Why Men Shop on December 24th
I remember telling myself that this year would be different. I wasn’t going to procrastinate about shopping for Christmas gifts. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have to buy that many presents. My wife, a picture of organization, usually had most of the Christmas shopping done well before Thanksgiving. I only had to purchase gifts for her and I always tried to get something for each of my children. It always seemed so easy as Halloween approached. By Thanksgiving, it was still within the realm of success. By Christmas Eve, I always knew that I was in deep doo doo!
Not this year, I said to myself, once again. No more frantic shopping trips at the last possible moment. No more calls to my wife telling her that I was working late and would be a little late to the Christmas Eve dinner. This year I would redeem myself for all the previous blunders, clothes that didn’t fit my wife, presents the kids didn’t want. This year things would be different.
“Why”, you might ask. This year, I was going to do my shopping on the Internet.
I had carefully, and I thought discreetly, pumped my kids for information on what they would like for Christmas. I had been more forthright with my wife. I told her that I needed some suggestion. No more leaving a page bent over in a catalogue, that had a dozen items on that page. No more hints. This year, I wanted specifics. I wanted a list!
Business for me is usually quite brisk during the Holiday season and this season was shaping up to be great for me. I was working long hours, but I knew that this year I would not fail in the “gifts” department. I was swamped after Halloween and then before you could eat you last piece of Halloween candy it was Thanksgiving. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, everyone left work a little early, except for me. I was going to do my shopping. It was all going according to my plan.
I went to some sites that advertised toys. I deftly zeroed in on the items that I was sure my kids wanted and ordered. It was simple and painless. I got my email conformation and I was floating on a cloud. My wife’s list took a little longer because when I entered one of the items on her list into the search engine, I somehow found myself at a rather explicit adult site. I didn’t understand how you could look for “Aroma Therapy Candles” and end up on a bestiality site. I just couldn’t get the connection. I understood when I was looking for some lingerie why I was getting misdirected, but not for candles. Actually she didn’t ask for lingerie, that was kind of a gift from me to me.
I couldn’t seem to close the site. Every time I tried to close the site, another one popped up. I was glad that no one was at the office. It was pretty embarrassing for these types of things to pop up. I kept closing them but they kept opening. Finally they were gone. I did manage to order a few things for my wife from her list and was feeling pretty smug as I went home for the Thanksgiving Holiday. This was going to be a great year. I was on top of it all. I was the king. I was the man. I was so proud of myself because this year I wasn’t going to mess-up. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There are no pressures. You just go to the relative’s house with a big appetite, watch some football with the other male relatives, and then eat till you’re ready to explode. I have to say I had a great time except when I really thought that I might explode right after my third dessert.
Monday found me back at my desk working my butt off as usual. I checked my email and found that the kids’ presents were back ordered but would ship by Dec 11th. Not bad I thought to myself. They’ll be here by the 15th at the latest. I was scheduled for a meeting with one of the big bosses later that day. I assumed that they had finally noticed how I always gave a 110 percent at work and was gong to move a little further up the corporate ladder. Life is great, I thought to myself.
Business was brisk and before I knew it, it was time to meet with Mr. Peterson. I walked into Mr. Peterson’s office knowing that I had the best sales numbers in my department, not just by a little, but by a huge margin. In reality, I didn’t really have any competition. I was a shining star in my department.
Mr. Peterson asked me to sit down, and then introduced me to a person that I had never seen before. He was Metcalf from the IT department. The next words out or Mr. Peterson’s mouth floored me.
“Metcalf says that you’ve been going to adult sites on your computer”
“Wwhat?” I stammered. “I don’t go to those sites.” Then I remembered what had happened to me on the day before Thanksgiving.
I quickly explained what had happened to Mr. Peterson. Metcalf finally chirped in with the word webjacked. He then explained that some web sites had misleading names and that it is possible to get into a chain of web sites that open one after the other.
I was so relieved when he offered that explanation. Although I use my computer at work, I am far from an expert.
I was then informed that using my computer for non-work related activities, even after hours, was forbidden. Mr. Peterson then dismissed me with a wave of his hand and told me that Metcalf would be watching my computer even closer.
As I was walking out the door Mr. Peterson then said, “Try and get your sales numbers back up to where they usually were.”
I said that I’d make sure that I surpassed last year’s sales numbers and walked out of his office feeling a little numb.
Thought raced through my head as I walked back to my little cubicle. I had been noticed all right, but certainly not the way I had wanted to be noticed. I sat down at my computer and read my email. More of the presents that I had selected were back ordered. “Just great,” I thought to myself.
I looked at my sales numbers for the month. I was just one percent behind where I was at this time last year. One lousy percent! Why would Peterson even comment about that small a difference? There were six of us in this department and I did one third of the sales. I was by far the leading salesman. I went back to work more determined than ever to prove that I was by far the best.
The days flew by. The weather got colder, but I was burning up the sales records. I was doing half of the sales being reported by our whole sales staff.
Then more emails. Most of the gifts that I had ordered had moved their shipment dates closer to Christmas and a couple were now saying that they couldn’t fill the orders until January. I canceled those orders and took the bull by the horns. I was going shopping tonight. It was December nineteenth. I wasn’t going to wait till Christmas Eve. I called my wife and told her that I would be home a little late, and then took the rest of the afternoon off.
Indeed, the stores had been picked over, but it didn’t look as bad as it usually looked on Christmas Eve. I diligently made my way around the department store and at last thought that I had accounted for everything that was still needed. The clerk rang up my purchases, which amounted to almost $500. “My family’s worth much more than that,” I thought as I handed over my platinum Visa card.
The clerk then cleared her throat and said, “Your credit card has been denied”
“Just run it again. I have a $15,000 limit on that one and I haven’t been using it”
The clerk, probably still a teenager, said, “I can’t run it again. It says that I have to retain your card”
Just then, a man in a suit approached me. “If you’ll just follow me,” he said.
“What do you mean, follow you? I haven’t done anything wrong” I stammered.
Several other men were converging on the cashiers’ area. One was talking into a radio. “We got him,” he said into his little transmitter.
“If you’ll just follow us?” one of the men asked. Radio man spoke into his transmitter “He’s resisting”
With that, my shoulders slumped and I followed then to the back office. I kept asking what was happening but they wouldn’t answer me. The police were waiting for me at the office.
Part 2 (The End) http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm363554.html
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