Free Cinnamon Rolls

Saturday September 26, 2015
Location: Mall - El Paso, TX
Time: 12:20 pm - 1:20 pm

It is a warm, sunny day in El Paso, TX. Fall is beginning to take hold since it is nice and warm and not unbearably hot like it is during the summer. I am once again observing the population from the 'rest' area of this particular section of the mall.

Today, males are wearing mainly T-shirts/polos and jeans or shorts. I have noticed that a lot more males are wearing shorts today than in previous weeks. Women, as usual, are wearing a wide variety of clothing: tank tops, T-shirts, dresses, shorts, skirts, etc. Most of the males and females are wearing comfortable footwear like sneakers, tennis shoes, sandals, and flip flops.

There is an employee from the cinnamon roll place standing with a tray in hand giving out free samples. A majority of the people passing by are not taking the free sample she is offering.  They would rather get in line and  get a free roll from the employee behind the counter. The customers were polite in declining the employee. She eventually puts her tray away and tells the customers to stand in line if they want a free piece of of cinnamon roll. She takes a picture of the long line that has formed.

There is a guy sitting at a bench in front of me. He seems to be relaxing, looking at his phone. He looks up occasionally. He is mainly focused on his phone. He does keep looking in a certain direction. I do not look back in the direction he is looking, as to not reveal that I am observing him. He gets up to get a napkin from the cinnamon roll place. After he sits back down, he doesn't look at his phone anymore. He keeps nervously looking in that same direction. Eventually he leaves.

Two young males sit at a bench across from me. One male is blonde with glasses, the other is brunette. They sit down, and both lean forward to check their shoes. They adjust them and wipe them off. They get up to get something from the cinnamon roll place and leave.

The usual ethnicities are here: a majority of Latinos, Caucasian, black/African-American, and Asian. There are a lot of Asian customers today as compared to previous weeks since I've started observing. All of these ethnicities stay within their 'ethnic' groups. I have not noticed any mixing of ethnic groups today.

It is hard to tell how many romantic couples there are here. I would assume that there are many. The obvious couples are the ones that hold hands as they walk together. They are usually happy, enjoying each other's company. Then there are the couples where one person has their arm around the back/waist of the other's  as they walk together. They usually walk by quietly.

This area is not so busy today. A lot of people are walking through the area. Not many people are resting. Perhaps the cooler weather is to blame. The fast food places have not had many customers today. The busiest one has been the cinnamon roll place, most likely because of the free cinnamon rolls. The ice cream place has had a little bit of customers. The pretzel place only had about two customers during my observation time.

There seems to be a lot of children in the play area on the lower floor. They seem to be having  a good time. There is a lot of screaming going on down there. It seems like they are having a lot of fun, or at least, I hope so.