Gaze not accepted

plumsunsetKind of a ho-hum pic but just to show a place that I walk to *frequently* and that when I *took* the pic, it was maybe 5:35 PM? I hope you aren’t thinking that bright light is the sun because my GPS flipped over from day to night right around the time I drove into the Landfill driveway today. Not the sun.

What you can’t really see in this pic is all of the new stores that have replaced the once thriving KMart that anchored this old-skool shopping plaza. When we bought the Landfill, KMart was a going concern and it wasn’t always easy to find a parking place over there. In recent years, the lot was usually empty. The last time I remember going in there was a few years ago when the GG *insisted* on buying fake fireplace logs there. They were cheaper at KMart than they were at Ace Hardware, where we were also going. Maybe so but when I tried to check out at KMart the clerk was practically crying asking me to sign up for some kind of “program”. If she didn’t get enough people to sign up, she would lose her job. I felt *awful* for her but by then I could see the writing on the wall. KMart is going down. It did and I can’t remember if I signed up for the “program” or not but I felt for her. But I just wanted to get outta there that day. [delete long stuff, i.e., this ain’t the New Yorker]

So 200-hmmm-8(?), when did Mouse come back from study abroad? The Plum Market took over the old Fox movie complex. I am not much of a movie-goer (I hate to sit) but I did go to a few movies there. I *much* prefer the Plum Market. AND I CAN WALK THERE!!! After all these years, KMart is gone and is now being replaced with Home Goods, SteinMart, and Sierra Trading Post and I’m not sure what else but looks like some other store fronts might be in the works. The plaza is starting to look a bit spruced up. I dunno how successful all of these “upscale” stores will be. I doubt I will shop in them although I will probably do a walk-about at some point just to check them out. We’ll see where this all goes. I’d prefer less concrete and more natural features and small inroads have been made in that direction. And there I go off on a long tangent again.

Gaze not accepted? It’s when a person is doing the “I’m looking at you” thing and the receiver of the gaze doesn’t want to answer the question, at least not until he/she has thought about it for a while. Spoken out loud, the statement “Gaze not accepted” made a conference room full of people kind of jump out of their seats. Think about it. But know that we all jumped up (figuratively speaking) because we do NOT discriminate at my work against anyone. If you have the skills to do the job and do not proselytize about polly-ticks or religion or whatever, you are part of our team. We are focused on work. I won’t lie, there have been some little references to the new “regime” but they represent the quiet black humor that some of us will need to endure the next four years.

One Response to “Gaze not accepted”

  1. Margaret Says:

    I’ve never heard that expression before! How do most of your people at work feel about the new regime? Just wondering.