People who don't value time

So, day after boxing day.

What is with people? The population of a small city descend on a mall to capture specials that they could have got online or before Christmas or most days of the week without the pain, suffering, angst and general annoyance that comes with horde-shopping.

These are people who obviosuly don't value their own time.

So here is how it works.

Take your annual salary and divide by 1900. This is roughly how much your employer values an hour of your time.

Take the hours you wasted standing in line for that "Once in a lifetime deal" and multiply it by the value of an hour of your time. Subtract that from what you "saved" when you bought the item.

If the result is negative, you lost money on the deal.

Put another way, if you get paid $38,000 a year, your hour is worth $20. If you spent 6 hours chasing deals, you would need to have saved in excess of $120 to make it worth your while.

Don't even get me started on the environmental cost of how long your engine idled and how much gas you wasted or the health care costs of the days taken off your life from high blood pressure.

Meh.

Does it really have to be like that?

So, I am just winding down from day 3 at Disney World. The songs are still rattling around in my head and everyone I see seems to have some kind of exaggerated movement and amplified voice. I have met at least five princesses. So I know what you're thinking - another slam of the mouse, but that's really not where I'm at. I actually think Disney is brilliantly conceived - the rides, the shows, the parades, the exceptionally awesome selection of greasy food, the massive organization required to put on this display day in and day out 365 days a year? Outstanding. My girls loved it. I loved that they loved it. I couldn't help but smile while I was there (well except for Epcot, but that's for another day)

But...

The crowds. Seriously, what planet do these people come from?

You know the ones I mean. The gate runners, the gate-pushers, the line-cutters, the dodgers, the pushers, the family-joiners, the six wides, the oversized, the undersized, the ten year old in a stroller, the show and ride texters (seriously, who texts while a country bear is having a jamboree?), the sudden stoppers, the slow walkers, the stroller kickers, the upstream swimmers, the bewildered numbskulls, the foot steppers, the backpack whackers, the unapologetic kid-smackers, the loud talkers, the walking video and photograph takers, the washed and unwashed. We were pushed and jostled and forced to run a slalom from the moment we got out of our car until the moment we got back into it.

I know it's a small world after all, but does it have to be so full of yahoos?

Have a magical day.