They're the shopping center misfits.
Essentially, there are several categories of these individuals. There's the elderly who usually congregate together in the "Food Courts" drinking discounted coffee, and bringing their own food if the security guards / merchants will let them get away with it. God only knows what they talk about, day in day out. Probably it's the latest soap opera episode or who they think is going to be the next American Idol. If they have a life, it's probably about their kids or grand kids who live somewhere else and have minimal communication with them.
Then there's the unemployed. Many times they show up at set hours. Just like it's a job. And maybe for them it's the only substitute for feeling employed. Or maybe they just haven't told the wife yet that they've been made redundant.
But the real star of shopping center misfits, is the one I like to call Mr. Obnoxious. Because it's almost guaranteed to be a male, usually some old fuddy duddy, but not always necessarily.
He's the type that will walk up to some girl who is outside smoking, grab the cigarette out of her fingers, and start a lecture about how stupid she is. Or he can be any age, in any store, and walk up to you trying to start a conversation. Usually it's a girl / woman he walks up to. And usually he's trying to make a connection with them aka a pickup. Almost always it never succeeds, unless the girl / woman / man is just as desperate as him.
The fourth, and last shopping center misfit I've noticed, is what I like to call the Hermit. The Hermit is a grumpy individual who usually scowls at other people, unless they're another Hermit like him. Then he's all happy to have someone to talk with and complain with. Usually they reserve a space in the shopping center exclusively for themselves, and make it very clear everyone else is persona non grata. I understand Beethoven was also that way in Viennese cafes. But trust me, these guys are not on Beethoven's level.
One would think the security guards and management at these places would do something about this. But they're never around when you need them. Particularly the security guards. Besides, I guess they figure as long as the shopping center is being filled with bodies, that they're "doing good".
Of course there are shopping malls that have gone in the reverse direction. I remember being in one of these, wearing shorts and a T Shirt. I asked a security guard for directions, and he looked at me like I just tried to stick my hand in his pocket. In the same shopping center, on a different day, this young man and I were in a bookstore. We didn't know each other. I was looking at books, and he was talking loudly on his cell phone. You couldn't help but hear him word for word. And that was because he was very upset and telling some one < maybe a lawyer > about how the security guards were constantly following him, interrogating him, and otherwise committing gross harassment < at least in his opinion >.
He finished the conversation with something like he's a free citizen in America with the right to his privacy, blah, blah. Then he glared at yours truly, Madame Zucco. Probably it was because I was trying to suppress myself from laughing. As you can guess, I made a quick exit from the book store.
Italy has its' piazzas, Paris its' sidewalk cafes, and America its' shopping centers. Somehow in Paris and Italy I don't think they have the same probs as American shopping centers. Maybe that's because there's usually no security guards at these places. Or maybe it's because there's more activities in these countries.
But in America it is the shopping center that is everyone's stage. Young teens parade themselves, all dressed up with no place to go. Older adults, either alone or with their children, show up to act their bit part for the day. Most find satisfaction in buying something they won't want the following week.
What will take it's place if they ever run out of money?
"Drama is life with the dull bits cut out." - Alfred Hitchcock
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