About 10 years ago, I witnessed something that was totally bizarre, and since it is that time of year again, I’ll share the story with you.
On Christmas Day, almost everything in our neighborhood was closed, with the exception of the local 7-11 convenience store. I went to the store at 10am to try and grab the last issue of any newspapers with boxing day flyers that may be left.
Inside the store, was a man who was carrying all sorts of merchandise and had a rushed look on this face. In his arms, he had really strange things, like pens, pencils, notepads, scotch tape, magazines, a novel, and other assorted items. He was at the counter asking the clerk for things, and pointing wildly at anything that caught his attention.
His conversation with the clerk went something like this:
Shopper: “What’s that, over there? A keychain? Let me see? Ok, yes, I’ll take two of those. How about those disposable cameras, how much are they?”
Clerk: “$8.99 each sir”
Shopper: “Ok, give me one of those. How about those stuffed animals on the top shelf”
The clerk was less than amused (suppose he was paid hourly and didn’t want to work in the first place.
Clerk: “This one is $15.49 and this other one is $12.99″
Shopper: “Ok, I’ll take the one for $12.99. Do you have any other toys or anything else?”
Clerk: “Sorry, sir, no only what you see”
Shopper: “Ok, I’ll take some lottery tickets then”
Clerk: “Which ones?”
Shopper: “Give me $50 worth of assorted ones.. Oh! Batteries, I need batteries too..”
…and on and on it went..
He was on a last minute shopping spree at 7-11 on Christmas day, at around 10am in the morning. Spending about $200 in various merchandise.
Now I wonder, what was his story? Why would anyone wait to shop for presents at 10am Christmas Day?
Some possibilities could be:
a) His house had caught fire the day before, they were moved to a hotel Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning he ran out to try and buy whatever he could to piece together some sort of Christmas for his family.
b) In order to hide his Christmas presents from his family, he had them all stored in the trunk of his car, but on Christmas Eve after the kids were asleep, he went out to the car, but the car was no longer in the driveway. Some thief stole it, which in turn, left him without presents to give to his kids
c) He is divorced and his ex-wife told him a month ago, that he could not see the kids this Christmas because of the restraining order she has on him, and at the last minute she broke down on Christmas morning and said “ok, the kids are asking for you. You can come over for an hour with any presents you have, see the kids, and then leave..” Which caused him to run around at the last minute buying things.
d) He was an inmate at Jail, got released Christmas Day, at 7am, and he had 3 hours to do his shopping the best he could, so he could go visit his family.
e) He took a flight, and arrived at 6pm Christmas Eve, but his luggage was missing with all the gifts. After spending 4 or 5 hours on the phone with the airline trying to find his lost luggage, he finally gave up and went to bed. After trying to call them again in the morning, he discovered that the luggage still hadn’t been found, so he was buying whatever gifts he could, so that Christmas would still exist.
f) His family went over to visit some old long time friends of his on Christmas morning, and to their surprise, they admitted that there were no gifts under the tree for their kids. Feeling horrible, he said he would be right back, and was trying to put together some sort of last minute Christmas for this needy family.
g) He was a psycopath or mentally disturbed person who escaped a local hospital Chrismas morning, and was trying to buy a collection of last minute Christmas gifts, with the intention of having a cab bring him to his ex-wife’s home where his kids are..
The reasons for this type of last minute Christmas Shopping could be endless..
Do you have any more scenarios that could be true for something like this? If so, I’d love to hear them!
