I love the mall, but I avoid it like the plague before, during, and after the holidays.  So basically I try not to set foot in it after Halloween until just before Mardi Gras.  Writing this, I find it odd that both of those holidays involve masks.  My one exception is that we make a special day to visit Santa.  Regardless of the time I have a double before the hubs heads us out; it is the only way to survive.  When I was 19 I worked at Lord & Taylor and I STILL have not forgotten the horror of the holiday rush.  And the returns; OH the dreaded returns.  I remember we had to work until 9 p.m. and I thought that was hard.  Now stores are making employees work until 11!  Every job I have held has made me mindful of others.  My first job was at Mc Donald’s; I never leave trash on my table at a self-service restaurant.  My second was at a bookstore; I never take a book without returning it to its proper place.  I do not leave a pile of clothes on the floor for employees to have to go through.  I tip my delivery drivers decently if they were nice and did a good job.  And I refuse to patronize ANY store on Thanksgiving.  Folks belong with their families or simply deserve the break to be thankful.  But I have digressed.  Like a rabbit emerging from its hole I ventured back to the mall.  As I was going through the parking lot I noticed red and green lights on the ceiling by each parking spot.  Wondering if it was something left over from Christmas, I realized they had these installed so drivers can easily scan for an open parking space by looking for a green light.  Once you’ve parked, it turns red.  I thought it was so cool I decided to take a picture of it.  The American Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Dave Barry once quipped:

“Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.”

I figure I have months ahead of me to enjoy the mall before surviving the maul.