Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of most of the southeast portion of state brought in an untold number of residents to all parts north. Most of them, as we all know, seem to have ended up in Baton Rouge.
Among the displacement that followed the storm, Baton Rouge saw a wave of fear pass through, unsurpassed by anything in recent years. Store hours were cut back, Wal-Mart on College Drive removed its guns and ammunition from the racks and people began to be more and more wary of the supposed criminal elements.
We wish to focus, briefly, on the fact that despite fears of civil disorder having passed, many local stores, including the Wal-Mart, several restaurants and other areas of interest to students are now closing much earlier than they used to.
It is no secret that University students are night owls. With few responsibilities outside of their classes, they tend to spend a good deal of time most others would normally spend sleeping out and about. As such, only a few students have never gone on a fabled late night run to Jack in the Box or Wal-Mart – usually attempting to pick up some vague but life-altering item of critical importance.
In short, late night runs are a miniature version of the road trip.
This staple of college life is threatened, however, by early closing times. While we grant the need to protect store employees – working the late shift at any store always has its risks – we would hope that those in management would also seek to best serve their customers.
While these limitations made more sense when Baton Rouge’s roads were clogged and stress levels were high, these closing times are now unnecessary and impediments to living a normal life.
Yes, we are being somewhat selfish in our desire to have a full range of late night shopping options in front of us. We do not ask anyone to unnecessarily risk their lives for our desire for a late night burger, or our sudden need to pick up a box of envelopes. Instead, we merely wish to be able to conduct our lives as we are accustomed to, returning to the promised normalcy of so many politicians. After all, what is college without that 3 a.m. run for an Icee and three 100 count packs of Post-its?