Yesterday (Friday) was a busy day. After I got up for the day I made a batch of pumpkin muffins. Then I baked another apple pie. This time I didn't make the pie crust as mom had a box of frozen pie crusts to be used. After watching an old movie from the 1930s, it was off to more bell ringing.
That's right, I volunteered to ring the bell again for the Salvation Army. I rang the bell this time at a different MiracleMart grocery in Minot; the one on south Broadway. I rang at the same time as last: 4 pm to 8 pm.
An older man was standing ringing the bell when I arrived. He was wearing a Santa hat. He had a few extra pounds so it wouldn't have taken much more stuffing for him to make a good Santa Claus. He said this shift had made it 30 hours total of volunteer bell ringing so far this season.
The kettle was heavy with coins and bills as he said people had been generous that afternoon during his noon to 4 pm shift. Later when a Salvation Army employee came to collect the kettle he mentioned that Friday and Saturday would be the days with the most donations. He was right as many people donated, and until the kettles were switched I had to shake the kettle to try to get the money to settle down away from the opening. It is hard enough to fold and get paper money through the small "X" in the kettle lid without having money in the kettle blocking the way.
The kettle again was inside the store entrance. The entrance to this store was smaller than the previous store's entrance and the kettle was just inside the two double doors that were for in and out traffic. Later after the sun had set and the temperature cooled from the upper 30s F down to the upper 20s F, and more people came and went, it felt a bit chilly without a coat a few times until the closed doors allowed the temperature to creep back up.
The previous bell ringer told me that a store manager moved the kettle back nearer the entrance complaining he was interfering with the traffic flow. The first thing I did was to slide the kettle out a few feet to be better located. The store manager never made me move the kettle.
The bell again had a quiet ring. One store employee told me how much nicer a quiet bell was as the bell ringing last year drove her crazy. One guy who had already started 'celebrating' the weekend told me my bell was too quiet and I needed a cowbell so I could make some noise.
This store did not have a video rental section so the entrance area only had a side entrance on my right - and near the building's "in" door - to the liquor store. The exit door from the grocery store was on my left, which was where the building's exit was located.
The carts were again in front of me and again I watched the ebb and flow of the carts. This store had several teenagers going in circles to collect the carts and the store never ran out of carts. That was because a store manager was on those kids butts to get the carts rounded up. The store had four carts with the pretend cars in front of the carts and those carts were a hit with a number of kids.
This being a Friday afternoon after work meant the end of the work week and the start of the weekend. People were in a hurry to get groceries or liquor and then to get home after a stressful work week. I had more people donate but probably a lower percentage than on Wednesday. I might have noticed the non-donators more as they seemed to be pretty stressed out.
I tried to tell everyone "Merry Christmas", and while most people quickly answered "Merry Christmas" back to me, a number of people seemed to be in a zone and were surprised someone was talking to them. Many then replied "Merry Christmas". A number replied "You too", some of these tersely. I had three people pointedly tell me "Happy Holidays". They looked like godless Liberals. They just had that stereotypical look.
Some people never replied at all, some of them pointedly ignoring me even though they walked right in front of me as I said the words. Oh well, not everyone is nice.For a number of people who donated I asked if they were ready for the weekend and many told me, "Not really, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
I tried to be happy and upbeat, which probably was too much for cynical people who had to listen to me for more than a few minutes. Case in point was a teenage girl who was waiting by a shopping cart while her dad was in the liquor store getting beer. After a minute I noticed she was looking at me in disgust and rolling her eyes at my Christmas greetings and banter with people. I didn't mind as I know most teenage girls are self centered and cynical. I know I am not "cool".
A little old lady took a minute from her grocery store work to come out to say "Hi! Mr. Bell Ringer!". She is a schoolteacher who works this grocery job as she didn't want to just sit around home after work, but wanted something physical to do and not mental. She mainly helped bag the groceries but also would take turns rounding up shopping carts from the parking lot, which she said she enjoyed doing.
