Having the mall be pretty dead would solve this problem. A sort of surreal situation where there are very few customers, and yet the stores are still open for some reason, so the employees can all mingle.
On an unrelated note, someone mentioned, on another site, secret shoppers. I could totally write an episode where the main group thinks the secret shopper is a Russian spy.
Yes, a mall with almost no business, where the bosses are incompetent and employees find all kinds of excuses to visit each other in other stores.
Yup. I want to be able to have the main group pretty much have complete-ish autonomy. They can have a race, a bodybuilding competition, a weld-off (welding), whatever weird thing it is they're doing that week. I could definitely make lunch breaks a big part of this all, much like how the study room is a big part of Community.
I'm just having trouble fleshing out my main character now. I was thinking of making him like the following: Spoiler: MC Guy tries to act really cool. Exaggerates about everything to sound cool/fit in. Obsessed with rock n' roll, possibly (?) wears a leather jacket everywhere. Every week or two, he's constantly trying out some new hobby or something, convinced that THAT is what he wants to do with his life. Rebel rouser, narcissistic, always inciting protest, doesn't like rules. Maybe some passing hobbies include being a hair metal singer, being a tradesman/weldor, being a doctor, being a rancher/cowboy, being a rollerblader, being a CEO, being an inventor (parabolic urinal), being a writer/poet, being a standup comedian, being an actor, being a breakdancer, being a bodybuilder, being a porn director, being in a motorcycle gang, being a swimmer ("he's like a fish!"), cult leader, master distiller, human statue/nude model, repo man ("this is all our domain, as far as the eye can see." "Maybe YOUR eyes. MY eyes are perfect."), a sugar baby, etc. But I was thinking that maybe I should just split this character into two, where the main guy tries to be cool, is narcissistic, etc., and the other guy is the dude that always decides he wants to be something else. A Jeff and Abed of sorts.