I don't love that this happens, but because I was in those trenches for many years I like to make my holiday shopping trips as pleasant as possible for the retail workers. I'll try to take up as much time with them as I can just shooting the shit and helping them relax a little or giving them knowing looks whenever some asshole engages them.
It's like on-the-job therapy.
It kind of looks like the road may have been resurfaced. The curbs at the bottom of the pillars look a little taller in the second picture.