We were shopping in a nearby smallish town yesterday and were riding the escalator to the second floor of a store. It was a standard escalator setup in an X shape with the up on one side and the down on the other. It was an open design were you could see the up from the down side.
We encountered clear sign that young people don't go to stores much anymore. As we were getting to the top of the escalator there was a large group of young teen girls gathered and most of them were looking at the top of the escalator. As we got to the top I heard one of them ask someone "How do we get back down?"
It looked like they were doing some sort of scavenger hunt and had never been on an escalator before. And apparently didn't notice that on the other side the steps were moving the other direction....
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*This picture is from the old days when stores were loaded with merchandise, there isn't even anything stacked at the top to block any of their view now.