On the other hand, though, the holidays turn shopping into an absolute nightmare. Every store is always busier than normal. Because I live in a suburb where retired old farts and stay-at-home moms with rugrats under age 5 run rampant, so there just isn't a good time to shop except either really late at night or really early in the morning. Otherwise, you're either avoiding old fogie traffic jams or trying to block out the soul-sucking sound of screaming children.
So this Jekyll and Hyde personality of Christmas has only become this bipolar mess because of consumerism. Now, I'm not about to sit here and pretend that I don't like having things. All you have to do is check out my wish list, and you will know that I like stuff. However, there are ways in which American consumerism just goes way too far for my taste. Here are some things that we're getting charged for today that I'm quite sure would've never been tolerated 20 or maybe even 10 years ago:
Air
That's right. Air. Even though it's everywhere and it's required for us to survive, someone has managed to find a way to charge for it in the form of gas station air pumps. This started happening within about the last 5 or so years and the price keeps going up. I remember stopping to fill my tires in the fall of 2007 and it was 50 cents. I went to fill my tires up about 2 months ago and it was ONE FREAKING DOLLAR! For TWO minutes of AIR. Trying to check and fill all four tires to the appropriate level in 2 minutes requires Nascar pit crew-like skillz. It's ridiculous. And just in case you haven't put air in your tires lately, and you think I'm pulling your chain:
What a crock. Moving on.
Water
I must be more specific about this. I know we've been getting charged for water to be provided to our homes in a sanitary manner for decades. That's not my gripe. I'm not even going to gripe about bottled water in general, because occasionally I forget to bring my water bottle to work, so I have to buy a bottle out of the vending machines because I refuse to drink the water from the water fountains. Seriously, it tastes like it comes straight from the river passing through some gamma radiation on the way in. No, my gripe is the horrendously overpriced bottled water in places like theme parks, sports arenas, movie theaters, concert venues, and the like. Basically any place that you have to pay admission to and are forbidden to bring your own liquid can get away with charging $10 for a freakin bottle of water because people get thirsty and they can't go out and get water elsewhere. I hate it.
Things you carry on to a plane
I don't like getting charged for checked luggage, but I see the reason for it. Getting charged for carry-ons in addition to my checked luggage . . . hell no. Some crap airline called Spirit Airlines have actually started charging for carry-ons. Not just like 5 or 10 bucks, no. $20 - $45! That's absurd. Why not just raise the price of the airfare to cover the alleged "cost"? People cannot travel without at least a carry-on unless they're insanely rich and will just buy everything they need at their destination. So instead of getting horrendous PR by saying that you'll be charging for carry-ons, just add it to the cost of the airfare because NOBODY TRAVELS WITHOUT BRINGING THINGS WITH THEM! I've already considered how I would try to beat this system though. I will either wear all of my outfits all at once thus taking the risk of getting the extra charge for being "fat" or I will send my clothes to my destination via USPS. It might actually cost lest.
So those are just a few of the things that we are now getting charged for that really grinds my gears. Feel free to add as you please.
All so true! I don't know HOW many times I've complained about being charged for freakin' air!!
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