The Smell of Gasoline

It's Amazing How Hard It Can Be To Offer People Help

You'd think that people would welcome free things and service with open arms.

It turns out, it's very difficult - People are very nice about saying no, but they don't say yes.  I've been working hard just to try to serve people during their "Holiday Shopping", and nobody seems to want to play ball!

It Was a Simple Idea

It started out simply anyway. I used to work for a big (yellow and blue) box retailer who had the best buys in town (did I give it away?). Working there sucked.

We'd joke about creative ways to kill ourselves on Black Friday.  The meaning of Black Friday is traditionally, this is the day where profits exceed costs and it marks the day where business for the year is profitable if you measure profits and expenses in that kind of way.

It probably goes by many other nicknames. Internally it was known as "Hell week". A time where you have to listen to agnostic holiday music endlessly looped over the intercom, where the retail practice of "bait and switch" is in high gear with extremely amazing deals on infinitely small amounts of inventory, where customers came in the name of commercialism to verbally abuse retail employees when they were out of stock on whatever goods they came to buy, and a time where it took so long to get to work that nobody could escape a 10-12 hour workday.

Did I mention it really sucks to work retail around Christmas time?

Callously retail employees make blanketing statements about Christmas, and about Christians shopping in Jesus name.

I think that is wrong.  So I decided to try and do what I can to try and save the name of Christ in Christmas.


Matthew 5:14-16: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." 

Christ doesn't save us because of our deeds... but people see Christ in what we do.  So I thought, let's serve people as Christ would serve them.

Not a Typical Church Thing

This isn't a typical church idea. We go and serve people hot chocolate on a very busy retail day. We serve people who hate their jobs. We tell them we don't want anything in return, we're just doing it because we know their jobs suck that day and we think it's the right thing to do.

That being said, I've had not one... but two BIG retailers tell me not to come to their stores on Black Friday.

They've been really nice about it, but they're more concerned with a potential mess/liability/obstruction of loading area than they are with making people happy on a miserable day. Dang.

So, we're making our operation more portable. Running hot water off a generator in a truck bed. Taking cups 4 at a time in drink carriers to retail employees without asking permission. I picked up the generator today, which has now infused the inside of my Mazda with the smell of gasoline.

Call it guerrilla ministry. Call it genius. Call it stupidity. It feels like a little of each... But I'll ask forgiveness rather than permission at this point. I doubt anyone will complain about what we're doing, we're not accepting donations even if we're offered them, and we're giving away free tasty hot beverages!

What are you all doing on Black Friday? Taking or giving? Or are you taking now in the name of giving later?

What do you think about the concept of Black Friday on whole?

I'd love to read some comments.