When I was first dating my now wife, we used to go to something called a mall to people watch. We’d sit up on the upper level and watch people down below to see what they were doing, what stores they stopped at, the weird things they were wearing, etc. It was a nice way to spend no money while having some fun conversation and learning about each other.
I think it’s hilarious that anyone would equate this with staring at the secretary all day.