by I work near a bunch of shopping malls in Queens. There’s one mall, in particular, that I call the “Sleeping Mall” because random men, throughout the day, flop on couches and take over chairs for hours at a time to sleep in public.
I can understand this sleepy behavior if you’ve been shopping all day and you sit down to rest your feet and you happen to nod off — that happens to all of us at times — but these men are dedicated, daily, regular ,snoozers who, as you can see in this photo from yesterday morning, even remove their shoes and fall over because they are so thoroughly swimming in deep REM tides.
Here’s the gang from this morning. Notice the jewelry store isn’t even open yet, but that won’t stop them from purchasing a few winks.
I can’t imagine having all these New York sloths hanging around all day can be good for mall business. I wonder if the management company knows about these body snatchers?
Twice, I saw a security guard approach a sleeping man. The guard woke up the guy and told him to either not sleep or sit up. The guy slightly sat up, but when the guard left, he went right asleep again and fell over and took up half of the couch.
It’s hard to sit there when you have someone who is taking over half the couch.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think malls should be for sleeping. When you go shopping, you want to feel comfortable and safe and when a whole section of the mall being taken over by men who are sleeping and snoring, well, that is not an inviting experience one wants to repeat if one can avoid it.
Instead of lingering at the mall and resting, I now tend to “get in and out” as fast as I can because the sleepers have permanently taken over all the good, comfortable, chairs and sofas. I also don’t want some guy sitting next to me and open-mouth drooling on me as he sleeps and I try to enjoy my work break at the mall.
I do have one friend I get to see daily. He’s a bird and I named him “Tweat” — and he’s always awake and ready company. Here’s a photo of Tweat — he moves fast, so I had to take this photo quickly. He’s always a blur.
Tweat seems to be trapped inside the mall, but I’m sure there are worst places in the world where a cute bird could be caught without an escape — but the same can’t be said for the dedicated, daily, sleepers, who take all the fun out of the Queens mall shopping experience.
I wish Tweat would peck out their wagging tongues while they sleep and make them all wake up and fly away.
Ah! Love this article, Janna!
When you would tell me tales of these sleeping Zombies at the mall — I really couldn’t believe what you were telling me.
Then, you provided the photographic evidence — and it was worse, and more ridiculous than I thought!
I’m so glad you went on the record with this ridiculous behavior and maybe the Queens Mall will finally step in and do the right thing and wake them up and put them out.
Yes, it is hard to believe. I try to find it all funny now, but it’s still annoying that the sleepers take all the best seats.
I really can’t believe the people who shop at the mall put up with this horrible behavior. I guess there are some left in the world who just don’t have any shame remaining and they’ll make themselves at home no matter where they land.
Are these homeless people who have moved into the mall?
No, I don’t think they’re homeless. Some of them may be day workers waiting on their ride to a construction site or something.
Great article! I rarely see people sleeping at the malls in Queens — maybe I’m going to the wrong ones! 🙂
Best time to catch them sleeping is early in the morning during the work week. They like the out of the way areas where they can sort of hide from the shopping stream.
Perhaps their wives are chronic shoppers??
Reminds me of the Japanese Businessmen sleeping in public phenomenon: http://www.theworldsbestever.com/2010/05/25/more-japanese-people-sleeping-in-public/
There are countless pictures of these poor, exhausted souls just plain passed out at the foot of stairways, in restaurants, and the middle of sidewalks. Crazy.
I would think if it were chronic shopping fatigue, the sleeping men would be babysitting all the bags. That’s their role while waiting. Haha!
That link to the sleeping businessmen is funny!
How bizarre – even for a country where anything goes. Love Tweat – hope he gets well fed!
It seems that anything does go. No difference between home behavior and going out behavior. I think Tweat will be fine. Lots of trees inside and food courts to explore. A big mall must be like a giant birdcage and probably safer for him than actually being outside.