I agree. Most people amazingly don’t calculate the possibility of mayhem in large crowds.
I just can’t stomach the thought of standing in line with so many shallow idiots. I know that sounds elitest, but, frankly, mayhem usually doesn’t break out among thoughtful, composed individuals, and those people either shop online, do their shopping earlier, or simply buy what they can in a normal environment. Any adult who camps out 48 hours for a cellphone belongs in isolation somewhere. I can maybe see teenagers doing something like that (I camped out for enough concert tickets in my youth) but it just amazes me how immature and selfish adults have become.
I moved out into the country to get away from all that headache and my stress levels have dropped to nothing now.
Seeing people putting themselves into the poorhouse to keep up with the Jones’s, fighting the traffic and ratrace of the suburban life was just not worth it.
Sitting out in the middle of the woods when the biggest problems are keeping the coyotes from getting at your pets and plowing the driveway, that is the kind of stress I can deal with.
I haven’t stepped foot in a mall in about 8 years and the closest thing to a line is once in a blue moon going to see a new release at the cinema. Even in those crowds I feel out of place now. My kids hate it because their friends live in town closer to others, but some day they will appreciate it I think.