A View from the Kiosk

Here’s my View from the Kiosk for Saturday the 29th of September

Got to love the ignorance and innocence of youth. Approaching the park for my shift yesterday, I was greeted by 100 cops and about 1000 people. People had begun lining up for the Global Citizen concert that was due to begin at 3pm. At 10:45, the line was already stretching from 81ststreet to 66th. Lucky for me, the cops let me through the line to get to my kiosk on time. For the next two hours, one group of tweens after another rushed my kiosk asking for directions to the Great Lawn. Some even had that conspiratorial tone that the French take when asking me if I had ever heard of that place called Strawberry Fields. When I told them that they needed to exit the park to the west and find the end of the line some of them became indignant and one even cried. Oh, the humanity! There is a free concert in the park and we have to stand in a line!! It was even funnier when old biddy ( this is my new name for the woman who comes after me) showed up ten minutes early and blocked two people at the window who started to ask for the Great Lawn. She grabbed them and told them to follow her so she could have a better site line for giving directions. At that point, I said, “EXCUSE ME!” “Are you looking for the Great Lawn or for the line for the Global Citizen concert. Well, this shut her up. I then left the kiosk and didn’t look back.

By the way, it was a gorgeous day weather wise. Perhaps the nicest of the year.

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#1 Best Question? “How do I get to the Apple Store?”

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#2 Best Question? “How do I get to 72ndstreet?”

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#1 Most Annoying? Have you ever heard that very strong Chicago accent that sounds like fingernails on a caulk board? Okay, so Windy City woman comes up to the kiosk and yells, “whyyyy is your maaaaaap freeee when your other kiosk made me paaaaay?” Then when I told her it wasn’t my kiosk and that we don’t charge for maps, she became indignant and blamed me.

I smiled and gave her free maaaaaaap.

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Most spoken foreign language? It is Succot in Israel, so you guessed it. More Hebrew than on an El Al flight to Tel Aviv.

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Visitors? None. Boo hoo

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#1 most asked question other than “where is Strawberry Fields?’ “Where is the concert?”