Later a late teens girl working in the store donated some change in the kettle. She said she planned to donate all week and finally got around to doing so. She was on break and waiting for the schoolmarm to come look at her repaired pickup. Weeks ago she had been in an accident were she slid on black ice on a bridge deck and damaged her pickup to the tune of $5000. She had a bad haircut. Her hair probably had been cut that way on purpose to be "stylish", but I am not positive about that.
I had more kids donating today. All the little girls easily put the change into the kettle. The boys... not always. One little boy tried to put the dollar in his pants pocket as he thought the money was for him. Two boys put the dollars in the kettle then asked me why they were doing it. I told them "to help the people". To which they loudly told their mom they didn't want to do that and wanted to keep the money. The embarrassed mom quickly took them away and got after them to be nice.
A number of people felt they had to explain they had already had donated. A few others donated saying they felt guilty passing the kettle by. I told them not to feel guilty. Maybe I had too much of a puppy dog look?
While I began to get a feel of who would donate and who would not, I again was surprised by some of the donating people. For example, there were three 20-something black guys who dressed urban (pants baggy down around their knees, etc.) and looked out of place in white North Dakota. As they walked out the store the first two guys never answered to my greetings. The third guy was on a cell phone so I didn't bother to say Merry Christmas. A moment later the third guy came back through the door to put his change into the kettle. I found that sometimes saying Merry Christmas to people and being cheerful moved other people to donate. I had a number of people come back in the "in" door just to come around to make a donation.
This being Friday after work meant the liquor store was busy. Cases and cases of beer walked out of the store. Lots of guys looked like they were making this stop between work and home and only visited the liquor store and not the grocery store. A few looked like they had already started drinking somewhere, and a few admitted to me that they had. It wasn't just men walking with cases of beer, a number of woman had their hands full. The difference being some guys would donate their change while holding the beer as all the women holding a case of beer had their hands full and did not donate.
I am still not convinced that grocery stores are the place to meet attractive women. I saw more attractive women this day, but that was because there were more people in the store. The percentage of attractive women was still low. (Ya, I know... I am picky.
) Still, there were a number of women who caught my eye. A couple of redheads caught my eye, but I was disappointed when they didn't donate their change. I understood when the cute petite redhead in the furry boots didn't donate as she had a case of beer in her hands as she hurried past me. I was disappointed when I saw her again a short time later walking out the grocery store exit with another woman and she didn't donate as she walked by with empty hands.One attractive woman walked in and said "Whatever!" to the person she was talking to on her cell phone. She was young and petite with long black hair and black stylish glasses. She wore a long charcoal gray coat and was stylishly dressed. She was still talking on her cell phone a while later as she exited the checkout. She was off her phone by the time she left the service counter and exited the store past me. To my cherry "Merry Christmas" she coldly told me "You too." as she walked by. She may have looked good on the outside, but on the inside... cold as ice.
There was one woman who was poured into her blue jeans and she had great legs and a great ... well, let's say she had curves! Wow! I may have kept ringing my bell but I am sure I missed a few Christmas greetings as I watched her get and push her shopping cart into the grocery store.
And there was a short haired blond wearing a lime green and black Arctic Cat jacket with black pants. She had the longest legs. Sadly, she never donated either.
Not to say that attractive women didn't donate. Many did. One such woman was cheery and talkative and got my interest. But then I noticed her wedding band and that prevented me from asking for more.
While my shift ended at 8 pm I rang the bell till a quarter past as there were still plenty of people in the store. Until I started ring the bell I hadn't realized my legs hadn't fully recovered from standing all those hours on Wednesday. How do all these people who stand all day on concrete floors do it? I bought some groceries and a bottle of wine and headed home to supper.
I guess I was tired from my ringing as after supper and a glass of wine I fell fast asleep. Before 10 pm! Very unusual for me! That's how wine works on me; either I get very silly else I fall asleep.
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