What is a hypermarket, you ask? Well, a hypermarket is like a very large and well-stocked Target. It has everything (or at least in theory) everything you could possibly need and find in place. Sort of like "one stop shopping" on steroids. You could buy things such as fresh shrimp, a roaster chicken, a bag of Oreos, a VCR, some new clothes, fresh sod, fresh baked bread, a box of motor oil, a ready-to-assemble coffee table or lawn edging. For some, the concept was wonderful. For others it was just too much or bizarre even.
I will be frank and say working there (the Houston location) was largely unpleasant. You could probably tell from my saying that that is also largely an understatement. It was hell, more or less. For many reasons other than an utter lack of interest, the store's upper management couldn't have assigned me a worse position. I wonder what would've happened if I was able to have articulate a more convincing plea. I had just picked up my life and my high hopes and within two weeks, I was stuck with it. There was no option for my returning to Chicago either.
I spent the little free time I had in the Montrose area (the cultural area), stocked up on art supplies and began putting together a graphic design portfolio. I had interviewed with Schlumberger (a dream come true) and started putting a new plan together. I went for sweaty mountain bike rides a lot (the humidity!) and saw a lot of armadillos and ice houses. I improved my guitar playing. I enjoy having an inground swimming pool. I met Andrea there.
Needless to say, within a year I (along with nearly the rest of the exhausted and bitter Chicago management team) returned to the Illinois and re-settled ourselves. Incredibly, three of my car's gears (1st, 3rd, and Reverse) went out just before I left and I drove--and made it all the way back-- to Chicago driving on only 2nd and 4th. I never quite appreciated "reverse" until I no longer had it. Maybe that sums up my Houston experience: No Reverse.
Here is what Auchan looks like today. It's a good enough photo essay on how Auchan's bad managerial karma caught up with it.
For those hot summer early evening bike rides, here is what I had for my mixes that I listened to on my cassette walkman (remember, this was 1991). I still listen to these records and still love them:
The Replacements - Don't Tell A Soul
Happy Mondays - Thrills, Pills And Bellyaches
The Charltans UK - Some Friendly
Ride - Nowhere
Deacon Blue - Fellow Hoodlums
I really don't feel the future unfolding in real time, but when I look back (as when I'm looking at this photo) it really does seem to have the feel of a hurricane force and just blows the past away. I see the halcyon highlights of sunlight around the building and it reminds me that tommorrow always promises something better. I took awhile to see evidence of it, but Chicago definitely had that waiting for me when I returned.
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