In the Fall of 1996 I found myself working for a calendar kiosk at our local mall, Coddingtown. Selling calendars in September and October is a worthless endeavor because the buying public isn’t thinking of Christmas gifts yet and for the most part I spent many an evening at the mall standing around the cash register and reading a book.
Santa Rosa, CA has two malls: Coddingtown and the Santa Rosa Plaza. The former has fewer customers and is considered the lesser retail establishment. The latter is the crown jewel of Santa Rosa shopping and is busy each day, regardless of season.
Because I worked in the less popular mall I had a lot of free time. This was especially true in the days before Thanksgiving. Working in an empty mall was as boring as it sounds but I was paid $7.25 an hour to catch up on my reading and stand next to a cash register.
Sadly, my manager didn’t provide me with a stool or chair to lounge on. According to her, “It promoted sloth.” I don’t know if sitting down during my 8-hour shift would make me lazier but I can say it would have helped my knees and ankles. I have skinny legs, similar to Manute Bol or a chicken, and as a result my knees fill with fluid under minimal duress. A couple of years later my doctor said that my legs wouldn’t hurt if I was in shape.
Eventually, as the season ambled on from Fall to Winter, traffic picked up. I had never received a calendar for Christmas so I was surprised by the amount of people that buy them as Christmas gifts. In a way they are a practical gifts. You need to know what day it is and they are convenient for jotting down one’s future schedule. Maybe if I had a calendar back then I would have managed my time better and would have avoided flunking out of Santa Rosa Junior College.
The calendars we carried we’re pretty simple. Lots of puppies, kittens, cars and sports related offerings. Anna Geddes, and her weird babies in vegetable calendars, were a favorite with the over 40 female demographic. Men seemed to buy the sports or car ones. We didn’t carry Snoopy calendars. Which is odd because The Snoopy Ice Arena is less than half a mile from the mall.
In all honesty I didn’t know that we didn’t carry Snoopy calendars. Quite frankly, I was pretty much unaware of most of our stock. But one Tuesday morning, with the mall practically abandoned, an older gentleman asked if we carried Peanuts calendars.Realizing that it was Santa Rosa resident and Snoopy Creator, Charles Schulz, I did my best to stay calm.
“I am sorry, sir, ” I said. “But we don’t carry any Peanuts or Snoopy calendars. I could talk to my manager to see if she could get some.”
He gave me a knowing glance and walked away. Probably off to do his Christmas shopping.
