Thursday, September 25, 2008

An Unruly Crowd



Here's a gem from my archives. There's a Hmong farmers who works a few stalls away from me at the Columbia City Market. A few years ago there was a situation where word seemed to be getting around in his community that he had the best stuff, so folks would line up outside his booth as he was setting up. He started hanging barricade tape along the entrance to his stall to keep people out until sales officially began.When the market managers rang the bell announcing that it was time to start shopping, everyone would rush in at once.

The market hires a rent-a-cop to deter theft. They started posting him by this farmer's booth at the beginning of the market. As you can see, he was about two feet taller than most of the people he was disciplining, but often when I looked over, he had his hands full.

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