Thanksgiving is a big holiday in these parts. (Disclaimer: Thanksgiving is not a holiday. Thanksgiving is a meal, possibly with leftovers, followed by a poisoned-apple intensity nap often mistaken for a coma by nearby dwarves.)
A lot of people get a 4-day weekend for Thanksgiving. Some people extend this with vacation time, usually in the week leading up to the coma/meal. As a result, a lot of work shifts are covered by people with insufficient seniority to either have the time off, or negotiate for it. (During my Memorial Day weekend stroke back in 2011, the hospital was staffed exclusively with beautiful young doctors and nurses, because normal-looking people get first dibs on vacation time.)
This morning, while I was in my doctor’s waiting room, I heard a pair of commercials on the radio that caught my attention, but not for the reason they intended (I hope).
The first one was an ad for some kind of upcoming concert. (Disclaimer: the hallmark of a bad advertisement is when you can’t remember what is being advertised.) The main thing that caught my attention was that the commercial was to notify the listening public that the concert was sold out. Not “Tickets are going fast! Get yours before they sell out!” No, somebody actually wrote and recorded a radio spot that says, “You can no longer give us money in exchange for tickets.” and then paid at least one radio station to publicize the fact that it was too late to transact business with them.
(Disclaimer rebuttal: Upon further reflection, I guess if you have nothing to sell, it really doesn’t matter if people don’t remember what it is that you don’t have to sell.)
The commercial immediately following was for some sort of agriculture/farming/gardening related product. (Again, bad ad — I don’t know what exactly was being offered.) What I do remember is how the commercial began:
Spring is here, and summer is just around the corner…
For those reading my blog from the Maldives, Indonesia, and Botswana (Disclaimer: Welcome, and seriously, how on Earth did you find this blog?), we in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing late autumn, right on the cusp of the beginning of winter. Spring is not here, and saying summer is around the corner is like turning on the 11:00PM news and saying, “Almost lunchtime!”
I can only surmise that somewhere in Melbourne or Sydney there is a radio station encouraging Aussie beachgoers to stock up on wool sweaters and firewood, before it’s too late.
I hope the station’s sales department has plenty of sunscreen on hand. It’s gonna be a long, cold summer.
A Labor of Like 