Loitering and Agism.

I remember the days when kids were allowed to smoke cigarettes on the corner of the high school property and stand around for hours.  I also recall the amount of times that a security guard would come around to the local shill of a mall and discourage kids from collecting in groups in the food court and disburse them accordingly.  Recalling the number of times I've been starred down upon by store owners and older folk walking into an establishment, I've felt somewhat attacked in the past.


My ohh-so-awesome grandmother and I make the occasional trip to a very popular and well known fast food chain when I pick her up from her hair stylist every week.  The one consistent thing I notice at this establishment (and most around rural Maine) is the gigantic amount of loitering that would never be accepted in an urban area.  The groups that loiter aren't the youth, but a huge amount of retired elderly that like to stop and play cards in the afternoon and take up seats during all hours of the day.

Go fish.

Now- I'm all for the act of loitering.  I have become an active member of the American Society for the Socially Homeless Organization of Loitering Experts (or ASSHOLE for short) and I've done the numbers.  It's fun to buy one cup of coffee an hour if you believe that it buys you some entitlement to sit for hours at a time using the facilities.  I support long hours for restaurants and bars if it means I could possibly sit on my ass for a little longer.  The problem here is that it seems to be OK for the elderly to collect on the act while younger folk should make room for these customers because- you know- they're elderly.  I do understand the need to sit and rest- but god damn they have so many years of experience- they can talk up a mighty storm.


I was told one of the reasons that many local shops in town shut down early is because of the amount of loitering that the young folk do at late nights (or drunkards depending on who you talk too).  If I feel like sitting down and enjoying a coffee, I would like to not be spoken too, nor would I like to hear a story on how the old Phillip A. Roy building used to be a food market again.


If these institutions decide to make all loitering unacceptable then I'd comply for the most part.  I'm sure these elderly folk have homes they live in or at least other locations to play Hearts at.  Maybe they should try this tactic out:





Further examples:

I'm sure the groups that meet at this particular fast food chain have made incredible achievements and deserve to sit around after years of helping society, but damn- I wanna sit down too.