Sunday Afternoon At The Mall

Sunday October 11, 2015
Location: Mall - El Paso, TX
Time: 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

I am observing on Sunday this week, as I had prior commitments to attend to this Saturday. On this day it is warm and sunny. It would be considered 'pleasant'. The mall is pretty busy today. A lot of people walking through the area I usually observe from.

There is a young man wearing a denim vest sitting at a bench across from me. He has long hair and a mustache. He is Latino. He is sitting at a distance from his friend. He is just looking at his cell phone, perhaps texting. A larger young man comes and talks to the friend. He wants to sit in the empty spot between the mustached young man and the friend. The mustached young man scoots over, and the larger young man sits down. The mustached young man is squeezed into the corner of the bench, but does not seem to mind. They sit there silently for a while. The larger young man says something, and the other two laugh. After a while, they leave.

A group of four Asian men stop at a bench. One leaves, and the rest sit at the bench. One man is wearing a baseball cap and a white T-shirt that says 'Tokyo' on the front. Another man is wearing a green baseball cap  and a blue, long-sleeved shirt. The guy with the Tokyo shirt leaves. The guy with the blue shirt just scopes the place out for a while. He then talks to the guy next to him. I cannot see much of this other guy, only that he is wearing a white T-shirt and has a squarish hair cut. They both look around  the area for a bit, then look at the guy with the white T-shirt's cell phone. The other man has come back at some point. He is wearing a blue hoodie and black & yellow basketball shorts. The guy with the Tokyo shirt eventually returns as well. They eventually leave.

A lot of people today have been looking over the balcony at the children's play area. At one point I was in position to see this area. The kids were running around, jumping, and climbing through the obstacles. It was just non-stop motion. The parents seemed to be going in slow motion as compared to the children.

The restaurants seem to be getting good business today. The cinnamon roll place and the ice cream place has had the most customers. The pretzel place has had less than the other two, but it's had more customers that I've observed today as compared to previous weeks.

A good sample of ethnicities this week: Latinos (majority), Caucasian, black/African-American (less this week than usual), and Asian (more this week than in previous weeks; a majority of them male). There have been a mixing of ethnic groups. A few mixed couples/families were seen (Latino/black), and mixed groups of friends (Caucasian/black).

At the bench ahead of me is a man playing with his daughter. She climbs all over him, jumps on him, and tugs at him. He carries her around and holds her hand. It seems that they really love each other. The father hides behind a large board. The daughter can't find him. She is baffled. She looks for him over the balcony. She actually tries to climb over the balcony, but her older teenage brother stops her. She gives up looking and plays with her mother instead. The father gives up hiding and walks over to his wife and daughter. The daughter smiles when she sees him.