Blowout!
What - a tire, a hurricane, an explosive fire? Evidently not; the much-belaboured word describes shopping excess verging on a serious social malaise. Its power to attract the acquisition hungry, the mobs starving for the opportunity to purchase ever more useless junk is enormous.
As witness to that phenomenon, there is nothing quite like the experience of eager shoppers whose appetite for purchasing gifts for people who don't need them and don't want them, but are as trapped in the Christmas-gift syndrome as they are, launching themselves once again into the fray on the day following Christmas.
At a time in Victorian history when there was an upstairs-downstairs, December 25 was set aside as the holy day of Christian remembrance and celebration when the aristocracy and monied set enjoyed the anniversary of Christ's birth while their household servants attended to their every wish.
In the spirit of the season, employers granted their servants some relief from servitude on the day following Christmas, named Boxing Day for that was when the servants received their boxed gifts; a fanciful tip of the hat to a marginalized community.
Industrious mercantile interests have long since embraced that day, offering what can only be described as yet another opportunity to indulge in a shopping orgy in the belief that valuable goods can be acquired at bargain-basement prices for that day - if the sturdily-dedicated consumer was willing to line up out the door and down the street and around the corner for the shopping establishment to finally open.
And then, it's no holds barred, as shoppers sharpen their elbows and plough their way through the other frantic shoppers to obtain their Golden Fleece.
Merchants are themselves delirious at yet another opportunity at this most signal time of the year to unload their seasonal and outdated merchandise on gluttonous shoppers anxiously giddy with the belief that their lives simply won't be complete without yet another opportunity to acquire - at bargain basement prices - shoddy materials with their own very special built-in obsolescence; stale-dated before they're even brought home.
Parking lots in front of big-box stores are jammed. Long line-ups of jolly-tempered eager buyers begin their patient wait in the wee hours of the morning, willing to remain there for comradely hours in the cold of winter until opening time.
But just consider the opportunities: all those remarkable sales specials, the rare opportunity to scoop up an item long coveted and now available for a remarkable off-percentage. These howling bargains are simply not to be resisted.
And just think of all the money saved, hauling home priceless goods that replicate what one already possesses, but of poorer quality in the production of the latest editions as manufacturers steadily seek out new methods of cheaper manufacture with scarcer warranty options.
But the shoppers are jubilant; this is no extravagance of herd mentality. It is a day to remember, one of triumphal acquisition.
And on the other side of the ledger there are all those generously gifted loved ones who opened thoughtful treasures on Christmas morning with effusive enthusiasm and genuine thanks. Then spent frustrating hours in line-ups at exchange desks turning in the items they don't really care for, that don't fit properly, and will just litter up the place.
Oh yes, there are other avenues, where plush gifts are hawked online because they are deemed unsuitable for the giftee. Bottles of hard liquor, of costly wines, small appliances and electronics, clothing, sports gear and countless children's toys. There for the bidding, at a fraction of the price paid.
Yes, there's always re-gifting, setting the gift aside for an opportunity when it can be given to someone else, who might, possibly, appreciate it; there are no guarantees. Optionally, there is always the possibility of saving all of it and conducting a great big yard sale at the very earliest opportunity, come spring.
Last, and little considered, hauling it over to the Salvation Army.
Commerce conducted in every conceivable way, saving us all from mind-numbing boredom.
As witness to that phenomenon, there is nothing quite like the experience of eager shoppers whose appetite for purchasing gifts for people who don't need them and don't want them, but are as trapped in the Christmas-gift syndrome as they are, launching themselves once again into the fray on the day following Christmas.
At a time in Victorian history when there was an upstairs-downstairs, December 25 was set aside as the holy day of Christian remembrance and celebration when the aristocracy and monied set enjoyed the anniversary of Christ's birth while their household servants attended to their every wish.
In the spirit of the season, employers granted their servants some relief from servitude on the day following Christmas, named Boxing Day for that was when the servants received their boxed gifts; a fanciful tip of the hat to a marginalized community.
Industrious mercantile interests have long since embraced that day, offering what can only be described as yet another opportunity to indulge in a shopping orgy in the belief that valuable goods can be acquired at bargain-basement prices for that day - if the sturdily-dedicated consumer was willing to line up out the door and down the street and around the corner for the shopping establishment to finally open.
And then, it's no holds barred, as shoppers sharpen their elbows and plough their way through the other frantic shoppers to obtain their Golden Fleece.
Merchants are themselves delirious at yet another opportunity at this most signal time of the year to unload their seasonal and outdated merchandise on gluttonous shoppers anxiously giddy with the belief that their lives simply won't be complete without yet another opportunity to acquire - at bargain basement prices - shoddy materials with their own very special built-in obsolescence; stale-dated before they're even brought home.
Parking lots in front of big-box stores are jammed. Long line-ups of jolly-tempered eager buyers begin their patient wait in the wee hours of the morning, willing to remain there for comradely hours in the cold of winter until opening time.
But just consider the opportunities: all those remarkable sales specials, the rare opportunity to scoop up an item long coveted and now available for a remarkable off-percentage. These howling bargains are simply not to be resisted.
And just think of all the money saved, hauling home priceless goods that replicate what one already possesses, but of poorer quality in the production of the latest editions as manufacturers steadily seek out new methods of cheaper manufacture with scarcer warranty options.
But the shoppers are jubilant; this is no extravagance of herd mentality. It is a day to remember, one of triumphal acquisition.
And on the other side of the ledger there are all those generously gifted loved ones who opened thoughtful treasures on Christmas morning with effusive enthusiasm and genuine thanks. Then spent frustrating hours in line-ups at exchange desks turning in the items they don't really care for, that don't fit properly, and will just litter up the place.
Oh yes, there are other avenues, where plush gifts are hawked online because they are deemed unsuitable for the giftee. Bottles of hard liquor, of costly wines, small appliances and electronics, clothing, sports gear and countless children's toys. There for the bidding, at a fraction of the price paid.
Yes, there's always re-gifting, setting the gift aside for an opportunity when it can be given to someone else, who might, possibly, appreciate it; there are no guarantees. Optionally, there is always the possibility of saving all of it and conducting a great big yard sale at the very earliest opportunity, come spring.
Last, and little considered, hauling it over to the Salvation Army.
Commerce conducted in every conceivable way, saving us all from mind-numbing boredom.
Labels: Social-Cultural Deviations, Values
posted by Pieface @ 4:36 PM
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