What Goes Around

As we were standing in the long line that wrapped entirely around the store's exterior waiting to get inside for the door buster deals I found myself wondering what kind of people really think that shopping just a few hours after stuffing themselves full of turkey is a good idea. And of course, I am not the only one. There are thousands of us out shopping tonight.

Then I started wondering about the employees that have to work on this night. Did they even get to have turkey with their family? Did they get to see see any football and fall asleep in front of the television? Have they been here as long as we have preparing the store for us to come in and invade it?

What kind of people work at these places anyway? Being that we do our shopping in a college town I simply assume that most of the grunt employees (oh, I mean seasonal help) that they get to work this particular shift are students looking for some extra holiday cash.

But this night I learned that such is not the case. As my husband and I were waiting to for the store to open he pointed out a man to me. The older gentleman looked very grumpy with the crowd and rightfully so. He had to be in retirement age yet was employed as a security guard on the worst night possible.

My husband then told me he just happen to know the man that he had pointed out to me. He was a farmer that lived in the same county as he did growing up. The reason he knows this isn't because he could see his house (way to many fields, cows and pole barns in the way for that.) No, he knew this because his kids were in 4-H with him. Apparently this man was a cheat. He would break the rules so that they would win the 4-H contests. With this type of cheating there was on way for my husband or his siblings –who followed the rules—to win.

This dishonest man lost everything. Because he was more focused on the appearance, rather than the production, of the cattle, he lost the farm. Literally. And now. in his years of retirement, he is left with being a mall cop on Black Friday. Disrespected by the crowd. Made fun of as he turns his back to people. Ridiculed by many. Spit on by some.

There is a part of me that thinks he is getting what he deserves. What goes around, comes around. Maybe if he wasn't so dishonest with his cattle he would still have a farm to call home and work. But instead he gets to play mall cop with rude tired customers.

It makes me think of Lotso from Toy Story 3. He was the mean tyrant that ruled the preschool. At the climatic of the movie he has a choice to make. To push the button and save all the toys or leave them to die. He chooses the latter. Fortunately, Woody, Buzz and the gang make it out alive but no thanks to Lotso. By the end of the flick Andy's toys are all rescued and in a new home but Lotso, on the other hand, is strapped to the front of a garbage truck. He got what he deserved in the end.

That just reminded me. While I am writing in this line, I need to pick up a copy of the new Cars movie that is out and a... and a... and a... oh the thrills of shopping with sleep deprivation.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And Happy Black Friday too.