Wednesday, December 17, 2008

field Christmas

The runup to Christmas was always a tough time for me in the field. Sure, you can buy presents online, but that's only if you know what to get in the first place. Part of my shopping always involves wandering around the local mall, trying to find something for the hard to shop for that I haven't already given in the past couple of years. That means I usually end up braving the hordes at the mall on the last couple weeks before the holidays, because if I'm in the field I'm usually super busy and completely forget about shopping until it's pretty late.

I was complaining about this to a manager, and she said, "oh, just shop where you are after work!" Well, after I've been working 12-13 hour days outside in the cold, half of that time in the dark, the last thing I'm going to do is hunt around for a good place to shop in an unfamiliar area and then brave the after work crowd.

It's frustrating because I'm surrounded by all this holiday cheer, and it seems like everyone else is just cruising, and then I'm out there working your ass off in the miserable weather. And if I'm not actively working, what I really want to do is cuddle up with a nice hot drink and sleep. So when I'm in the field, the holidays are just one big blur. It sucks because I like to actually enjoy the holidays.

1 comment:

Silver Fox said...

Before the days of internet, I used to have to make a serious effort to buy presents before Thanksgiving. A lot of times I'd be late and just have to call them New Year presents.

I think the remark to "shop where you are" is pretty callous - some places I've been the pickings would be mighty slim!

Hope your holidays this year are cheery. This year, even with internet, I'm late!