On her mind: musing about time (and jobs)

There is an argument floating in the World about New Yorkers not being nice or kind. It’s not about being either of those two items – it’s about time.  You may have heard the phrase “a New York minute” – that infers that one minute or 60 seconds for the World is actually 45 seconds  in New York.

It’s true.

dievca is more than happy to stop and give you directions somewhere – but know where you are going and state the destination clearly. If you are going to go through the niceties and say “what a gorgeous day” or “can you suggest?” – dievca is outta there and on to her next gig.

But, if you just want directions – a quick hit. she’s your dievca and she might even walk you to the subway if it is on her way.

This changes when dievca is in the Midwest.  she can say, “Hello” and she does. she will listen when you tell her that you were originally from Connecticut and you had a recent hospital stay. she understands that Sears is understaffed and is willing to help you set a new watch with the date/time for a gift while she waits in line. she will carry your stereo box out to the car because your upper body strength is gone and the guys in the back haven’t showed up. The two ladies were grateful and amazed. dievca was amazed, too.

What is the difference?

Time.

The experience caused dievca to think about businesses failing. Businesses not being able to get workers.  There are jobs out there — people just don’t want them. Who wants to work at Sears? It’s going under. What about serving an older population who doesn’t shop online. Remember when the Bag Boy would help you carry your groceries? Sears didn’t have enough workers to help, so dievca helped. Physical customer service is needed with an older population.

What happens in areas of the country where the older population is dying and the houses, businesses, churches fall empty?

Witness dievca’s photos of a former Catholic Church which has been a brewery in Pennsylvania for 20 years when they consolidated three Churches in a 10 block radius.  People donated for those stain glass windows and now they decorate a drinking establishment.
(Note: dievca saw mostly Irish names, so they might not mind…)

Who are the people who take the “undesirable” jobs (Sears, McDonald’s, cleaning pools, cleaning houses, elderly assistants, sanitation, etc.)

Who are the people who will move into poor and empty areas?

Who are the people who come with a dream to make their lives and the lives of their children better?

Hmmm, we went from time, to economic downturn, to social commentary.

And we have run out of time.