Thoughts On Christmas Music

Lately I have been listening to Christmas music while at home or on the road with my family. My wife really likes it. I don't. This is not a rant about doing things that you dont' like out of your undying love for another person....this is a rant about how much I am coming to dislike Christmas music.

This post also isn't directed toward anyone else who likes the genre, but I am no longer a fan of any kind.

I have noticed two major things about Christmas music that really get under my skin. The first one is the number of people who take the time to sing about a fictitious character named Santa Claus. A big fat guy who never existed and yet still has such a hold on this commercial holiday. I've heard all kind of people sing about him- Celine Dion [who I can't stand no matter what she sings], Neil Diamond, The Beach Boys, Alvin & The Chipmunks, Karen Carpenter...the list goes on and on.

The second thing that I've noticed is that you can't just hear a song once or twice, but in a given hour you might hear it 3 or 4 times all by different artists. It just goes to show that in order to sell Christmas albums you don't have to have any creativity. You can just do the same stuff as everyone else, but just do it with your own voice or with a saxophone or something like that. I see it like recycled rice cakes; different flavours, but ultimately there is no substance as you feel "better" about filling your tummy.

I am typically not a big fan of Christmas anyways but I'll just say that I'm glad that my car has a CD player so that I can listen to whatever is on my playlist instead.

Worse Than Jehovah's Witnesses

What a busy week last week. I worked my regular job all week with my independent gigs happening during the evenings. Then there was an emergency that started late Friday morning that then bought me 10 hours of overtime that I worked this weekend.

The working overtime didn't bother me as I knew that I would be getting paid for my work. The real kick in the nuts came when I finally had some down time with my family on Saturday night. We had just been sitting down for a short time around 8PM when there was a knock at the door. My wife answered it and I heard her talking for a few minutes. Then I heard things get a little more quiet and then I heard her call for me.

I got up and went to the door to find her standing there with the door open and no one outside that I could see. She was also holding a candle that she had just received. The next thing I know, I see two younger kids heading back up to the house from what looked like a truck outside and one of them had a big box like the one seen in the picture above and to the right.

The guys came in and the younger one of the two BS'd his way through a very brief conversation stating that he knew my name. Well, when I told him my name and he said that he lives in Omaha apparently that made some kind of connection for him...beans that I yoosta live there for a while and all. Whatever. He was 10 years younger than I am. Anywhooooo......

They claim that they are just going around getting "opinions" about this vacuum cleaner that they are lugging around. AHHHH!!!!! I'll just cut to the chase-

These kids were out selling Kirby vacuum cleaners. I told them right up front that we had just bought a new vacuum not too long ago so we weren't in the market. They went ahead and did their demo and it really did seem like a nice machine. They wanted us to buy one that night, but when I pressed them to find out how I could purchase one at a later time I found out that I can't. I told them that we did not make purchases like that without giving it thought or time to do our research. They wanted to try and get us into some financing and I told them that we only pay cash.

The showman then called his "manager" who was really just an even-more-twinky-like dope than I ever expected. He wanted to find out from his manager what kind of a deal we could get. HA! Pardon me while I vomit.

The initial price that we were told for the machine was $2069. That's a lot of bones for a vacuum. When we resisted the notion of paying that much he said that they could take our vacuum that we just bought for a trade worth $350, then take off another $100 as part of the "Kirby Sales Challenge Weekend" and so the price was now down somewhere around $1600-1700 range.

The "manager" then showed up not too long after we told him again that we would not be making a purchase that night. Now, the manager was maybe 22 or 23. Very dull on customer service skills- he answered his cell phone immediately after asking me a question. When he was done with his call I told him once again that if we did make a purchase that it would not be tonight because we do not make purchases on the fly like that.

So as a last ditch effort, while I was then on the phone in the other room, the "manager" told my wife that for $1700 he'd give us not just 1 but 2 vacuums. WOW!!! What would we do with a 2nd vacuum? Then as a very last ditch effort, when I returned from my phone call he handed me a slip of paper and said "this is what I can give it to you for tonight." The paper said $700.

WOW! All the way from $2069 down to $700. So it really wasn't worth that much to begin with?

These shisters aren't even smooth with their style. You can't buy a vacuum unless you do it right then and there.

I am so glad that we got rid of them. Later on that night I read several stories online from www.consumeraffairs.com about all of the other crap that they've pulled with some of their other sales reps on customers.

Kirby- I once loved you as you were our family vacuum. Now you suck even more than you are supposed to.