Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Universal Health Care, everyone!

... and remember: that ugly, ill-fitting Holiday Sweater you're thinking of returning to the department store may mean the loss of some Innocent Shop Girl's sales commission, so, instead, take a moment or two to think about how you might make it work in your wardrobe!!!!!

:-) Luv, AlbGlinka

Merry Cough Sniffle Christmas, Happy Hack Hack Hannukah, All Y'all!

After busting my butt to provide Overall Outstanding Customer Service for several weeks at my Retail 'Ho job (not succeeding 100% of the time, I'm afraid to admit) I came down with the Mother of All Colds on my last shift on Monday, and have been inside ever since, missing out on all the Holiday festivities I had planned for my three days off. It's been a bummer. I know that there are many people who aren't able to have the holidays they want. People who are having hard economic times, people in the military, in the hospital, etc. I am still pretty blessed right here in my cozy 'Frisco Bachelor Pad...

I have wonderful family and friends who have missed my presence at Holiday get-togethers as much as I have missed theirs, and we're just having to postpone hanging out together until I feel better. So I can't really complain too much.

In the meantime, I hope all my "bloggy friends" (to use the expression of one of them!) are enjoying their festivities!

It's the Most Wonderful Day of the Year!

The storm is approaching: Holidays in the Land of Retail. (I've been a Retail 'Ho for almost exactly a year!)

Will anyone be shopping? Probably. Hopefully. Obama will already have been elected and the mood in the country will be newly optimistic.

These big balls were in our storage area near the breakroom. Had to snap them! Festive, n'est-pas?

We interrupt this NYC/ Queens/ L.I. Tour...

to bring you some late-breaking news. I just got hired as a P.T. Retail Sales 'Ho, I mean, Associate, at Macy*s, Union Square. I'll be working in the Men's Furnishings department, which means dress shirts, ties, cufflinks and the like.

I am getting ready to provide, as they said during the interview process, OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE. I am getting ready to be super-perky!

OY OY OY!!!!

I am excited but anxious. I haven't slaved for a regular paycheck in many years, but I definitely need the money. Canvases and paints are not cheap, not to mention San Francisco rent.

They put me in that department because a) I got myself all gussied up for the interview and b) because they thought I could bring an artist's eye to helping customers match shirts and ties.