Can't Spend Money Fast Enough

So, the holidays kinda snuck up on me this year, and I came to the conclusion that the only way I was going to successfully Christmas shop, was to do some research online before attempting the mall. So one lovely Tuesday morning, I took a break from bean counting and stumbled across this little gem:

I had to include the screen shot because I have really never seen anything like it. On one hand I was furious. The online store has met its capacity? I’m sorry, but is there some sort of fire hazard? Are women and children in danger of being trampled while customers fight for the last Tickle Me Elmo? I didn’t even intend to use the purchase functionalities of the site, I just wanted to look around! I thought the whole purpose of the online store was to eliminate the lines and crowds, and now I have to wait in a virtual line because the online store is too crowded? Blasphemy.

On the other hand, I can’t help but notice what a glaring example this is of our nation’s love affair with “excess”. It’s not like Macy’s is some small local boutique running their website on Windows 95. I’m relatively confident that this Federated giant operates their virtual marketplace from a sophisticated software platform, specifically designed to handle such high traffic. In fact, they probably invested millions to establish this direct feed from Joe Homebody’s wallet to their bottom line…via the World Wide Web, of course. If Macy’s can’t anticipate such excessive spending, then by golly no one can. The 2007 Holiday Shopper (HS2007) wants to be able to browse and spend with reckless abandon. HS2007 needs to be able to order a holiday gift for every one of their Outlook contacts from their Blackberry, while sitting at home watching reruns of the Hills. Is this because HS2007 is a generous and giving person? Because they get caught up in the Christmas spirit? No. It’s just a Hallmark excuse to enable our nation’s addiction to spending money.

So am I opposed to celebrating the holidays by giving gifts to those you like and love? No. I’m probably just whining because it’s December 19th and I haven’t bought a single gift. This rant really should have been about my own procrastination, but I find it much more entertaining to take on large socioeconomic issues instead of focusing on little ol’ me : )

Happy Spending!