West Ed Mall - Place for Thugs

Shopping at the 4th largest mall in the world is a scary experience.
West Edmonton Mall has been taken over by thieves, street people and thugs. The other day, with a few hundred in my pocket to burn, I thought I’d get a little holiday shopping done. Inside the Zellers was fine, but as soon as I went into the food court, I noticed some people rummaging through the garbage for left-over’s. And a bunch of the good tables were claimed by gangs of homeless teens sharing a pop between them, eyeing people’s purses and wallets.
When I passed through the open kiosks, I tried to buy an interesting item from a salesperson. I should have taken warning because there was no posted prices for anything, he ended up telling me an absurd price for an item worth less than half that. When I no longer wanted to buy, he started negotiating. I’m thinking…am I in a third world country now that we use the barter system? And here I thought I was shopping in a nice, safe, civilized mall.
The minute I stepped out the door, a drugged-out guy clearly living on the streets, started harassing for money, trying to follow all the way to the car. By the looks he was giving, to get me alone enough to take something like a purse or a package.
Where are the security guards? The mall is private property, so I know for a fact they can remove these people who are harassing and threatening behavior to the paying customers if they wanted to. Or they cared which they obviously don’t. I didn’t see a single security guard all day. And neither did any of the thieves, homeless youth, or thugs hanging out there, I’m betting.
Am I really just being mean? I give money to people occasionally, I like to do nice things for others, and I try to be considerate and non-judgmental of people living in bad circumstances. But I’m a small, young woman and it makes me mad to feel that threatened while I’m trying to do a little shopping with my hard-earned money. The mall is obviously suffering from urban decay, and has attracted all the wrong elements. So if the people running the mall don’t care, I guess I don’t care to be shopping there anymore either. I’ll be doing the rest of my shopping somewhere else this Christmas.