Posted on 12/24/2004 6:50:54 AM PST by RepCath
I walked into the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. There were the friendly clerks whom I’ve come to know on numerous visits. It’s always a jolly spot for spending a few minutes. Besides, sometimes I walk out with a fantastic ‘yard sale’ bargain in Maine’s frosty winter time.
We were chatting about me not able to purchase one Christmas / religious stamp from the US Post Office across the corridor. I had related to the SA staff how I was told by the US Postal clerk that I could purchase only a full booklet of Christmas stamps this year. She could not tear off one at a time, per instructions from “above.”
I protested nicely, relating that I was able to purchase any kind of secular stamp one at a time. Why not the religious stamp? She didn’t know exactly why. With that, she pulled out a fistful of religious stamp booklets from a side drawer. I said: “All those will be sent back to headquarters, giving the impression to the authorities that religious stamps didn’t sell in ’04.”
Having conveyed that incident to the SA folk, they agreed with my consternation. Then one of them pointed proudly to a large colorful sign that hangs daily directly behind the front check out counter.
It reads MERRY CHRISTMAS.
“And that sign will stay there. I put it there at the start of the season. It hasn’t budged since then. It will stay there through the season. So there! I believe in saying to everyone who comes into the Thrift Shop: ‘Merry Christmas.’ And when they leave, I send them off with the same greeting.” So spoke one of the cheerful clerks.
I noted when walking past the shop’s front windows that there was another large sign reading MERRY CHRISTMAS.
“You have another MERRY CHRISTMAS poster hanging in the store’s front,” I reminded my friends. “So I suppose it’s hard to miss the reason for the season here at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop, right?” They smiled in agreement.
With that, I found my solace from the nonsense going on at the nearby US Post Office.
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