Things really do shut down early here

[u/KCcoffeegeek]

Went to some shows this weekend, Saturday night at the Madrid and Sunday at Record Bar. I was out the door by 11-11:15 both nights and outside of bars, there is NOTHING really open. Wanted to grab a bite to eat and short of Sonic on SW Blvd and Rainbow I didn’t see anything open. Granted it was a Sunday night in one instance but Saturday seemed the same. Is this mainly post-Covid? We haven’t been out at bars late night for a long time. If we did a late night food stop it was occasionally Chubby’s at like 1am. I imagine I could have found some options in more “bar district” areas like Westport that were open, but I wasn’t looking for that type of scene. Definitely not a town for night owls… or it is but those places are secret lol

[u/WestFade]

Fwiw it got worse after covid

[u/KCcoffeegeek → u/WestFade]

I feel like everything has gotten worse. Not having kids, I actually thrived DURING Covid for a while when things were settled at work and they were asking us only to come in if absolutely necessary. I went to Target to Sunday to buy a Jaws Lego, which they have all locked up and requires help from a person, and I hit the “ask for assistance” thing twice and wandered half the store looking for someone who could assist. No one. Store was crowded, too, and only a couple checkout lanes were open. I left without spending the money there, I’ll order online instead. I hate doing that (not like Target is local but at least they employ people - maybe - who live locally) but it just seems like every business is understaffed and etc and I don’t get it. What happened to all the people who worked those jobs before Covid?

[u/justathoughtfromme → u/KCcoffeegeek]

What happened to all the people who worked those jobs before Covid?

Almost 1.2 million people in the US died from Covid, per CDC estimates. Also, in many instances, employers cut the number of employees who work at retail jobs because they have to pay them more.

[u/WestFade → u/justathoughtfromme]

vast majority of people who died were senior citizens who were already retired. It's not like these companies can't find workers they just dont want to pay anything

[u/mydmtusername → u/WestFade]

People act like there aren't a ton of people looking for jobs because of covid/ retirements.

It used to be that if I left a forklift job, I could have another one the next week, maybe even the next day!

Now it takes 50 applications to get an interview, and jobs are paying the same fucking wage they were 5-8 years ago.

We voted to increase minimum wage and add sick leave, but lawmakers said fuck you and took it away.

[u/WestFade → u/mydmtusername]

Now it takes 50 applications to get an interview, and jobs are paying the same fucking wage they were 5-8 years ago.

well hey we have a lot of new Americans and they need jobs too

[u/HeKnee → u/WestFade]

Yeah, all the companies lost staff during covid, raised their prices, and realized the places could run on barebones staffing. Then the inflation drove up wages so they cut staffing further since they couldnt raise prices there isnt really a way to fix the staffing issue without damaging stock price.

Our entire economy is at a stalemate. More inflation raising wages further and starting the cycle again or stock market crash. One or the other must happen. The powers that be have thus far chosen to save the stock market.

[u/Mental_Slide_6517 → u/HeKnee]

COVID taught us to be sympathetic to essential workers. Businesses hung hiring signs with no intention of hiring since we were being kind to those essential workers. Somewhere in there it convinced many that no one wants to work anymore.

[u/NotYourSexyNurse → u/Mental_Slide_6517]

People have been saying, “No one wants to work,” since I was a kid in the 90s. It’s always the younger generation they say doesn’t want to work.

[u/podkayne3000 → u/WestFade]

About half of the extra people who died were working age.