12-25-08

All I want for Christmas is a handful of coins and a hot glue gun

This past weekend, I had the joy of spending the last weekend before Christmas in the malls between Wilmington and Durham. What joy!
Actually, I don’t mind being at the mall during the holiday season. There is something enjoyable about being in the frenzy and watching the mass of humanity scurry around with their bags of gifts and checking their lists.
Leigh and my son had gone into a store leaving me with my daughter in her stroller which was loaded down with shopping bags, a pocket book and large Chick-fil-a cups full of tea.
While I was walking, I couldn’t help but watch all of the mall employees. Some were taking breaks and texting friends, some were eating a quick lunch in the food court and there was the occasional conversation from one store to another that walkers-by inevitably became a part of.
Taking all of this in reminded me of my days working at a local mall in Maryland.
When I turned 16 and got my drivers license, I quickly learned that it took money to fill up the gas tank and pay for the insurance.
A job at the new local mall was quickly applied for. I not only drove now, I proudly jockeyed a register at a T-shirt shop.
One year, a friend of mine asked if I wanted some part-time work for the holiday.
His mom and dad had bought into a little craft business, rented a Kiosk in the mall and needed cheap, unskilled labor. We were just the people for the job.
We made signs that were constructed of a wood backing. Painted wood letters were hot glued to the backing and would spell out last names, catchy sayings or titles like “Mom’s Kitchen,” “The Smith’s House,” “John’s Golf Shack,” “Ronald’s Rumpus Room.” Anything that could be spelled and glued down, was.
During the week, business was slow and two of us usually worked the stand together. To break the boredom, we would read, have friends come by to visit and sometimes we would just get creative.
For a 17-year-old, boredom and a glue gun are a dangerous combination. One night while the evening was dragging, my coworker and I came up with something new to keep us amused.
A glue gun was heated and a few quarters and dimes were pulled out of our pockets.
We spread a small amount of glue to one side of a coin and when no one was around, we would quickly adhere it to the floor in front of our kiosk.
Like giggly little girls, we waited for people to come by and try to pick the coin up.
I don’t know exactly what makes it so entertaining, but watching people from three to eighty-three years old try to pick up a glued down quarter will make anyone double over with laughter.
Most adults would give it one good try and realize that they were tricked, laugh, and walk away. Children, on the other hand, took it personally.
Once a child and father walked by and the kid just about dove for the glued quarter taking his father with him. “Com’on!” the father said, and the little boy hurried along, looking back over his shoulder at the beckoning coin.
About twenty minutes later, the same child came running down the corridor and with the grace of an NFL punter, kicked at the stuck coin while in full-run. It didn’t budge.
The father yelled at him, the boy stomped away in defeat and my friend and I were laughing so hard we were crying.
I had a lot of fun and many carefree moments working in that mall.
Watching the young people, this past weekend, working their jobs, and taking their breaks, took me back in time and I think helped in calming my nerves.
As I sat in a black massage chair in the middle of the mall, I took in all of the action while listening to the mall Mu-zak and wondered how hard it would be to talk one of those kids into gluing a quarter to the floor while I waited for Leigh and Ethan.
Bryan Pinkey can be reached at bpinkey@nccox.com.