Westroads mall

The mall reopened Saturday morning after being closed Thursday and Friday following the shootings on Wednesday. I'm not going to comment on the shooting because nothing I can say would do justice to the suffering of the victims and their families. I will comment on the one small part of this tragedy I can. Shopping.

Those of you who know me know that I like shopping and Westroads is my mall of choice. Ever since the day after Thanksgiving, the stores have opened early on the weekends and I have gone shopping after getting off work Saturday morning. At first, the idea of shopping this Saturday didn't do much for me, but as always, the thought of spending money I don't have on shit I don't need won me over.

It was kind of surreal, there were quite a few people there for 8am, but it was really quiet. Cops and security guards were roaming around, as were Red Cross workers. The sales people were a little over friendly, maybe out of nervousness, and other shoppers were much more courteous than in past weeks. Also, it was obvious that the sales people were much more aware of their surroundings. Everyone of them that I passed looked me up and down

One store that caters to teens had a couple of young ladies working. Neither looked like they wanted to be there. I walked by on my way to another store and they were visibly upset. On the way back past that store I saw a Red Cross volunteer in there with a therapy dog! This particular therapy dog was a collie wearing pink booties. Adorable! A German Shepherd therapy dog was in another store. Hopefully the dogs brought some comfort to somebody.

I don't want to say that it was no big deal to be at the mall, because I was there for less than hour. The workers who have to be there for hours at a time, day after day may have something else to say about it. The victims and their families would certainly have something else to say about it.

Suddenly the job I haven't been very happy with lately seems a lot better. The friends and family that irritate me are suddenly less irritating. Not much, though.