OK, I received such acclaim for my Observations from Hardware stores, I 
thought I would continue with my Christmas Observations from the hardware 
store.

  1.  There are two kinds of Christmas shoppers.  Those who have all their 
shopping wrapped up by Thanksgiving, and those who will be doing the 
majority (read "all") of their shopping on Christmas eve.

  2.  The first kind of shopper, the "early bird", has meticulously planned 
out each and every gift they will give, and know EXACTLY what they want.  
When they come in to shop, if you don't have the DeWalt 9.6v cordless drill 
complete with the extra battery pack, carrying case, and bonus drill bit 
set, don't even TRY to sell them the Makita 9.6v cordless drill.  Not even 
if the Makita comes with more goodies, or costs less.

  3.  The early bird is also a real sale-watcher.  Unfortunately, they often 
mistake someone else's flyer for yours, so you will spend a lot of time 
explaining that, no, you do not have the George Foreman grill on sale this 
week.

  4.  The last minute shopper is the real fun one.  You can sell them
just about anything. For some reason, this category is about 85% male.
On Christmas Eve the store will be full of guys desperately trying to find 
something, ANYTHING for all the people on their list.  You can nearly always 
close the sale by those six little words, "would you like that gift 
wrapped?"

  5.  Every year, there are always a few "must have" items.  You know what I 
mean. (remember fondue pots?) Last year it was bread machines and the onion 
machines.  You know, those doo-dads that cut up onions into a "flower" shape 
so you can impress your friends by making really cool fried onions.  
Unfortunately, that little jewel was a lot harder to use than it looked. 
(no, I just heard that second-hand).  The George Foreman grill was big last 
year too, but hard to find, so it made another pass this year.  Those big 
honker mixers were hot this year (you know, those kitchen aid ones that can 
mix up about 10 batches of cookies at a time).

  6.  THE universal gift is a flashlight.  Think about it.  Didn't you get 
one this year?  Last year?  Probably from your aunt or grandmother.  Maybe 
in the office gift exchange.

  7.  Maybe that gives you a great idea for next year's $5.00 gift exchange.

  8.  One of my favorite category of shopper is the 
"never-mind-what-they-want-I'm-going-to-get-them-what-I-like"  They will 
spend a lot of time looking over the corningware dishes, and then say, "But 
I think I'll get them an egg timer.  Everyone should have an egg timer.  I 
sure use mine a lot."

  9.  OK, lets talk about men shoppers and women shoppers.  Men fall into 
two categories.  First, the ones who feel that Christmas is the time to make 
up for all of the dumb things they have done all year, so they spend a lot 
of time looking at the knick-knacks, pretties, and things that no one really 
needs, but every woman likes to receive. Second is the practical sort - they 
buy all the vacuums, dustbusters, scumbusters, (yeah, I said scumbuster.  
They were big a couple of years ago) irons, well, you get the idea.  The 
kind of gift every woman needs, but doesn't really want to unwrap.  Hint: If 
you are trying to be a type 1 kind of guy, never give those type 2 kind of 
presents!  Now for the two types of women.  First are the ones who really 
want to do something nice for their significant other.  They buy the big 
drill sets, big tool boxes, big drill presses, big tools, big barbeque 
grills.  You get the big idea.  The second type is usually the gals who have 
been around that guy for awhile, know that he usually goes ahead and gets 
whatever he wants anyway, so they are just indulgent and let him get that 
camoflage hunting suit and $200 worth of shells.  Then after Christmas they 
return that scumbuster and buy knick-knacks.

          *******************************************************

  Well, that's enough pondering.  No matter what kind of shopper you were, I 
hope you had a wonderful holiday.  I know I sure did! :)

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