That time of year again

It's hot tonight.
Too hot for talkin'
It's hot tonight.

Alright, I took some dramatic license. It'll take a few more months before I'm due to endure temperatures fit to dissolve my arse into my seat like icing on a cake just removed from the oven. Good song though.

The thermometer has risen enough however to bring the critters out from wherever they have weathered the chill winter. Nothing like a spot of bright and sunny weather to entice the pests into swarming. For the store, that means the cardinal trio of hookers, tweakers, and vagrants.

This does not mean that my store is a breeding ground or natural habitat for such urban wildlife. Quite honestly, these species will flourish in any location that allows them to take root. If you spend some time looking, you'll probably be surprised by what habitats support thriving populations of these opportunistic varieties. In fact, I would hazard that any reputable adult store would support much lighter population density than would be expected at first glance.

But this is springtime, and as with most of nature, it brings with it an influx of the young, inexperienced, and displaced. They anticipate finding prey and shelter on the verges of established territories before continuing their dispersal to other environs or taking over another's territory. An adult store makes for a very tempting niche. Most importantly, there is a flow of cash, primarily small bills and change to potentially graze from. None of these species are strong enough to bring down larger and more robust denominations and content themselves on scavenging the scraps or smaller, weaker bills. The second influence is a perception of cover, of being able to escape notice of enemy species. For vagrants, they seek to trade on the nature of adult store employees to accept customers of varied social backgrounds and appearance. Streetwalkers trade on the hope that they can divert people with sex already on their minds. Tweakers hope that their behaviors will blend in amidst the scope of consumer habits.

However, the environment is not the paradise it would look to be. All three species are invasive and parasitic. They can burgeon rapidly until they collapse the very ecosystem they depend upon. Thus, the adult store employees diligently defend their borders, keeping their little waterhole attractive and inviting. At the same time, specialist predatory species such as police, often patrol the edges of the territory because even if their prey is not plentiful, it is harder for it to hide. The experienced individuals know that their perceived feeling of concealment is greater than reality, thereby limiting their time in my territory outside of safer pastures.

Thus spring marks the beginning of the culling. The stupid and unwary shall be predated. Life shall continue.

Until that time, I have a lot of new faces and butts to kick.

*"It's Hot Tonight" - Alice Cooper