Blowdriers and addled shoppers make it far from a silent night

I have to remind myself that working in retail at Christmas must be an awful experience, writes Alison O’Connor.

IT’S beginning to feel a lot like peak Christmas. And that was before I sat in the hairdressers chair earlier this week and heard a stylist tell her client that a sister-in-law, who struggles financially, spends €2,000 each on her two young kids for Christmas.

I was in such shock that I stopped the other woman as we both left, and asked if I had misheard over the din of the blowdriers. Equally taken aback, I’m glad to report, she assured me I had not.