The Holiday Crazies

The smell of a mall is a mixture of stuffy air and French fries from the food court. It didn’t smell half bad in the store, because we were in between one of the entrances and the food court, which meant the stuffy air was almost all let outside every time the doors opened, which resulted in the smell mostly just being French fries.

Of course, there was the occasional day where no one bought French fries and then it just smelled like Thai food.  

Today it was a mixture of them both. And the occasional hot chocolate smell, which always made you feel warm inside because you can just imagine how good it tastes with some whipped cream on top.

It also didn’t smell at all like stuffy air because the mall was so busy that the doors were almost never closed, rather they were always swinging open revealing another pair of hopeful parents, looking to buy an excessive amount of toys, or the grandparents trying to find just the right gift for their newborn grandchild.  

The holidays were always busy, but this year it was especially so, although it was still November, so it wasn’t exactly the holiday season yet. But at least these people were planning ahead. I should probably start doing that. Every year I waited until the last minute to buy gifts, and there were never many options.  

I looked down at the long line of customers waiting to check out. With mine being the only check-out line open today, there was nowhere else for them to go but behind whoever was unlucky enough to be at the back of the line.  

A young woman set down a barbie set on the conveyer belt and gave me a halfhearted smile. “I know it’s not much, but it’s the only thing my daughter asked for for Christmas,” she explained, even though I hadn’t said anything yet.  

I grabbed the barbie set and scanned it. “That’ll be $51.65,” I tell her. Yes, it’s kind of expensive –okay, it’s very expensive – for a barbie set, but it’s not like I had any say in the prices here.  

The woman opened her wallet and fumbles around. She came up with a debit card and handed it to me. I swiped it in the machine and pushed a few buttons to confirm the purchase.  

“Um,” I said hesitantly. “I’m sorry, but your card was declined.” 

She looked embarrassed, but not surprised. “Oh, uh, just a second,” she stammered. She took back her debit card before she started to dig around her purse before pulling out some cash. She silently counted it. “I’m... I’m sorry. I’m short 30 cents. I-I'll just leave it,” she started to step away, putting the money back in wallet.  

“Wait!” I shouted. She turned back around. “I-I’ll pay the extra 30 cents,” I offered.  

She hesitated. “Are... you sure?” I nodded. Her face lit up. “Thank you so much! Money has just been so tight recently, and I’m just trying to make this Christmas memorable for Sophie. You don’t know how much this means to me!” Her smile was the biggest I had ever seen on anyone before.  

“Really, it’s no problem. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a few dimes, and put them into the cash register, along with the $51.35 cents she had given me.  

She picked up the barbie set and hugged it to her chest. “Again, thank you so much! I am so grateful!” The woman left the store, looking like she was walking on clouds. I smiled.  

“Excuse me, miss?” A man with gray hair and a cane banged it one the side of the counter. “We are in a rush here,” he growled.  

“Oh! Right, sorry,” I apologized. A woman – probably his wife – pushed their cart next to the conveyor belt. She started piling toys onto it – toy cars, paper dolls, three Lego sets, basically any toy you could even imagine. My mouth almost fell.  

The man hesitated before resting his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Irene, do we really need all these toys?”  

She looked completely stricken. “Of course we do! How can you even say that?”  

“We only have two grandchildren!” he protested. 

She seemed to consider that slightly. “Fine. I’ll put one of the Lego sets back.” 

“Fine,” he harrumphed. Irene finished piling the toys onto the conveyer belt, passing one of the Lego sets to me. I placed it on the floor behind me to put away later. 

I scanned all the items and began putting them in bags. Eleven bags later, I took her credit card and swiped it in the machine. They had spent $371.73 for two kids! I’ve never seen anyone come in and buy that many toys at once. The woman took back her credit card and put it in her purse.  

“Have a nice day!” I said. The man nodded to me, and they picked up the bags, which looked very heavy, and walked out of the store. 

A hand appeared over the counter and placed a small toy car on it. I leaned over. On the other side stood a little boy, around four years old, with sandy blond hair and glasses that were falling off his face. A man – who I guessed was his father – stood behind him.  

“Could I please buy this?” he asked politely.  

I smiled. “For sure,” I replied. I had always loved little kids. They were so cute and innocent. I picked up the toy car and scanned it. “That’ll be $4.25.”  

The kid tugged on his father’s coat. “Can I have my money please Daddy?” The dad reached into his pocket and handed his son a five-dollar bill. The kid stood on his tiptoes and placed the money on the counter.  

“Thank you,” I said as I took the money and opened the cash register. I put it in and got out three quarters. “Would you like a bag?” He shook his head. I handed him the quarters and the toy car. “Here you go.” 

The boy smiled immediately. He started making car noises and moving the car around in the air – even though it was still in the box.  

“Nick, what do you say?” His dad prodded.  

He blinked and looked up at me. “Thank you,” he said shyly.  

“You’re welcome! Have a nice day!”  

Once they had walked away, I reached under the counter and got out my water bottle. It was covered with stickers of all the places I wanted to visit someday – Greece, Italy, Australia, Iceland. And those are just a few of them! I took a long drink of water.  

A tapping sound came from the counter. I looked up and saw a woman – probably in her early 50’s - with short blond hair tapping her fingers on the counter impatiently. I twisted my water bottle cap back on and put it on the floor.  

“Sorry. How can I help you?” I asked. 

“Oh, I was just wondering if you were actually going to do your job,” she complained. “instead of taking... breaks,” she gestured to my water bottle. “whenever you want.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I was just having a drink of water-” 

“I don’t care what you were doing! I have places to be! Now, would you like to ring through my things, or do you want me to call your manager?” the woman threatened.  

“Uh... no. No. I’ll ring through your things,” I stammered. Sure, I’d had rude customers before, but never this close to the holidays. Usually, people were in such a great mood that they forgot to be rude. But no, not her. She smirked as I began to scan her items, which she had already put on the conveyor belt.  

The only thing she was buying was books. Lots, and lots, of books. Science books, picture books, fairy tales. I wondered who she was planning on giving all these books to. Or maybe she planned on keeping them for herself, who knows? I could just imagine it: her sitting in front of the fireplace reading about Spot the spotted dog. I almost laughed out loud as the thought.  

“I haven’t got all day here!” she snapped. I hurriedly stuffed all the books into two bags. “Well, don’t ruin them!” 

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from saying something rude back. I turned the debit machine around. She put her card in and waited.  

“Your machine is broken,” she stated.  

I almost shook my head in disbelief. “You just didn’t press the button.” 

“Of course I did. What are you talking about? You watched me press it.” 

What I watched her do was stick her card in the bottom and stand there like she had never seen a debit machine before. “I’ll do it,” I offered. I took the debit machine and pressed the ‘confirm’ button. I turned it back around for her. “Just put in your pin now.” She pressed a few buttons and pulled the card out before I could stop her. 

“Wait! You can’t take it out yet!” I protested.  

She put her hands on her hips. “Why not? Why should I listen to you?”  

“Because it won’t work if you take it out too soon, and then you can’t pay for your things,” I tried to explain patiently.  

“Well maybe I shouldn’t have to pay for it at all! This experience has been just horrible!” She complained. I just shook my head.  

  There would always be busy days and annoying customers, but all I knew for sure was this: Christmas is in the air and my favorite time of the year was coming fast.