Has Ebenezer Scrooge killed Christmas?

Susan (not her real name) is a clerk at a local store where I’ve been shopping for years. It seems like she has worked there forever. I’ve been exchanging pleasantries with her for well over a decade now.

Susan is one of the most upbeat, good-natured people I’ve ever met. She’s consistently polite and cheerful, no matter the season or the weather or the news of the day. I know very little about her personal life, but whatever heartaches have come her way over the years, I've never seen them affect how she deals with her customers.

So I was quite taken aback on Saturday when Susan told me she has no Christmas spirit this year. When I asked why, she explained, animatedly and at some length, that rude customers have left her feeling empty and worn out. “Working in retail is exhausting” these days, she said, because so many people are ill-mannered and boorish.

We still claim to believe that peace on earth and goodwill toward others embody the spirit of the season. But if even cheery and chipper Susan has her doubts, based on her regular exposure to repeated mean-spiritedness, perhaps Ebenezer Scrooge has become the poster boy for Christmas as it is “celebrated” in the real world.

What do we have in store if our all-too-real Scrooges, unlike their fictional counterpart, have no epiphanies on Christmas morning?