America Divided into Clerks and Customers

Posted on July 6, 2003 in Festivals

Brian Kane writes, somewhat penitentially, of part of his Fourth:

Boredom set in around 10:30 and we decided to engage in that All-American holiday pastime — shopping at Target. We both work in the business sector of the economy, the part of America that still gets eleven paid holidays.

I’ve worried about this for a few years now and I must confess that I went over to Barnes and Noble to find a book on the Fourth. Because of people like me, the clerks had no holiday like the rest of us. (Managers seemed to have the day off.) They saw no parades and by the time the last of them checked out at 11 PM, the fireworks displays were over. I doubt that any of them received overtime.

I think next year I will avoid shopping on the Fourth. (This includes bars and restaurants.) If I don’t have barbecue sauce, I will just grill without it. If my last pen runs out of ink, I will hold my thoughts. If a lightbulb goes out and there is no replacement, I will get it on the Fifth. Ralphs, Staples, and Home Depot can do without my business this one day.

(The only exception I will grant is for medicines. But I will only buy from the pharmacy section of Rite Aid, SaveOn or Longs.)

The Fourth is supposed to be about Americans, about the great community in which we all play a part. I saw Americans who were unable to enjoy the celebrations with the rest of us. It seems to underpin what has gone wrong with our country in the last thirty years: we no longer hold that other Americans deserve to take part in our joint recreations. We have turned against our country, lured to treason against our neighbors and friends by sales, everyday low prices, and convenience.

Shame on us!