Looking Down

With everything to do in New York, I have found the little beauties in life can be easily unnoticed. Something I love most about Georgia is the beautiful sky. Day, night, cloudy, or sunny, there is something breath-taking about the enormous sky. In New York City I am so busy I never get a chance to just stop, breathe, and gaze at the passing clouds or a star filled night.

One of the things on our to-do list was to venture to the top of the Empire State Building. I didn’t expect anything spectacular. I just knew I didn’t want my ticket to go to waste.

After arriving to the top, the sun had just barely set and the sky looked just as beautiful as it does in Ga. No buildings  obstructing my view. It was amazing. I waited patiently for a spot to be able to peer over the edge. Every bit of what I saw was worth the wait.

The light from the buildings and the cars was incredible. I preferred looking at the city more than I did looking at the sky. I realized this was the unique beauty of the city. It wasn’t the time staring up, but it was the time spent living. The beauty was the interaction with new people and new experiences. It took me longing to look up to realize I needed to look around. Looking down, I wanted nothing more to be a part of the amazing streets below.

Acrophobia & Stupid People

Back home we have 6Flags over Georgia in Atlanta. Sometime after Mom and I moved to Georgia we went and had fun in the amusement park. While we were there, we came across a ride called Acrophobia. This is one of those rides where you get on and it drags you up to an unholy height and then drops you back to the ground. Well I was little, I’d been on rollercoasters and water rides and this was new, but I tried it. Mostly because we waited in line for a hot minute before being able to ride it and to make a long story short it ended with me crying and screaming in terror and taking off like a bat out of hell once the nice army man saved me from the chair that wouldn’t let go. Anyway. Acrophobia, the ride, is how I learned that I suffer from Acrophobia, the fear of heights.

That being said, I am in New York and one of the most popular tourist attractions is still the Empire State Building and so I did the touristy thing and went up. I do not like heights. I did take pictures though and then booked back down to ground, but this post is about more than just conquering my fear of heights for all of 20 minutes. The line for this building is meant to be crazy long and so I went through security and passed some neat presentations and art work on my way up. I also got to go through this photo thing. This guy takes a picture of the group and then gives you a ticket. As you leave the top of the building, you can buy the photo on the way down if you so choose. For anyone who knows me, or my family, knows that I cannot stand stupid people. This picture is free to take, but if you want to keep it then you have to pay 20 bucks and go on your merry way. Which I did. However.

I’m leaving the building, grab my photo and head to the checkout counter to pay. There are two women at the counter and one of them is basically chewing the cashier out because she has to pay for the photo. I missed the beginning of this argument, but here is how I figure it went down:

Cashier Lady: Miss, you can pay here.

Lady 1: Pay? The man said it was free.

Cashier Lady: Who?

Lady 1: The man who took the photo.

Cashier Lady: I’m sorry it’s not free. It’s $20.

Lady 1: What?!? He said it was free. We asked if it cost anything and he said no. What are you going to do with the picture if I don’t buy it?

Cashier Lady: They recycle it.

And The two women just sort of looked at her. I can see why the conversation continued the way it did.

Lady 2: *pulls out 20*

Lady 1: No. If they’re just going to recycle it why can’t I have it?

Cashier Lady: Because you have to pay for it.

Lady 1: We already paid $50 just to get in here—

Cashier Lady: That’s a completely different company Ma’am. *turns to me to bag my photo*

Lady 1 & 2: *bicker*

Me: *give card to Lady and ay for photo*

Lady 2: *pushes a 50 bill forward*

Cashier Lady: *gives me card and photo, takes 50* 2?

Lady 2: Yes.

Lady 1: Ugh.

And I walk away, make eye contact with one dude in the hallway and mouth a silent “wow”, he grins, and continue on my way down to exit the building.

I swear customer service jobs just suck. It doesn’t matter what kind. People are just stupid. That ‘free’ picture isn’t free. It’s like those surprise photos when you get off a rollercoaster that you can buy or not. They don’t charge you to take a picture of your face looking retarded on the rollercoaster unless you want to take the picture home and show people. So thanks to the height, photo, and stupid people in the Empire State Building, I’ve decided that the Empire State Building = Amusement Park.