This past flag season, which is the second quarter of every year, it seems everybody in America was looking to represent themselves with a flag.
It All Started with COVID-19
In March, when the COVID-19 pandemic was announced and the closing of some businesses was mandated, FlagandBanner.com stayed open. Luckily, to this date, we have had no incidents of COVID-19 on our work campus. To lighten the fear and buoy morale, I handed out yard sticks as a fun way to practice social distancing. As our sales slowed, restaurants closed, and streets emptied, we remained thankful for having a job. During these uncertain times of lost sales, we bonded together by cutting back hours for everyone.
As a work family, we felt lucky to still be working. As a team, we sacrificed work hours while keeping our distance. Like many e-tail businesses, our shopping cart sales continued and slowly our phone calls began to increase. As the flag season neared and the calendar days marched on, so did our flag business. By May, we noticed this was not going to be business as usual.
This June we were busier than ever before and, I might add, ended with the highest June sales in our history. Gone were the days of less hours; now we were all working overtime. To help, I worked in the shipping department, first cleaning and then organizing. This effort led me to a shopping spree. We bought some used shelving and an additional packing table from Jackie Lackey’s company, American Material Handling. When they delivered this week, it felt like a gift from Tiffany’s!! We were so excited!
Flags Represent Us All
I became a fulltime support employee in the warehouse and loved it. As I fulfilled sales orders and packed the products that ship out of our Little Rock location (about 200 a day), I became acutely aware of our customers and our marketing strategy’s effectiveness, again. I packed Trump flags, Black Lives Matter flags, Gay Pride, Native American tribal flags, Thin Blue Line, Thin Red Line, Gold Star flags, Mississippi flags, obscure, historical Confederate flags, Betsy Ross, Gadsden, flags of all military branches, POW, boat flags, PEACE flags, garden banners and, of course, US flag home kits and more decorative red-white-and-blue bunting than ever before.
As I packed and sorted each flag with the care and reverence it deserved, I thought, “Ain’t it Great to be an American.”
And then it reminded me of a FB post (or rant) I read a few weeks back. It is one of those that just sticks with you. It said:
I’m sick of covid-19. I’m sick of black vs. white. I’m sick of Democrats vs. Republicans. I’m sick of gay vs. straight. I’m sick of Christians vs atheists. I’m sick of the media. I’m sick of no one being allowed to think what they want & feel what they do without offending someone. I am sick of the nosey people who call the cops when anyone does anything they don’t approve of. I am sick of blaming the whole world for the sins of a few. We’re one race—the human race. You want to support President Trump? You do it. It’s your choice. You want to support Biden? Fine… also your choice! You want to believe in God? Okay, believe in God. You want to believe in magical creatures that fly around & sprinkle fairy dust to make life better? Awesome … Again, your choice.
BUT STOP thrusting your beliefs on others & not being able to deal with the fact that they don’t have the same exact mind-set as you. Having our own minds is what makes us all individual and beautiful. If you can’t handle the fact that you may have a friend that has opposing views as you, then you are not any better than the bigots and the racists. I don’t have to agree with everything you believe to be a decent human being & your friend.
Most of All, Be HAPPY!!!! Life is Short, Let’s make things right & get along!!!
