'Tis the Season

Our nativity is out, my family’s presents neatly wrapped in colourful paper and our Christmas tree is now decorated with some new decorations from Oxfam.

‘Tis the season to be very jolly indeed.

I love working in at the Oxfam shop. Anyone that knows me can vouch for that. I love that my uniform has the MakePovertyHistory message across the front. I love that I get paid to promote fair-trade while sharing the fascinating stories behind our products.

One of my favourite pieces in the shop is an aluminium friends bowl made by the people of Noah’s Ark. Their products are entirely recyclable. This gorgeous bowl could have once been someone’s car radiator. I just love it!

Now as Christmas gets even closer, the shop is becoming increasingly hectic. The Christmas period certainly brings out the grumpy, generous and in some cases just plain odd.

One customer came into the shop asking if he could have a gift voucher for ten cents. Ten cents. He had spent the afternoon going across town gathering gift cards and vouchers from all different shops with a value of ten to twenty cents each. I would not like to be his Kris Kringle.

I cannot decide whether I like working in retail at this time of year or not...I don’t mind the busyness, I can deal with that but people’s attitudes.

There are times where I just want to headbutt a customer because they are arguing with me over the price of our homemade cards (which I may point out are actually cheaper than the typical Hallmark card but will actually make a difference to someone’s life, oh and did I mention handmade). However, Oxfam and retail in general is against the headbutting of customers which is unfortunate during those moments.

On a more positive side though, the Christmas period does bring out the most generous in people from sharing chocolate with a stranger to watching a little girl counting out her coins onto the counter so she can make a donation to Oxfam Australia.

Moments like that just make me warm and fuzzy.

Christmas is meant to be a time of year full of sharing, generosity and many warm and fuzzy moments. Please keep this in mind as you embark into the hustle and bustle of town in these last few days before Christmas.

‘Tis the season to be jolly.