The Mezzanine: Curiously Captivating CVS

First and foremost, welcome to my wonderful blog where I will divulge the oh so interesting thoughts of your favorite breakfast potato, me of course. (If you aren’t aware what the breakfast potato references to, it comes from my last name, Hashash, which suspiciously sounds like the savory fried potato we indulge in during breakfast, a hashbrown. Who knows, perhaps my ancestors were among the first hashbrowneers.)

Without further ado I would like to introduce the topic which I will be discussing, the luxurious department store of CVS (or rather how our favorite office worker, Howie, experiences CVS). The following passage sets the scene which Howie is in:

This was the kind of important and secretive product that CVS stores sold - they were a whole chain dedicated to the making available the small, expensive, highly specialized items that readied human bodies for human civilization. Men and women eyed each other strangely here - unusual forces of attraction and furtiveness were at work. Things were for sale whose use demanded nudity and privacy. It was more of a woman's store than a man's store, but men were allowed to roam with complete freedom past shelves that glowed with low but measurable curie-levels of luridness. (113)

Undoubtedly CVS stores were different in the 1980s than they are now, I imagine cleaner and more respected in a way. However, the way Howie takes in the store is a perfect description of the hodgepodge of items sold there and the not-quite-right vibe you get from shopping in convenience stores. Howie still highlights a feeling of honor towards CVS because he specifically uses the word “dedicated” to describe what CVS offers to the public. The items sold there are described by him to be necessities towards achieving human civilization.  

Howie takes it one step further by perceiving the feelings and actions of the people in the CVS with him. As brought up in class, Howie seems to overthink other people’s actions and social interactions, and he is doing just this in the CVS. The unusual tension between men and women is so noticeable to Howie that it almost seems tangible to him. Howie also points out the interesting dynamic could be formed by the items listed for sale at the store, bringing up another strong character trait of Howie seen throughout this book. Howie focuses on and points out the overlooked. I, for one, can definitely relate to the strange feeling you can get within a CVS store, but never cared to think about what caused it or why, whereas that is Howie’s first instinct. 

The way he also points out that he feels that CVS is more of a woman’s store but men are “allowed” to roam the aisles is interesting, showing off his skill of reading rooms with impeccable detail. He didn’t go further into why he thought it was more of a woman’s store but I have no doubt he already thought of it another time. The observation also had me chuckling at memories of times at the mall where I would see girls shopping with their boyfriends or fathers just awkwardly standing next to them because they were in a woman’s store.