Fun with Chicago Place

My sister was complaining about this blog's recent slew of TV-themed entries, and with a new Lost coming this week there will probably be more soon, so let's break the monotony with an entry about work.

This entry isn't about work per se, since my job isn't particularly interesting and I really don't think it's in my best interest to go into specifics about where I'm working on a public blog - if you really need to know, you can IM or e-mail me for more. I assure you that you will not be interested, however.

What really made me want to write this entry was something I saw at Chicago Place today, which should at least give you a rough idea of where I work in the city. Chicago Place, for those who don't know, is an odd kind of mall - it's eight stories high, and there's a Saks Fifth Avenue on every floor except the top one, which is the food court (and a couple other random places). You can take the escalators up all eight floors, which I actually did on Monday when I was talking to Drew on the phone so that I wouldn't lose him in the elevator. The view from the non-express elevator, where you can see the entire bank of escalators as you go up, is pretty neat-looking.

Today I noticed the ATM to the west side of the food court. On its screen were the following words: "ATMs are a convenient way to access your account."

Does that seem odd? I mean, was this the first ATM ever made? Have you ever seen another ATM that was trying to publicize its purpose? Pretty much all of them just say "Insert card," which I think is about right. I mean, there can't be anyone left in the country at this point who doesn't at least know what an ATM is, even though I'm sure there are still a few people who have never actually used one. It's just explanatory overkill. This seems kind of like going into McDonald's and seeing a big sign on the door that says, "Restaurants are a convenient place to eat when you're not at your house."

While we're on the subject, what kind of name is "Chicago Place," anyway? Seems a little uninspired. Couldn't they have contracted this one out to a naming company or something? I bet the meeting went like this:

Exec 1: Okay, we've got this eight-floor mall on Michigan Avenue and we need a name for it. It has seven floors of Saks Fifth Avenue, if that helps.
Exec 2: How about "Stacks of Saks?"
Exec 1: Ehh... too narrow. There are other stores too. And a food court on the eighth floor.
Exec 2: Okay, how about "Food Court in the Sky?"
Exec 1: See, that still only encompasses one aspect of the mall. We need something simple and unifying, but catchy.
Exec 2: Simple yet catchy... wait a second. I think I've got it. What do we know about the mall?
Exec 1: Seven floors of...
Exec 2: Ah ah - simpler.
Exec 1: Um... it's in Chicago?
Exec 2: Right...
Exec 1: It's... a place... oh. Oh wow.
Exec 2: I know.
Exec 1: All right, that's out of the way.
Exec 2: What's next?
Exec 1: Um... [leafs through folder] Some place by the Water Tower.
Exec 2: Dude.