Day One at Alderman Ave. Bokhandle

    It's a kind of slow midday at Alderman Ave. Bokhandle as very few employees wander the isles and even fewer customers browse around the sections of the store store. It's a cloudy, fairly humid day, and so I wonder if this is why perhaps many people have chosen to stay home and indoors; or perhaps it is the fact that it's a Holiday today...   Most likely the latter rather than the former. Two adults arrived at the same time that I did, a man, named Olivo, and a woman, named Marianna who sat in the same  section as me, the woman at the same table of me. Both of them got out their electronics: the man a laptop, the woman a tablet. Only one employee was seen for the entire time that I was there: a man, who walked over to the shelves by where I was sitting, browsed over them, and then left.  I was on the second floor of the bookstore, but I could clearly hear the conversations of two women, Lanese and Emra, working at Bean & Brew Coffee Shoppe downstairs. The coffee shop seems to be the most crowded area in the entire store, as when I walked in, I noticed far more people there than I did in any other part of the store. A lone woman walked through twice, Cirra, who walked fairly briskly and, the second time, on her cellphone.
     Later, on, I noticed several groups or pairs of teenagers, some high school aged others college aged coming up the escalators and browsing the store. The first pair, Marcus and Tallia, walked briskly through once laughing and talking, and when they came through again, they were holding hands, still joyfully socializing. Later on, another pair of seemingly college age students, Mila and Davest, came up the escalator and immediately proceeded to the textbook section of the store.  Unlike the first two, they were not displaying any romantic affectionate, but were just the same laughing and talking.  On a sidenote, the woman sitting at my table, Marianna, put down her phone not long after the second pair came through, after being on it for 20 minutes playing Solitaire. Another group of seemingly college aged young women, Toni, Tara & Tia, later on came up the escalator, just as jovially as the others, and continued on to the electronic section. All the while, they were clearly audible. One last group worth noting, where a group of high school age teenagers, Rayla, Sarah & Cisca,  who were laughing and chatting and on their cell phones at the same time.  Prior to their arrival, a mother, Avarra,  and her daughter, Layla, and her infant came through the Children's Games, Books and Puzzles section, merely browsed for a bit, and left with purchasing anything.
     After about an hour of observation, a conclusion came to me: most of the young people I saw were in groups or pairs; in contrast, most of the older people I saw were either alone or with their children. This notion has been on my mind for quite a while, as I noticed the same thing around my school. It seems to me that many teenagers feel that being alone at anytime is an awkward and uncomfortable experience. I noticed that many of my female classmates often ask other girls to accompany them  every place that they go, including the bathroom, which is especially strange to me. But it is not just the females, as I also see boys exhibiting the same grouped up mentality. I' fairly certain that as I continue my observations, I will continue to see evidence of this behavior among teens.