Opening Excitement

I usually don't work at the mall Customer Service desk on Fridays, but there was a lot going on yesterday, and everyone was assigned a shift.  Mine was the opening.

There was a new store opening, which had been publicized in and outside the mall for several weeks. The new store was having some big giveaways, which brought out a crowd. When I arrived a half hour before the mall opened there were already several hundred people waiting in line. Once I opened the desk I wasn't able to leave, but one of the security guards told me the line had gotten MUCH longer by time the opening ceremonies started.

My area was almost directly beneath the new store. If I stood at the right spot and craned my neck at the right angle I could see it. There were large speakers outside the store pumping out music. Loudly. Instead of being at work, I almost felt like I was in a nightclub.

When the music was turned off to signal the start of the grand opening ceremonies the pumped-up crowd squealed and cheered. The ceremonies went on for almost 15 minutes--speeches by the store manager, a corporate person, and a politician. Then there was a countdown and the drape covering the store was pulled down; the store was open!

There were too many people to enter the store all at once, so the line stopped and started.  Every once in a while the crowd whooped, and I assume someone from the store was pumping them up again. It took about a half hour for everyone to get in. By noon I could see the people outside the store packing things up, with no sign outside the store of the excitement that had happened.

Five years ago today: New Thing #149--Puppy Eyes