Don't They Know it's a Recession?
Don't They Know it's a Recession?
Don't They Know it's a Recession?
by Connie H. Deutsch
My state has always been known for being a couple of years behind the times and for its low salaries compared to the rest of the nation. Last night, I stopped in at a restaurant that, during the best of times, is fairly busy on the weekends but generally quiet during the rest of the week, and was surprised to see that the place was hopping.
I looked around and there were children of all ages, from about three years old to teenagers, sitting with their parents. No one was dressed as if they were there to celebrate an event; most of them were wearing very casual clothes. There was no wait staff carrying a small birthday cake with a candle to a customer's table and singing Happy Birthday to someone, so I couldn't even be tempted to sing along with them and watch the mass exodus as my singing cleared out the restaurant.
There wasn't even a clue as to why, at 8:30 p.m., during the middle of the week, there were so many people eating dinner at this restaurant. Most of them looked carefree as if they were having a good time. Even the little kids were well-behaved. As I looked around, I wondered if anyone realized that we are in a downturn economy because this was not a fast food place; it was a nice restaurant with linen napkins and servers who were bustling to take orders.
My sense of curiosity increased with each new patron who was seated at a table so I asked my waitress if they were always this busy. She told me they are and that this isn't unusual. I asked if the recession had hit them and she told me it did for a little while but now it's over.
When I speak to my clients from this country and from around the world, I know that this isn't true. Most people are still feeling the pinch of layoffs and downsizing and companies going out of business. For a while, I would pass by shopping centers where there were only a smattering of cars in the numerous parking lots. I would drive by restaurants and stores that had gone out of business and see what looked like ghost towns.
So, what is causing this turnabout? The nearest I can figure is that people are tired of having no money and being worried about a very uncertain future. I saw a lot of credit cards coming out to pay for the dinners so I guess that many of the diners are back to using their credit cards for things that aren't absolutely necessary. They are tired of being depressed and they need something to lift their spirits.
I also wonder if the natural disasters and toppling governments that seem to be increasing around the world aren't playing some small part in people saying, "The hell with this, we may not be here next week so we might as well enjoy today."
And who knows if they are right. We are all watching the tragedy that is going on in Japan. It was bad enough to see the earthquake, followed by a tsunami of mammoth proportion, but now we're witnessing the worst of it with radiation levels in food and drinking water that are too high for children. We must also assume that if they are too high for children, they are also too high for the elderly. And how about them being too high for people with food allergies and with environmental sensitivities?
In this country, 12,000 miles away from Japan, the west coast and a few states inland, have picked up low levels (if that estimate is even to be believed) of radiation that are airborne. And now, today, we hear that the quakes are continuing in Asia, with two 7.0 earthquakes striking northeast Myanmar, close to the Thai and Laotian borders.
Is it any wonder that people are depressed and wanting to feel good about something? When I think about the people sitting in that restaurant looking as if they didn't have a care in the world, I wonder if it is any mystery that we're seeing the rebirth of the ancient Greek Epicurean philosophy, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow may never come."
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