How the Grinch Can Steal Christmas Creep

Christmas Shopping 1919
openclipart.org

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?

It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” 

 

~ Dr. SeussHow The Grinch Stole Christmas!

 

According to the idealized vision many of us have of the Christmas holidays, 'tis the season of joy, peace and goodwill. In reality, for many years the season has trended toward a time of frantic shopping for the latest "in" toy or other specialized items and bargains. Retailers even began encroaching on the sacred family day of Thanksgiving, jumping the gun on so-called "Black Friday. Thus, I was relieved to see that this year more stores opted to close on Thanksgiving Day, allowing customers as well as store employees some traditional time with their families and friends. Not that this was an entirely altruistic move on the part of the stores; apparently the effort of opening on Thanksgiving Day simply wasn't worth the trouble. According to Gallup, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day are two of the happiest days for Americans, so why mess with that? Isn't there enough stress in people's lives without disrupting the enjoyment of these two revered days?

Coping With The Workplace Bully – Part 2

Bullies want to abuse you.
Instead of allowing that, you can use them as your personal motivators. 
Power up and let the bully eat your dust. ~ Nick Vujicic

The last two entries, Scoping Out the Political Landscape and Coping With The Workplace Bully - Part 1 of 2, addressed the related topics of workplace politics and bullying and focused on background and statistics on bullying as well as current efforts to eliminate bullying.  According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, here are a few more insights:

Coping With The Workplace Bully – Part 1

(Note: This two-part entry on bullying concludes my year-long series on job search skills and beginning a new job.)