Random thoughts swirling around again… I have been thinking about things, items, stuff … materialistic things … lately. I worked retail only once in my life – for 2 short months almost 24 years ago now – at Sage Allen in Simsbury during the Christmas holiday rush days. During our training, the sales managers told us that a good way to make a sale was to tell the customer that “… many people have purchased this…” and that they are in good company; it was very popular. I raised my hand and with my Sagittarian truth said, “That would be the quickest way for me to put it down and walk away from it. I don’t want anything that so many others have. I want something unique.” They told me that I was the exception, and that most people want to be assured that they are doing what others do, and that somehow they feel validated and more secure in their choice if we tell them they are part of the pack mentality. Like they have somehow passed the test and chosen the right thing, and will be accepted for it. I never forgot that.
I am drawn to oddities and have never been interested in whether or not someone else would like it. For example, a year after I moved into my house, the guy who cuts my lawn (and has for many years) told me that when the house was for sale, there were gargoyle statutes on my front porch. He didn’t think that would appeal to the potential owner (as if he knew), so he removed them and replaced them with squirrels. Yes, squirrels. Statutes of squirrels. Good Lord in heaven. I asked him where the gargoyles went and he told me he threw them out. I mourned for the gargoyles that would have been my own.
Perhaps a day of joy is coming near, however – I see two stone griffin statutes outside of an antique shop down the street that just might need a new home!