On Marketing Schemes: Ride the Big Pink Wave!

So, after an entire week of inactivity, Dierbergs saw fit to drag me in at 6 this morning. Gaah. Actually, aside from the part where I have to get out of bed (which I hate), the morning shifts aren't bad. The store's vacant, there's lots of management oversight, and I can kill a good two hours or so filling one display. The four hours today flew by. There's another 8 and a half tomorrow afternoon/night that will be another matter.

While there, I noticed that the pink and red decorations and random merchandise for the Holiday We Do Not Name have begun to go up. Based on what I've heard, this has been happening since shortly after New Years, and is pretty much in keeping with what happens every year. This will continue over the next month. In a few weeks, I'll literally be up to my eyes in it on my occasional trips to Walgreens. At first, I thought this was corporate America's way of mocking my state of affairs. I've now realized that corporate America doesn't give a flying crap about my state of affairs, and this is merely this month's manifestation of the need to have a sale and cheesy decorations up year round. I suppose we should be thankful that Martin Luther King Day (actually the next holiday in the cycle) hasn't been overcommercialized yet. Personally, I think there should be more to a relationship than buying.... whatever.... on a predetermined day of the year. But what do I know? I'm quite possibly the least qualified person on the face of the earth to complain about that sort of thing. And the chocolate companies do need their money. (Mmmmm, chocolate....D'oh!)

Anyway... School resumes next week. The shift tomorrow could be my last ever if the internships go to plan, which they haven't yet, so I'm making no conclusions. Sunday is travel day. Monday is shopping day. Tuesday it begins. By all accounts, this will be a rough semester.