Secret Stairs

In the last month I've been at the mall closest to my house for job purposes four different times.  Today I had a fifth visit.  Usually when I go to this mall I park in the same section of the parking garage (first floor on the east side).  However, today the store I had to go to was on the other end of the mall, so I tried another 'regular' lot close to the food court.  It was full, so I decided to head towards the opposite corner of the parking garage from my regular area where there's a dedicated entrance for one of the stores.  I could walk through that store into the mall itself.

Because I find this particular parking garage confusing I took a wrong turn and ended up on the roof, where I had my choice of dozens of spaces.  From there you can take an elevator or stairs down one level to the store entrance.  I chose the latter.  When I entered the stairwell, I noticed a large sign that indicated the store entrance was right below, the food court down one more level, and the first floor of the mall below that.   I decided to get a little more exercise and take the stairs all the way down.

At the bottom of the stairs I opened the large set of metal doors and found myself in a service hallway.  There was a sign with an arrow pointing towards the mall.  I walked down the hall, though another set of metal doors into the public area, where I found my store and did my business. 

I decided I would backtrack my route and get even more exercise walking up the several flights of stairs to my car.  However, when I saw the large sign that said 'Employees Only Past This Point' on the public side of the first set of metal doors I almost changed my mind.  However, figuring they had no problem with me coming down the stairs I decided I wouldn't worry too much about going up.  Besides, no one was there to challenge me.

Five years ago today: Yippee!