I guess some people reading complaints about Tinseltown are surprised, but for many of us, these revelations are just another “duh” moment.

There is absolutely no doubt that the Fayette County area has changed dramatically in just the past two years.

Tinseltown used to be the place to go to enjoy an evening out. My friends and I enjoy going to the movies and many of us have tried to “hang in there” to support our local theater. After bad experiences time and time again, we finally just gave up and started going elsewhere.

Tinseltown is nasty. Not even considering the mice, there is trash all over the floors and sticky stuff all over the seats. The ticket sellers are often curt and the concession people just take your money with only a grunt and an attitude.

With the prices any theater charges for refreshments, the service ought to be the best of the best. It is scary to stand outside waiting to get inside because there are questionable types hanging all over, usually in groups. It is even scarier to exit the theater in the dark.

The patrons of that theater have changed from those who sit and enjoy a movie to those who bring their small children in with Happy Meals. They run around during the movie, chatter and whine while they eat their food and throw it on the floor.

Behind you, groups of people sit together, talking loudly and making rude comments throughout the movie. Like as not, someone will take or make a cell phone call and have a loud conversation right then and there.

Much of the clientele of Tinseltown these days just doesn’t know how to act in public.

The recent movie offerings are also questionable. Granted, there are different segments of the public who enjoy different kinds of movies, but lately Tinseltown doesn’t seem to offer much of a choice.

Sad. Tinseltown was convenient, enjoyable, a pleasant experience and a nice evening out.

But why just pick on Tinseltown? Many of the stores in the Pavilion are moving in the same direction. Been to Ross lately? The place is unkempt and many of the employees are surly, if not downright rude.

I watched one day as the woman watching the dressing rooms argued with a customer about where she could put her cart. The customer moved the cart three different times and the Ross employee kept after her in a very condescending and threatening tone.

If you’ve been there, you know that there are not a lot of places to wait on someone with a cart. Conversely, it seemed to be okay on that day for some other customers to leave their carts and their screaming kids right in the middle of the aisle while they picked through the rough and tumble racks in another aisle.

That was the day that I decided that I didn’t need to go to Ross at the Pavilion again. Marshall’s, TJ Maxx and Wal-Mart are better, but not much. All of this makes a shopping experience much less than pleasant.

These days I go to Newnan and shopping there is a significantly more positive than shopping at The Pavilion. Again, sad. It used to be nice.

Places like Tinseltown, Ross, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, the chain restaurants and others make their decisions about who to hire in management from afar, and often they place someone in the lead position who is ill-fitted to manage and hire for the local target base.

These poorly placed managers perpetuate the poor corporate decision by lowering standards, hiring their friends and associates, and all this eventually turns off the kinds of profitable customers that corporate intended to attract in the first place.

Tinseltown is a prime example of a well-located venue that was probably a gold mine at one point. An internal investigation of what’s going on there would tell the owners just what needs to be done. Instead, they will assess from afar, blame a deteriorating area for their decline, and thereby contribute to the deterioration by allowing current conditions to turn away profitable business until the place is boarded up.

No business that wants to offer good entertainment and make money would allow the filth, the loitering, the mice, the employee attitude and the conduct that is now prevalent at Tinseltown.

Tinseltown in particular and The Pavilion in general is overcome by those who did not come to enjoy a movie or to shop, but who have come just to hang around. Many local residents no longer go to The Pavilion.

How many are going to continue going to gas stations where they are stabbed by hoodlums, fast food restaurants where the parking lot is full of people just hanging around, and grocery stores where they can’t shop without worrying about whether their car is safe in the parking lot?

And how many are going to continue using restaurants where the service is poor and the floors are littered with debris?

There are still businesses in Fayetteville that do it right, but they are being impacted by the poorly managed stores as well just because many people are choosing not to be in the area anymore.

All of Fayette County is changing and it is up to all citizens to remain vigilant, protective and alert. I am guilty of just “moving on” when I am dissatisfied instead of complaining or pointing out things that are unacceptable to me. Like most citizens, I feel like it will just fall on deaf ears and will do no good anyway.

Like the couple who complained about being accosted at Tinseltown, I have voiced an opinion in the past and have been made to feel like I was just being unreasonable or demanding. I have thought about writing my opinion on several occasions, but didn’t. Who wants to hear my gripes?

Maybe it is time that many of us change our responses to those negative things that are happening in our backyard. I have seen apathy and a “mind your own business and just let it all happen” attitude add to the demise of nice areas before. Maybe it is time to take a stand or two before we all become swallowed up or chased off.

R. Ferguson

ralphferguson44 (at) bellsouth.net