# Fuck you, Penney's **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378 "2005-10-01T21:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/21 "2005-10-02T02:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Can we all agree on bringing the St. Patrick’s Day decorations out right now? Waaaay ahead of you, I’m already drinking Guinness and a few shots of Bushmills… If I keep it up, I’ll be green tomorrow. 🙂 As for the early stuff mentioned in the OP… I was flipping through channels, as I always do, and one of the home shopping channels had “Christmas in July” or some other such nonsense. Dammit, like every other red blooded American male, I do my shopping a day or two before Christmas! I have no words for people who start shopping that early. Normally from day after Thanksgiving, until the day after Christmas, I don’t watch too much TV, because I don’t want to be inundated with holiday shopping ads. It’s ok, I have enough DVDs and will still record all my shows for later viewing. Thank god I haven’t been seeing any Christmas stuff at the stores just yet here in Santa Cruz…I’m like a bear, I’ll have to hibernate once I do. _shakes fist_ Damn you, commercialism. Damn you all to hell! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/22 "2005-10-02T02:26:08Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > My lot is cast with the OP. Prior to black Friday, Jingle Belling, Ho-Ho-Ho-ing, and trotting out all of your holiday dreck should be against the law. If you’re a year round purveyor of holiday shite, that’s your thing, but Mall-Wart and other mainstream stores need to be constrained from unseasonal greed run amok. 😉 My Dad has owned a retail business for 20 years now. He is firm-- nay, obsessive-- in his belief that christmas decorations do not go up before Black Friday. His decorations actually traditionally go up the following Sunday (because who wants to come in on turkey day anyway?). Christmas music is not played before December 20th. He plays CDs instead of the radio because of how early they start with the carols. Year after year, people comment and compliment him on this. Especially the music thing. People who have been shopping for a couple of hours come to feel strongly about christmas music. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/23 "2005-10-02T02:37:15Z")
Perhaps large amounts of alcohol are in order. Yeah, that’s it; let’s put the ‘X’ back in Xmas. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/24 "2005-10-02T02:38:04Z")
Do you live here?\* \*Dominican Rep., where X-mas last from September through February. And then comes carnival. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/25 "2005-10-02T03:40:05Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > About a month ago I came across a fully decorated christmas tree. > At the side of the road, in a forest on the Canadian shield in the middle of nowhere, on an hour long stretch between any habitation. I want to know if this also involved a man in bunny suit with a hatchet, and a Dorrance stainless steel hook left dangling from a car door handle. ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/26 "2005-10-02T03:41:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I want to know if this also involved a man in bunny suit with a hatchet, and a Dorrance stainless steel hook left dangling from a car door handle. So what if it did?! My dad needs hobbies too! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/27 "2005-10-02T03:48:52Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Can we all agree on bringing the St. Patrick’s Day decorations out right now? No, I’m Orange Irish. It’s a friggin’ Catholic holiday, NOT an Irish one (well, not wholely Irish, anyway). 😃 🆒 see, the cool guy is orange, baby! I hate the early Christmasing of fall (one of my fav seasons). I ignore it and don’t buy Xmas-themed stuff until Dec. Present, I buy all year round–no way can our budget take that December hit. So, I have a closet used for storage. If it makes you feel better, I suck at getting Christmas cards out at all… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/28 "2005-10-02T03:49:01Z")
::pokes head out of time machine:: Hey! There’s a store here in Mesopotamia selling Christmas stuff TWO MILLENNIA before this Jesus guy was even born! Top it. Top it. Top it. :gets back in time machine and leaves:: ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/29 "2005-10-02T04:05:48Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > One of the sure signs of mid-July is the appearance of Christmas Crap at our local mall’s Hallmark store. > > And The Daughters wonder why I don’t like to go to that place… I believe it was Christmas Crap at Hallmark’s in July that prompted my husband’s ongoing boycott of Hallmark. If I have to stop shopping from now until January to avoid getting over-Christmassed, I’ll do it. Mark my words, retailers. You ain’t got nuthin’ that the internet hasn’t got, and I don’t have to endure sappy carols to shop online. As for the Christmas advertising deluge, one word - VCR. Tape and fast-forward. Stick it to the man, man. ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/30 "2005-10-02T04:09:01Z")
> [@](#): > > You ain’t got nuthin’ that the internet hasn’t got The internet has the dirtiest pr0n you have ever ever seen, yet we still have this. You be the judge which is worse… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/31 "2005-10-02T07:37:24Z")
> [@Obsidian](#): > > My Dad has owned a retail business for 20 years now. He is firm-- nay, obsessive-- in his belief that christmas decorations do not go up before Black Friday. His decorations actually traditionally go up the following Sunday (because who wants to come in on turkey day anyway?). Christmas music is not played before December 20th. He plays CDs instead of the radio because of how early they start with the carols. > > Year after year, people comment and compliment him on this. Especially the music thing. People who have been shopping for a couple of hours come to feel strongly about christmas music. Heck, I’d shop at your dad’s store too, just to get relief from the Christmas songs. I rather enjoy Christmas songs, in small doses, but along about the second week in December I am just about ready to PUKE if I hear one more, especially a rock version. I hope your dad has success in his ventures. ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/32 "2005-10-02T07:49:03Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > As for the Christmas advertising deluge, one word - VCR. Tape and fast-forward. Stick it to the man, man. VCR? That is sooo last century. Are you still using Betamax? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/33 "2005-10-02T07:59:41Z")
