It's that time of year when the Malls become the destination for many holiday shoppers. Not this one (yours truly.) I was talking to someone the other day about their recent trip to the Mall some distance from my residence and it occurred to me, I haven't been to a Mall in two years or more. It isn't that I have anything against the retailers, maybe it's just something to do with my perspective. I was beginning to feel claustrophobic with all the crowding and shoving that shoppers were doing making their way from store to store. It was like the oxygen was being sucked out of the space I was walking. Then there were people to dodge who would stand in the middle of the pathways and obliviously chat with each others (or use cell phones) and jabber unaware that there were others trying to walk around them. Or they plain just did not care. One of my pet peeves is rudeness and at this time of the year when there should be a "holiday spirit" of "peace and goodwill" people turn into, well, "jerks." Maybe it's the way they were parented (or weren't parented,) never being taught to show respect for others, or maybe the the nation has just become so "DO IT NOW" with instant gratification piled onto it, that people just don't care how they are perceived by others.
Don't get me wrong. I was an adolescent years ago and at that time, I acted age appropriate (translation: I sometimes could be a bit of a jerk myself,) but I had been taught manners. I also grew up.
One of my fondest memories of Christmas as a young adult was going with a friend to do Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. Mind you, we were both in our twenties then, didn't attend the same college but saw each other during semester breaks. It was a lot of fun....back then.
But several years ago, I began to really, really dislike going to the Mall when living in Lafayette. Ironically, it was some place my now exes (boyfriends, signifcant others) and then-friends would go to together and have a decent time, especially at the coffee shop at Center Court in the Acadiana Mall (now known, as I recall, as The Mall of Acadiana.) It isn't painful memories of relationships lost that makes me avoid the Mall now. Again, it's the crowds and a lot of rude behavior. Add to that trying to find a parking place while someone waits and blocks a lane of traffic just so they can get two spaces closer to the Mall. Does it really hurt THAT much to walk a little further (assuming a person doesn't need a handicap spot)? Not to mention the gas being wasted idling or circling for "just the right spot" to park.
These days when I Christmas shop "in person", I tend to do so at stores not located in a Mall, but local shops--and many of them are losing business and closing due to hard economic times. That reflects also on the remaining choices I have.
While it causes me conflict as an activist trying very hard to stay environmentally aware, I tend to shop mostly online these days. I have to consider the miles something travels, the packaging used and other things that can impact the environment, but it is less stressful to shop from my home at my computer than to wade through people who act rudely.
No comments:
Post a Comment