One Week at the Mall of America

Think that your Black Friday holiday shopping experience was bad? How about living in a mall for one full week?

For this article, reporter Matt Snyders of City Pages spent one whole week at the Twin Cities’ megamall Mall of America and lived to tell the tale:

… how to go about wrapping your head around a monolith that employs more than 11,000 workers, including clerks, security guards, tour guides, and ride operators? That spans 4.2 million square feet? That rakes in almost $2 billion a year from visitors? That, according to an awesomely arbitrary stat rundown on its website, can fit seven Yankee Stadiums into it?

One way is to eat, breathe, drink, and sleep in the place for seven days, inhabiting it during all open hours, 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Which is exactly what I did. I realized going in that boredom would be my greatest adversary. These misgivings were compounded by the guidelines I was determined to follow:

* I was not to leave the building for any amount of time during open hours.
* I was to at least step foot in every one of the mall’s 520-plus stores.
* I was required to sleep a minimum of one night in the mall. Somehow.
* No outside food, water, or alcohol. Everything consumed must be purchased onsite.
* No iPod or other distractions allowed.
* No poking fun at the mall’s Santa Clauses.
* Not even the one that kind of looks like a pedophile.

Link – Thanks Jeff Shaw!