Although I do my best to avoid shopping malls and centers during the holidays, I had to run a few necessary errands. Since it was a few days after Christmas, I figured on avoiding crowds of people. Boy was I wrong. The suburban strip mall where my bank is located was PACKED to such an extent that whoever owns the property had hired a group of guys to direct traffic in the parking lot aisles. (At first I thought they were collecting money for a fundraiser.) Despite their efforts, some lady in a Mercedes almost backed her car into me (not once, but twice) while attempting to maneuver herself into a parking space.
What were all these people doing here? There is a grocery store at one end, but people didn't seem terribly interested in that. It seemed that the three eateries in the strip mall were doing the best business. I even saw a teenager riding a hoverboard up to the entrance of the most crowded restaurant. And everywhere I looked, people were sitting in their vehicles (mostly SUVs), bent over their phones with their motors idling.
I felt like an alien, and was never so happy to return home.