This past week I spent more time in the mall than I care to admit. No, I wasn’t doing Christmas shopping. Actually, I was turning the tables and making the mall work for me. You see, when you work in Real Estate, there are certain times in the year where things tend to slow down. Typically the end of summer right before the school year, and as the holidays approach. So being self-employed, you try to find creative ways to make some extra money around the holidays. What brought me to the mall was the prestigious opportunity of performing… market research.
Notes:
00:00-03:42 My love/hate relationship with the Mall
03:43-09:46 My recent trip to the Mall with my kids
09:47-12:13 Taste-testing Tuna for Market Research to make some extra money
12:14-19:45 Acting, Sight and Sound Theaters, Bouncing Back from Rejection
19:46-20:41 Plug for www.6wordsbook.com, Housekeeping and Outro
Read the full transcript below:
Me and the Mall
Ah the mall. Me and the mall have a love/hate relationship. I love the food court. Where else can you get cheesesteaks, Chick-Fil-A, Asian cuisine and Orange Julius all at the same time. What I hate is just about everything else. My very first job was in a mall. Coincidentally in the food court at a Chick-Fil-A. But the mall, during the day, is a depressing place to be. For me at least.
I remember times when I would walk through the mall on my break and I would see like 13 year old kids acting they’re grownups, hanging all over each other, making out, all this swagger like their too cool for school. Something in me still loves going up to them and telling them that their Mommy is waiting for them outside (I tend to do things like that and it bothers my wife so much). In fact, when I was preparing for this episode I remembered that some 10 years ago, when I used to do a radio show with a friend of mine, I went on a rant about the mall. Here’s a clip, keep in mind this was recorded 10 years ago.
Some unsolicited advice to parents
Not much has changed from my perspective. For example, any time I see kids smoking or acting a fool it takes all of my self-control not to go up to them and yank the cigarette out of their mouth and yell It’s 2016! No one thinks you’re cool because you’re smoking! You look like an idiot. Uh oh RANT ALERT!!!!
Nothing bothers me more than preteens and young teens acting like adults. You don’t get that right until you have some responsibility. If your parents are still driving you around and giving you “spending money” then you might as well be wearing a diaper as far as I’m concerned. Kids want freedom but not responsibility. Money without bills. Privacy without accountability.
As a parent, if I pay to put a roof over my kids’ heads than every square inch of that house is under my oversight. That means that no part of that home is off limits to me. It just doesn’t work that way. I find it funny that parents hover over their kids when they’re little and are over protective but as they get older and are capable of doing far worse damage to themselves and others, we ease up because we don’t want to cramp their style. I feel like it should be the reverse. That’s just me. You can criticize me all you want, I don’t care.
But I implore you, Parents, please teach your kids how to be respectable, humble, good citizens who contribute to society without a hint of entitlement. Somehow those lessons are missed by a large majority of society today and we are feeling the negative effects. Anyway, rant over.
Back to my story
So, I recently took my kids to the mall. With
