
Oftentimes I will see an establishment that has a horrible idea for a product or service or a really bad location. I don't like even looking into these places because they end up being so pathetic that I feel obligated to buy something out of pity. Everytime I see something along these lines I add it to what I call the Gallery of the pathetic. Some entries:
1. The City Mall in Orange, CA was closing down. There were only two shops left: (1) Mike's hand-dipped ice-cream bars and (2) The Cat Lover's Shop (featuring every cat statuette imaginable. In both establishments sad looking proprietors peered out of half darkened shops with pleading eyes. I was compelled to buy a severely freezer burned ice cream bar out of pity.
2. “Jell-o World” in a rough area of Arleta, CA. It was an apparent jell-o restaurant. I did not investigate further out of fear of being compelled to take home a jell-o casserole.
To all this I now add: The Santa Clarita Farmer’s Market. I had seen the advertisements and it being the end of summer, I thought it would be a nice way to spend an evening. When we arrived there were only a half dozen dried up looking stands at the far end of a vacant parking lot. I drove around the far side of the lot for a closer look. Imploring eyes stared vacantly from a mobile tamale stand and I saw there were only flowers and dried fruit. Well, I high-tailed it out of there because my family wouldn’t go for a dinner of tamales and a sack of dried fruit.






