Wrap Session — October 8

OK, so you may say this isn’t much of a good deed, but I think it is. Something keeps happening in the store that really bugs me (what doesn’t?), and I decided to lead a little one-chick brigade.

We all man/woman the gift wrapping station at the front of the bookstore — whoever is free at the moment is on tap. I love to wrap, and as you know, we occasionally even get tips. But here’s what’s beginning to get under my skin…

A woman — almost always a woman — will lay down the things she wants wrapped and say, “It’s for a five-year-old boy.” And a lot of times it’s obvious, because people are still buying Legos and trucks for boys, princess stuff and glitter for girls. Now where this all starts in the growing-up process, I can’t say. But it reminds me a lot of the notion that we’re all born without hate, that hate is learned.

So now when someone says, “It needs to be wrapped for a seven-year-old little girl,” I always reply, with a big smile, “I’m happy to report that we don’t have gender-specific wrapping paper.”

So there. It’s a step in the right direction — I know it is.

Just make it pretty.