of the historic sites of Philadelphia. The end.

Did the Million Woman March make an impact? At the time maybe, lasting not at all. How many times have you or someone you know ever talked about it? Were you even aware that there was such an event? I have a nightgown that reminds me of the March every time I wear it. Yes I have a 20 year old nightgown. But if I had not attend the March would I remember that it happened. Probably vaguely. Like I said I have a horrible memory for older events. I am sure that the founders may still have things going on that are tied to the original event. There is nothing on a mainstream level that I have heard of. Hell what was the purpose of the march? The Million Woman March was similar to the Million Man March. It was a March organized by African American women to bring awareness to social conditions, injustices and inequality experienced by African American woman. We were coming together as women to support each other and encourage each other.

Recently I walked in another March, the Women’s March. I attended a local March in Ann Arbor, Michigan with my dear friend Sherry. Her friend made us pussycat hats and I took my walking sticks. We chanted and cheered with other women and a fair amount of men who love their women. When I made it home to look at all the news stories from around the world in support of the Women’s March, I teared up. It touched my heart. I was humbled by the amount of people that showed up to protest the treatment of women in 2017. And here I was a part of a similar March in 1997. Why are we still revisiting the same issues? As a married woman you cannot get your tubes tied without permission from your husband. As a married man, he can get a vascetomy and you would be none the wiser. Huh? Women in similar or equal positions to men in the workforce are still being paid less. Oh we dont have families to feed too? Women are sexually assaulted on a regular basis, even big name celebrities, and it is ignored or looked at as normal. What? The loser currently holding office as President is shown on tape talking about how he sexually assaults women and people vote him into office because God forbid you vote for a woman. The worst part is that women who should be looking out for other women support him. Girl, you just another nasty bleeding pussy to him. I can’t make sense out of that.

After 20 years, nothing has changed. Black women are not united, we do not march through our day to day lives encouraging and uplifting each other and we do not stand in support of each other. I know this statement has ruffled some feathers and that’s fine because the truth hurts. When I say this I’m not talking about your friends. Of course we do that for our friends. I’m talking about random women. Women you meet at your job, women you see walking down the street, women you see at social events. How often do you compliment a woman of color? When you see a woman succeeding in life at her own business or whatever she chooses to be, do you go over and encourage her? Or when you see a woman down and out, do you uplift her? I did not used to do these things when I was younger. Now I am quick to offer a compliment, high five someone about their successes and give any woman an encouraging word and send prayers up on her behalf. I don’t care who you are. Race is not a factor for me. We are all women and that is the bonding factor. I realize that all women in this society are not seen as equal. But that shouldn’t stop us from supporting each other. How will we ever get to where we want to go by letting our color divide us? We won’t.

I am not a feminist. I’m just a woman, a black woman, that is seen as less than in a society that is ruled by men. Stupid ass men. As a woman, I want my rights to be equal to theirs. And if my participation at 19 years old in a march and 39 years old in a different march brings some amount of awareness to our strength and our fight, I’m all for it. What I would really like to see is women truly coming together in our day to day lives standing up for each other, loving on each other and praying for each other. Women have so much more power than we are aware of. It’s time we start using it to help each other and therefore help the world.

For those who may not be aware, there is a Women’s Convention being held by the Women’s March organizers happening in Detroit, Michigan on October 27th – 29th. There will be about 42 speakers in attendance including featured speaker Rep. Maxine Waters. Side note, Maxine Waters was one of the speakers in the Million Woman March in 1997. The title is “Reclaiming Our Time”. If you have attended either of the two previous events I mentioned, tell me about your experiences. Did it change you in any way? If you plan on attending the upcoming event, why? What is your motivation? What would you, as a woman or man, like to see differently in this world where women are concerned? What are you willing to do to effect change? Please share your comments on this post. Or as always, you can email me at elsims27@yahoo.com.

P.S.
Sorry I’m late. I fell asleep.