8 | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM
CITY VOICES LANDGREN WORCESTER VOTES TO LIFT MASK MANDATE
WORCESTERIA
There are still local businesses that provide a personal touch Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
HARVEY
Grandkids provide all the magic at Disney World Janice Harvey Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to have to paint it. — Steven Wright The older I get, the shorter my bucket list. Cross off Disney World. I have been to the mountain — Space Mountain, that is. That’s not entirely accurate. I climbed aboard a grand total of three rides during the six days spent in Orlando, thanks to my paralyzing fear of heights. Why, you ask, would a person terrifi ed of heights go to the ultimate theme park? Was it for the French fries? The funnel cakes? The popcorn? The
answer is simple: my kids. My Christmas/birthday/retirement gift from my daughter and her family was a trip to the place they adore. This was their fourth visit to the land of Mickey, and my daughter wanted me to experience the magic. I felt the magic when I realized that the room they rented at Disney resorts was a suite, and I had a bed and bath all to myself. With a door that locked. Planning a virgin trip to Disney World elicited from seasoned warriors grins and recommendations — and the same warning from all: “Bring good sneakers.” See GRANDKIDS, Page 9
A week or so ago, I found myself at the Natick Mall. After years of watching the Worcester area’s indoor malls decline into decrepitude, eventually to be shuttered, it was a tad surreal to see one packed with bustling stores and paying customers. Sadly, I found there was nothing there that particularly interested me. Maybe a few items at the Amazon Store, but I fi gured I could probably get them cheaper online. Uhm, on Amazon, I guess. I’ve never been a big shopper, but it seems I used to fi nd a few items of interests at malls. Now, it all seems so prepackaged and pedestrian. To be fair, it was always like that, but I guess my interests have diverged from what the corporate retail chains off er. I think a big part of that shift has been 20 years of living in Worcester. This was what was on my mind as I drove to Charlton at 8 a.m. on a recent morning to replace a tire that had two nails in it. It was irreparable, but I was covered by road hazard insurance, and the place I bought the tire from, Dick’s Tire Barn, has always been straight with me. I learned this lesson shortly after I fi rst moved to Worcester, when I went in looking to replace four tires, and got berated by Dick himself: “Why are you replacing these two tires? They’re perfectly good! These other two, yeah, but not these two!” I left with two fewer tires than I expected to buy, and he gained a customer for
A very good boy keeps Victor Infante company while he waits for his tire to be replaced at Dic’'s Tire Barn in Charlton. VICTOR D. INFANTE/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
life. Perhaps that’s what bugs me about corporate stores: They seem so impersonal. This seems self-evident – as much as Target wants us to have a personal relationship, it’s strictly business – but when you deal with a business that you DO have a personal relationship with, you can feel the diff erence. I’ll admit, I kind of feel like I have a relationship with the CVS pharmacy where I pick up my prescriptions, but that seems more an exception than a rule. I’ve kept the same mechanic for 20 years, and went to the same dentist for most of that, until he retired.
Another example: Grubhub and its ilk have served me well during the pandemic, but it pales before the experience of coming into Annie’s Clark Brunch on a busy weekday morning, and having owner Annie Jenkins remember your regular order … which isn’t actually on the menu anymore, but she makes it anyway. Or sometimes, just stopping to chat a minute with Fatima’s Café owners Fatima Mohamed and Omar Issa while picking up take-out. It’s the little interactions that make the diff erence between a transaction See PERSONAL, Page 10
