Well, on this most costume-y and make-yourself-sick-with-candy-y of holidays, we thought we would extend two kinds of Halloween greetings for the two kinds of people out there.

First, there’s the easily frightened, high strung Halloween:

And then there’s the Halloween greeting for the people who are generally up to something… and it probably involves screwing with the first kind of Halloween people:

So… whether you’re a neurotic pumpkin or a mischievous pumpkin, have a very Happy Halloween!

And if you haven’t yet… make sure to stop by the Warehouse Theatre’s Haunted House!!!

over in costume land, i used to avoid the phone.  i didn’t want to deal with the stupid questions.  but in the last few days, i have jumped to answer to phone.  when you get stupid questions, you get to give stupid answers!  people always call to ask, "where are you located?"  i give them the address.  usually they already know that because they looked in the phone book.  fact:  there is a map in the phone book!  one coworker who often gets the question, "are you before or after the chik-fil-a?" always answers, "after!"  if they don’t know enough to tell her the direction they are headed, too bad.

yesterday, while about 15 people stood in line to check out and the rest of the store buzzed with people, one caller wanted to know, "what kind of costumes do you have for women?"  and "what should i dress up as?"  i did my best to kindly tell her to come and pick out her own costume because i was pretty busy, but she kept talking…really, if she needs someone to talk to, there are helplines for that.

one more:  a man came in to get a costume for his daughter who needed to dress up as a saint for school.  saints, like all other people span alot of history, folks.  while i tried to come up with creative "saint costumes"–fake eyes for st. lucy, arrows for st. sebastian…he called his wife.  she needed to dress up as saint gianna beretta molla, a doctor who died in 1962.  and she needed a costume…why?

just two more days of fun!  have i inspired anyone to skip the costumes this year?

Today, we celebrate the birth of one Miss Caroline Davis!

Now, don’t be fooled by the photo.  If you see her today, she may not be wearing her little red nose.  But then again, she might!  Either way, wish her a fantabulous birthday!!!

Okay, I was watching The Daily Show this morning, and I know you wouldn’t normally refer to them as bipartisan, by I think Wyatt Cenac presented a view of the upcoming election that we can all agree with:

Don’t forget to vote! And if you’re allowed to vote early… all the better for you!!!

And, if you can’t vote early, but still want to start voting for stuff - you know - to practice - don’t forget to look to the right-hand side of our blog to take our latest poll!

my costume coworker, patrick, came to the break room yesterday with a look of shock.  "i think i may have killed one of our customers."

a young black man was looking for a military "costume."  he pointed to one of the hats, "that’s the one i like!"  patrick handed him the general’s hat.  "no, that one," he said, pointing to the one on the top shelf.  now, please understand, as a theatrical costume shop, we have hats that we wouldn’t recommend.  theatres are always bound to produce those awful stories of europe in world war II.  yes, the man wanted the hat with the golden eagle of the third reich.  patrick tried to discreetly discourage the man, but he didn’t quite get it.  thankfully, the matching uniform with its swastika was not in his size, so he chose a u.s. marine corp. coat.  so that poor ignorant man is going out friday night with a marine’s uniform and nazi hat.  i hope he doesn’t run in to any real marines!

Later today I will post the results from our last poll, but you have GOT to take a moment to weigh in on our new poll!  It’s time sensitive, baby! 

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!!!!  (In our poll… and in that erection thing I keep hearing so much about.)

UPDATE

Here are the results from our last poll - click on the image to get a larger view.  But suffice it to say, you all are definitely most impressed by Palin’s mad moose hunting skills.  WOOHOO!

Now VOTE VOTE VOTE!

i thought i should put something positive about this whole costume-sales experience.  some people really are creative!

one girl going to a 1980’s theme party is dressing up at a wuzzle.  remember that short-lived disney cartoon with combination animals like the bumblion, eleroo, and butterbear?  that made my day!

i finally convinced someone to go as belatrix lestrange!

the guy who bought the bodybuilder suit (a flesh-colored suit stuffed to look like muscles) made be giggle.  he was so excited.

props to the two people creating a harvey dent/twoface make-up and wig–that is a courageous undertaking.  i hope they bring me pictures!

and i love the girl who bought the cute marie antoinette dress.  she also has a prosthetic piece that looks like a cut throat held together with safety pins.  her date is going as an executioner.  my faith in 15 year-olds is restored!

my long day (11 hours of retail) began with a woman who could make the stupid costume question record books.  she wanted to dress up for her grandkids, "maybe a snowman?  i don’t know.  show me the costumes you have." 

"which costumes?"

"oh, everything you have."

"can you narrow it down a little? i can’t really bring up the entire warehouse."

so, i went looking for her snowman, and brought up a few that might make her happy.  when i returned, she was trying on the queen amidala headpiece.  i said, "oh, you think you might be queen amidala?"

"who is that?"

"the costume you have on.  from star wars?"

"would my granddaughters know who that is?"

i told her she might want to keep looking, if she didn’t know what that was…  next, i showed her the cat in the hat.  her reply?  "who is that?"

"the cat in the hat"

"would my 7 year old granddaughters know him?"

this was not going to get easier.  she really wanted to be a superhero (after all the fairytale characters had been exhausted), and she thought her husband could be batman.  i gave her the packaged (to buy, not rent) batgirl and batman costumes.  they are the same price as a rental, without me needing to explain the "security deposit" concept to her.  "oh, i won’t ever need these again, don’t you have something i can rent?"  now, superhero women don’t tend to wear flattering clothing, so i knew she would want the spandex i was about to show her, but i brought them anyway.  "they look awfully small!" 

"well, ma’am, they are pretty form fitting."

"well, i guess i buy these.  do you think i should?  maybe i should be a snowman?"

May I just say… it’s something like 10 days until the election… at which point I hope things can go back to normal. I will be able to watch TV without breaking into a cold sweat. And SNL will continue to not be funny. But for right now… they’re in their prime… and I believe in credit where credit is due. So here ya go!

yesterday’s costume gems:

caller: "my son needs to dress up like a historical character.  do you have anything like that"

me: "we sure do.  what time period or person?"

caller: "he didn’t say.  what does it look like?"

me:  "can you narrow it down just a little?  there is a lot of history."

every year a couple throws a big party, and we help them outfit their guests.  this year’s theme is "go to hell."  guests can dress as anything you might find in hell.  we even made them a list of notorious people one would assume you’d find in hell.  and every day, someone comes in and can’t think of a single thing to dress up as.  they think this is the hardest theme ever.  they want us to suggest a costume.  then they reject everything we give them.  no want wants my pilgrim costume (an actual salem witch) or the roman dress (nero’s mother).  these older women want to be "sexy."  i gave one woman a medusa costume.  she bought it, but said, "i don’t even know who this is."

and, yes, some guy asked for a vampire.  no one believes me when i tell them they don’t need a costume…