Penney’s is doing this because people start to buy for Christmas around October 1st. So pit the people who do their Christmas shopping that early, instead of the stores that are responding to it. Your little nasty letter to Penney’s won’t make much difference, as long as all their customers continue to buy Christmas stuff starting October 1st. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/34 "2005-10-02T09:14:19Z")
You know, I get annoyed by the too-early Christmas displays in stores, too. I mean, I understand people do actually want, maybe even need, this stuff before December first. Every year I send off a package to the States in mid-November, and many’s the time I’ve found I didn’t have enough wrapping paper to finish the job. So, assuming sending Christmas presents in silver paper with gold wedding bells, or baby-gift paper with pink and blue bunny rabbits, would just not go over well, and I think that’s a safe assumption, I’m off to the store to buy more Christmas wrapping paper and tags, and I’m grateful that the store carries it so far ahead of time. So I’m glad this stuff is around, but I don’t think it needs to be placed in the center aisle, and certainly not accompanied by Christmas carols while there are still leaves on the trees. Put a small selection along the back wall, and we who need it will find it. Desperation will drive us there. However… it seems to me that we’re pitting the wrong end of the problem here. The source of the red-covered tables blocking the easy routes through every store, and the ads telling you that this and that makes great Christmas gifts when the calendar still reads September, and the tinny version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer assaulting your ears in every fucking store every thirty fucking minutes for two fucking months straight… the source of all that isn’t some conspiracy by retailers, as much as it may feel that way. It also isn’t the people who have everything ready for Christmas by the first of December, including artistically wrapped presents and sixteen different types of homemade goodies for all their friends, co-workers, neighbors, and kids’ teachers including the school secretary and custodians, however easy it is to hate people like that. (Well… kudos to them for remembering the school secretary and custodians, anyway.) The real cause of the problem is the number of people who have bought the advertisers’ message that Christmas is about _things._ No, you’re not going to get a Put The Christ Back In Christmas lecture from me. It wouldn’t be fitting, seeing as how I’m an atheist and all. What I’m saying is that if people really believed Christmas was a religious holiday, or a family holiday, or a time for old traditions, or any of those things… and that the presents and decorations and music and food were just trappings to help us celebrate… then things wouldn’t be this bad. They _haven’t_ always been this bad, after all. But when people started to buy the idea that Christmas is about giving _the biggest_ presents, and having _the most_ elaborately decorated house, and offering _the fanciest_ food to guests and hosting _the most_ elegant parties, when it went from a holiday to a competitive sport, that’s when things got out of control and we lost the rhythm of the seasons that mid-winter holidays were invented to celebrate in the first place. Retailers wanted this, so sure, we can pit them, but they wouldn’t have succeeded if people hadn’t been so willing to listen to their message. For that, I’m afraid we’ll have to pit a large portion of the population of all those countries where Christmas is the major holiday. Fortunately, I think we’re up to that challenge. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/35 "2005-10-02T09:17:28Z")
The worst part is, the decorations that are just now going up are for Christmas 2006. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/36 "2005-10-02T11:23:31Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > You know, I get annoyed by the too-early Christmas displays in stores, too. I mean, I understand people do actually want, maybe even need, this stuff before December first. Every year I send off a package to the States in mid-November, and many’s the time I’ve found I didn’t have enough wrapping paper to finish the job. So, assuming sending Christmas presents in silver paper with gold wedding bells, or baby-gift paper with pink and blue bunny rabbits, would just not go over well, and I think that’s a safe assumption, I’m off to the store to buy more Christmas wrapping paper and tags, and I’m grateful that the store carries it so far ahead of time. \ After Christmas sales usually have nice paper, cheap. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/37 "2005-10-02T12:15:50Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > After Christmas sales usually have nice paper, cheap. 😉 Yeah, and you’re one of those ultra-organized people who has everything ready for Christmas by the first of December, including artistically wrapped presents and sixteen different types of homemade goodies for all their friends, co-workers, neighbors, and kids’ teachers including the school secretary and custodians, _aren’t you?!??_ :mad: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/38 "2005-10-02T12:53:28Z")
We noticed, when checking the guide, that on TCM, they were showing ‘Miracle On 34th Street’ this weekend… ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/39 "2005-10-02T13:39:00Z")
October 1? That’s late. There are at least two stores that I know of in the Houston area that have had Christmas decorations up since before Labor Day. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378/40 "2005-10-02T14:16:58Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > There are at least two stores that I know of in the Houston area that have had Christmas decorations up since before Labor Day. And they haven’t been firebombed? I’m impressed. I didn’t realize Houstonians had such iron self-control. Me, I’d have been in there with mortar rounds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-penneys/324378.md?page=3)