Notes on the New Economy

[Marlow]

With the current economy, I keep waiting for the store and restaurant and movie crowds to diminish, so I can enjoy my outings in relative peace and quiet, but it ain't happening. But I have noticed something different, and only in the last six months. Service, that good old-fashioned desire by merchants to please the customer, has increased substantially. Waiters are friendlier and more earnest, retailers are eager to serve me, even the popcorn guy seems nicer.

Is it just me or has the New Economy had this new/old benefit? Are y'all seeing any other changes in your daily life?

[Daisy]

Re: Notes on the New Economy

Is it just me or has the New Economy had this new/old benefit? Are y'all seeing any other changes in your daily life?

None so far. If anything it seems that restaurants are busier. Possibly people are trading down from more luxurious outings?

[bad hammy]

I too have noticed the fact that money-spending crowds do not seemed to have shrunk, and also that service-based folks seem much more friendly and helpful. The first does not make much sense, whereas the second makes a lot of sense. Where I have seen crowds diminish is during rush-hour traffic. It is now quicker for me to take the freeway to and from work, whereas before the middle of last year it was quicker to take city streets. That may or may not have something to do with the run-up in gas prices last year, as opposed to the recession in general

[lonewolf]

Oklahoma has been a little smug that we were not as affected by the housing bubble and general economy decline as the national average.
What is now hurting Oklahoma and other oil patch areas is the drastic decline in oil and gas prices which puts us in the position of recouping investments made on the basis of $147/bbl oil out of $47/bbl oil and is causing industry layoffs with resultant decline in retail sales, restaurant and movie patroage, etc. .
I have not noticed any marked change in service but there is plenty of parking space in the mall parking lots