Hallowe'en

When did Hallowe'en become all about how much candy the kids get?

I had to work yesterday afternoon at the Mall and the kids converged on the Customer Booth like flies to honey! I couldn't believe the amount of kids (and adults) that came up with their bags open wanting candy. Well, surprise, surprise we didn't have any candy and instead handed out balloons! Pink and blue balloons - colours for gender specific kids! Although with some of the costumes, it was hard to tell if boys were boys and girls were girls. After the "rush" was over and we had closed everything down and I was on my way home, I had time to reflect.

When I was a child we would dress up and take a pillow case with us to go trick or treating. Usually, we made 2 trips home before the night was over to empty our pillow cases and then back we would go for more. We always said, "thank you". Always! What's happened to kids today? Instead of a "thank you" we received snide remarks like, "is that all we get?" or "where's the candy?" And most of them pushing to get to the front and then didn't even bother saying anything! And parents coming up for their kids and then yelling out loud..."all they have are balloons, let's go to the next store!" What happened to good manners? Kids pushing, shoving, pinching, yelling...what is that all about? The adults aren't much better either as they make smart remarks in front of their kids and then wonder why their kids make smart aleck comments to them.

It's a sad society these days. I have just one thing to say to all those kids (and parents) yesterday who weren't happy with a balloon...there are lots of reasons why you only got a balloon...one being Management were going to cancel the give-away altogether! Be thankful you got anything at all.

Until next time...