I love the mall.

I hope that doesn’t sound shallow because I don’t see myself as someone who is particularly obsessed with shopping or commercialism but I just love the idea of the mall: a place with so many neat little places under one roof like an upscale flea market.

So, as I vented on Facebook, I am a bit annoyed at the Mall closest to my home and their decision to now limit the times, on the weekend evenings, when people under 18 are allowed to be in the mall without “adult” supervision.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere.  Seriously, I drove back down that road last weekend with family and it is way out there.  We were about 10 miles from our school and easily 20 or more from the closest mall, which, if most of you saw it, you would think – (Southgate Mall in Elizabeth City, NC) that’s what you got excited about as a kid? But going the 20 or 30 miles (one way) to our mall that probably had about 20 stores in it, tops, was a trip.  We could go to Roses and shop and then even get a bite to eat, and then the exotic Hallmark store and maybe the very facy Belk’s Department store. Wow thought my little eyes!

As I got a bit older and we ventured even further up an hour or two away to the “real” shopping where there were two story malls with carousels inside and Chick-fil-a a place, somehow, I’d not eaten in until I went away to college. Malls like Greenbrier in Chesapeake, VA There was just something fascinating to the small town me about watching other people shop and play in one place.

When I went off to college, my first “real” job was in the mall food court.  I worked at a food place called Roli Boli in Four Season Town Center in Greensboro, NC.  It was a good job and I worked at several other places in the mall over the years.

And now, the mall is still a place I go to get in a good exercise walk out of the weather and to pick up some lunch etc..or to shop. But, now I am annoyed with Northlake Mall near my house.

I was so excited when they were building this place! And I have enjoyed going there instead of trekking the extra 5 miles or so up to Concord Mills or to the other side of town.  Then the other night, at every entrance, they were giving out flyers about a new policy.  I was so annoyed I didn’t keep the flyer but the gist is, if you are under 18 then after 5pm on weekend nights you can not be in the mall without someone over 21.  And that means you have to BE with that person over 21.  So even if you work there and you are under 18 and are off shift, technically, you should be with someone over 21.

Why does this annoy me so much?  Well, as they are handing out these flyers there are TONS of security people wandeirng in and outside the mall. I wonder where they were a couple of years ago at Christmas when I tried to find them because there was a guy following me around the mall? From inside the mall I had to CALL mall security to tell them about this guy who was trying to follow me into the parking lot.  I’m shy so I didn’t confront him but I did walk out of the mall with a group of guys to my cars but I saw him then start to follow another woman so I drove by him and he went back inside.  But, I digress, I still didn’t feel unsafe at the mall because they have continued to increase their security etc over the years and I find it a very good place to shop.

So, I know that you want to limit gang activity and loitering. OK. I get that.  That’s why you have all the security.  You can ask people, easily, to leave. So why make this blanket policy?  I can think of so many scenarios where this is not fair to young people.

• Picture me at 20. I come home from college. I want to take my 17 year old sister out to get something to eat and do some shopping on a Friday night. Technically at Northlake, can’t do it.
• You are an 18 year old guy and you want to take your 17 year old girlfriend out for a nice meal (there are several nice restaurants and valet parking) but well, really you can’t do that because you can’t be her guardian.
• Or lets take it out of that and go into a different social class. I’m 17 and I had a child.  I work hard to take care of my baby and I want to go to Baby Gap to do some shopping on a Friday night after I got out of work. Nope. You probably shouldn’t be doing that according to the letter of their rules.

So those are just a few off the top of my head.  And maybe you think I’m overreacting but I have always hated policies that penalize everyone else because a few people do something wrong.  Does the mall (that also has a movie theater attached) really think this policy will keep the bad kids away?  If they want to be there they are now just going to hang out in the parking lot and move to another part of the lot when you guys aren’t patrolling.  Or they will set up in the Best Buy or Target shopping center.  Why not just let your security do their job?

Ok, I’ll quit ranting about this, but I just had to get all my annoyance out and I’ll have to decide if I am going to continue to shop at an establishment, even if it is conviently located, who has put such a policy in place . . . hmm . . . Then again, Concord Mills has a vendor who sells cigarettes . . . *sigh*