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#55 Returns & Exchanges

Chaz DeSimone Leave a comment

AmperArt-55-Returns-Exchanges

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The day after Christ­mas must be as dread­ed to retail­ers as the day after Thanks­giv­ing is wel­come — you know, Black Fri­day, the biggest shop­ping day of the year.

Used to be, before online shop­ping & big box stores, all the depart­ment stores from Sears & Pen­neys (as it used to be called), to Saks & Nord­stroms, had a spe­cial win­dow or room all its own (with a classy, dis­creet sign) that han­dled returns, exchanges & com­plaints. Next to that was the gift wrap­ping ser­vice & lay­away department.

Remem­ber the smell of fresh pop­corn & can­dy when enter­ing your neigh­bor­hood Sears?

Today a cou­ple stores still offer a com­fort­able set­ting for such returns & exchanges (no can­dy or pop­corn, though), but the big box & deep dis­count chains most­ly just have a return counter (with a tacky “Line Starts Here” arrow hang­ing from the ceil­ing) and a  trail of cus­tomers (all “dressed up” in the lat­est Big Box fash­ion) that extends out the door.

So Decem­ber’s Amper­Art #55, Returns & Exchanges, repeats the trip to the same brick-&-mortar store (or the online equiv­a­lent) that Novem­ber’s Amper­Art #54 por­trayed: Stop & Shop (in case you missed it, get tram­pled here). Read More

#22 Mother & Child

Chaz DeSimone Leave a comment

Happy Mothers Day

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Amper­Art #22 Moth­er & Child

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I can still feel my soft yel­low baby blan­ket with the satin embroi­dery and pas­tel col­ors, cradling me so lov­ing­ly in my moth­er’s arms.

This Amper­Art piece, “Moth­er & Child,” hon­ors that very spe­cial woman who brought each and every one of us into this world.

If you are a moth­er your­self, I wish you a Very Hap­py Moth­er’s Day.

My amazing mother

I am proud to tell you how blessed I am to have been born into the arms of such a won­der­ful moth­er as Leona L. DeS­i­mone, 1916 – 2001.

Though I felt her love as an infant, as a child I favored my dad who spoiled me (being the first­born) while Mom tried to instill some dis­ci­pline. Dad­dy would buy me toys and bring home good­ies for me all the time, and I resent­ed my mom for being the strict one.

Not until after our dad died when I was 10, did I real­ize what a tremen­dous job our moth­er had try­ing to keep us all in line. I gained the deep­est respect and love for my mom, espe­cial­ly since we were rather poor and she some­how kept us fed, clothed, and the house in order. I remem­ber her cry­ing when she was short of mon­ey, count­ing pen­nies to pay the bills, and walk­ing miles to work when the bus­es went on strike. She did an amaz­ing job rais­ing four kids all by her­self, includ­ing an espe­cial­ly spoiled brat who drew all over the walls with Crayolas (guess who).

Always smiling

Mom always had a smile for every­one, and she proved to be more pop­u­lar and loved than any of her chil­dren knew, when over 200 peo­ple showed up for her funer­al. We were blown away! We had the organ­ist play the lul­la­by she used to sing to us, “All Through the Night,” which you can lis­ten to here.

I admire, respect, and love you, Mom.