Sorry in advance for the lengthy post. Sometimes I make a post where I'm just thinking by typing. I know that most people are kept in the dark by the media and that it takes a certain kind of person to see beyond the mainstream narrative. But lately it seems like we've entered a truly dark and bizarre time and that most people, even some on our side, aren't aware of the gravity of the situation that we're ALREADY IN. My examples may seem minor, but when you consider what's behind them, they're a sign of a much scarier problem.
I was talking with my husband the other day about the fact that no restaurants in our immediate area are open for dinner anymore. We recently chatted with the owner of a diner we like in our town, and she said that they barely have enough employees to operate for breakfast and lunch, and that they can no longer get anyone to work at night. This all changed during the original 2020 lockdowns, of course, and never went back to normal. All the workers in her kitchen that day were white. (I make this point for a reason to come.)
And it's the same across our entire region. Even restaurants that are popular and busy and located in touristy areas are struggling to stay open for all their shifts. Smaller places are only open until one or two in the afternoon.
It's the same across retail. Stores are always operating on a skeleton crew and have signs up that they're hiring all the time.
I went to a county job fair recently and accepted a position. I was one of two people at the fair when I went. And there were dozens of jobs available with this employer. Since it's with the county, the benefits are good and these jobs would have been in high demand at one point. But they were practically begging me to work there, when just a few years ago, I would have been the one trying to sell my skills to them. No longer.
At my husband's job, they're having to hire people from other states to come and work because no one in the area is applying for jobs, and they're constantly understaffed and behind on projects because of it.
But when you hear the news, they say that employment rates are great under Biden. Other news sources say that many people are working two or more jobs now to make ends meet. Then you hear people talking about how no one is working anymore, despite the fact that inflation is skyrocketing and food and rent are damn near impossible to cover now for most middle-class people. None of this adds up, of course.
The creepiest thing, though, is that my husband's aunt recently lost her father. He was 99 and had dementia, so it was expected. However, the family told us this week that he won't be cremated until February because the funeral home has a waitlist for cremations. Why? "Oh, they're just really busy this time of year because of the flu and all." Yeah. That makes sense. Totally normal.
So, a lot of people think that mass deaths of the vaccinated are coming, but I think that we're already there and that the media is doing everything possible to ignore the problem. I don't think that this entirely explains the lack of interest in jobs, though. I tend to think that there is a mass depression event happening among Americans, particularly young ones who were told of a certain American dream that ain't never happening for them. They'd rather take side jobs delivering packages or groceries than get a full-time job or career because they just can't face the world and what modern American adulthood means today. Whatever the case may be, the reality of the NOW is bleak.
Side note. We hear of these loads of illegals coming every day. It used to be that you'd see Mexicans working in kitchens and dish rooms at pretty much every restaurant, but now, at least where I live, you never see that. Is all this hype about illegals also a lie? Where are THEY getting the money to survive and pay for all their kids and family? Another example. We have a lot of Mexicans in our small town, but again, you never see them working in public places anymore. However, yesterday, we needed some chile peppers for a recipe so we stopped in a small local Mexican supermarket. The doors were locked. As we were driving away, the lady came running out and opened the doors for us, so we went in. She had the bare minimum available for sale and could barely speak English. The whole place was dirty and in disrepair. She kept complaining about being "so cold." She didn't sell peppers or any produce at all, but I felt bad for her so we bought a bag of chips. She only accepted cash, no cards at all, and yet her signs out front promoted sending money home to Mexico. It was just an odd experience. When we left, she locked the doors back. It felt like something out of an apocalyptic movie. This is not our America anymore.
Just thoughts I've been having lately. Nothing is as it seems. More than ever before, our minds are being manipulated on the daily, even by sources we may trust. All I know is that it's never been more important to get yourself prepared and to keep your health up. There was a story on Yahoo (lol) this morning saying that bread will become scarce this coming year (muh Ukraine war), as well as pet food and canned goods. If Yahoo is saying that, shit is getting real. I feel like we're entering a post-modern American hellscape movie and the sad thing is that very few people can see it or will ever admit it to themselves. Bread and circuses, dog and pony shows, muh racism and muh drag queen story hours, all as we careen off the cliff of our flimsy false Satanic reality. It's crashing down, and I wonder how many will choose to ever open their eyes again when we hit the ground.
I relocated from very blue state in New England to a red state in the South and my experience so far…. 20+ years in restaurants/hospitality and I refused to go back post lockdown. They ruined the industry. Most successful food businesses have only a 3% profit margin, that was before inflation. It probably costs too much to keep the lights on. Lunch is more consistent in that the elderly lunch, workers lunch, lunch portions are more affordable and the time slot is smaller for maximum profit. When I moved here the scene was night and day so I pivoted. I was hired in a commission/sales job but quickly realized that industry, high end furniture, was great the year prior during the mass relocation Covid lockdowns caused but disposable income for what I was selling had all but dried up. I entered insurance, small company hired me and then laid me off 6mo later. They grew too quickly and profits weren’t there. Now I’m with a nationwide company and it took me 6 weeks of constant application filling. Every app takes a minimum of 30 mins to fill out because it’s all online. Retail and fast food opportunities? Minimum wage, part time hours (don’t want to pay insurance for full time) but those part time hours (2-3 days a week) were not set and constantly changed week to week so you can’t really stack two jobs. 3 interviews with one company that couldn’t pull the trigger until the new year started interviewing me in November and went weeks between following up. This is just my personal journey but it was not easy and very discouraging. I felt depressed and worthless. I couldn’t get a job a Hobby Lobbby “we get approximately 20 applications a week and we only start at 2, maybe 3 days a week” I heard that over and over again. It’s being done by design I have no doubt in my mind.
I got out of the donut business just before Covid. We were high end donut makes where most of our business was wholesale and event retail. At the time we charged $3.50 for an average filled donut. To make the same margins now, I would have to charge $8.00 for that same donut. The increases would be mostly attributed to eggs and butter skyrocketing prices. We'd have never made it through Covid anyway.
A couple pastry shops in Utah said the same thing. I considered selling some candies online, and looking at the prices for products I have made for the past 20 years, I just can't imagine that I could make it work.
$80 just to make 8lb of gift fudge (half my ingredients were 30%-50% off retail). A couple years ago it was under $30. Knowing what I do about wholesale prices of those same products, it would still be about $60 (before about $25-$35 depending on my volume).
I really like my traditions & neighbors 😊