It's that time of year again. The mark of the holiday season. When that magical time arrives it's suppose to be joyful and exciting and fun. You get to put of your wonderful decorations, whether they are for the tree you have had set up since Thanksgiving or even Halloween (Yes some people do.) Or they are for the outside to spruce up your home. It's all good and fun but in reality it's all stress and craziness. From the madhouse shoppers who get up at the bewitching hours to shop till they drop and to get those fabulous door busters on that shopping day to rule out all others. None other than Black Friday. Then of course there is Cyber Monday with all the hip online deals but then again this year we might as well have called Thanksgiving Cyber Thursday with all the deals that went on.

And don't get me wrong, I give hats off to those people who brave the crowds and the cold and the getting up (or never going to sleep). I have been there and done that. But I'm not here to criticize or even applaud those people. The ones I am really giving appreciation to are the people who have to work during this crazy madness of a holiday season. Believe me I am one of them now. My hat goes off to all the retailer who work the malls and the stores up until Christmas Eve and then of course will come in on the 26th of December to do it all again as people come in the redeem their gift cards or return something that Aunt so and so gave them and didn't like. It wasn't until I joined the retail working force (working at Barnes and Noble) that I really knew how hard these people work. We work our butts off the get the customer want they want in the store or even going as far as ordering or tracking it down in another store. I really give appreciation now. I'm coming up on two years at Barnes and Noble and I really love it. I will stay there for awhile maybe work my way up the ladder. And we deal with all sorts of customers from the rude to the crazy to the very nice.

And some appreciate us and give us the common courtesy that we deserve and others don't. But remember all we are trying to do is make sure the customer is satisfied. That's what having great customer service is for.

So a little advice this holiday season: Be nice to us retail extraordinaries because we are the ones who can make or break your holiday this year. So don't complain when we are just trying to do our jobs, instead when we have spent our precious time finding that one item you need for Christmas, say thanks, we appreciate all you do and if you want you can wish us a Merry Christmas too.

So Happy Holidays to you. Don't forget to Smile. A smile does go a long way.