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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Friday Evening ‘Fruits of Their Labor ‘Open Thread: The Secret Is Leaking Out

Friday Evening ‘Fruits of Their Labor ‘Open Thread: The Secret Is Leaking Out

by Anne Laurie|  May 21, 20214:55 pm| 158 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

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“Worker short­ages af­fect­ing many re­tail­ers and restau­rants aren’t be­ing felt at Tar­get, Mr. Cor­nell said, be­cause of wage in­vest­ments and other worker ben­e­fits. Tar­get raised pay for hourly work­ers to at least $15 an hour last year.” https://t.co/iPG4BJwoHY

— John Dickerson (@jdickerson) May 19, 2021

The Wall Street Journal is shocked, shocked — companies that pay competitive wages draw the best, loyalest hires!

Of course they knew that worked for MBAs, but who would have suspected even lowly wage serfs were capable of such motivated reasoning?

After raising employee wages to $15/hour, Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor in Pittsburgh received “well over 1,000 applications” for job openings.

Co-owner Jacob Hanchar says customer service has improved and he hasn’t “noticed a difference on our bottom line.”https://t.co/9GaJOSi7ef

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 19, 2021

It’s a second pandemic, practically!

Bank of America is going to raise their minimum wage to $25/hr.

Also, they’re going to require their vendors pay at least $15/hr.#Progress #LivingWage https://t.co/1qHevAwUIO

— Ethan Bearman (@EthanBearman) May 18, 2021

One of the great things about capitalism is that it offers a simple solution for “labor shortages”: Pay workers more.
Right now, corporate profits are historically high, and wages are historically low. https://t.co/QcaF6A0hMf pic.twitter.com/A4pqMOb5qM

— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) May 20, 2021

Sidebar: Nobody wants to be the first mover here, but yeah, most current restaurant portion sizes are ridiculous:

just reduce the portion sizes https://t.co/ik6fMjOrhE

— boneless homeboys (@Theophite) May 19, 2021

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Reader Interactions

158Comments

  1. 1.

    Edmund Dantes

    May 21, 2021 at 5:04 pm

    What sorcery is this? You increase pay and it increases supply of workers? What fantasyland have I fallen into?

  2. 2.

    germy

    May 21, 2021 at 5:06 pm

    @Edmund Dantes:

    We’re through the looking glass, people.

  3. 3.

    misterpuff

    May 21, 2021 at 5:08 pm

    This breaks the unwritten rules of Baseball, Capitalism and especially Business Journalism (where working scribes affect the thought processes of their rich masters and do little journalism).

  4. 4.

    guachi

    May 21, 2021 at 5:16 pm

    I bought some Target stock last week. They had an awesome quarter and the stock jumped 5% in one day.

    I guess higher wages aren’t a bad thing if a company is willing to pay them in a growing economy.

  5. 5.

    Old School

    May 21, 2021 at 5:16 pm

    Today’s Tom the Dancing Bug

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    May 21, 2021 at 5:19 pm

    Saw an article in the Washington Post about how Mar-A-Loser is billing the Secret Service almost $400 per day for a single office space for them to use.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    May 21, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    Funny, isn’t it, how in the eyes of CEOs CEOs are essential and need to be “paid what they’re worth” lest they take their essentialness elsewhere, yet God forbid line workers dare desire the same.

  8. 8.

    MomSense

    May 21, 2021 at 5:23 pm

    The expanded UI has made it possible for workers to engage in something similar to collective bargaining.  They don’t have to take the low wage job and the employers have to bring better offers to the table.  No wonder TX and some other backwater states are so determined not to participate.

  9. 9.

    mali muso

    May 21, 2021 at 5:23 pm

    Target got a LOT of my money during the pandemic due to their very user friendly app that lets me order, pay and within 2 hours, drive up and someone comes out and puts my order in my trunk.  No added fee.  Yeah, a lot of my money.

    And Costco…they’ve been paying their people fair wages for years.  And I believe they still turn a profit…place is always busy.  whocouldaknown.

  10. 10.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 21, 2021 at 5:28 pm

    I had an ultrasound of my carotid arteries on Wednesday and was supposed to get the results today. It’s 4:30 and my doc hasn’t called yet. I’m a little worried this means the results were bad so he can’t delegate the new to the nurse.

  11. 11.

    Bruuuuce

    May 21, 2021 at 5:31 pm

    BJs also has gotten a great deal of our business this last year, because their pay rates are fair (not quite, I think, as good as Costco’s but still a living-plus wage). (BJs over Costco because our local Costco brick and mortar is not at all convenient, while BJs has several quite convenient locations. Otherwise it’d be Costco.)

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 21, 2021 at 5:32 pm

    @mali muso: I went to Costco yesterday, it was pretty busy.

  13. 13.

    Bruuuuce

    May 21, 2021 at 5:33 pm

    In other news, Joe Manchin calls increasingly likely GOP filibuster of Jan. 6 commission ‘so disheartening’. If only there was something he could DO about it, instead of waiting for a purple sparkly unicorn kitten to appear and make it better. He’s clearly the Dems’ answer to Susan Collins.

  14. 14.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 21, 2021 at 5:35 pm

    We are gonna see some bizarre price fluctuations in the coming months (slash right this second), hopefully nothing too permanent. One, because it’ll hurt people, and two, because people will blame government spending.

  15. 15.

    Joy in FL

    May 21, 2021 at 5:35 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Whenever you find out, I hope it is ok.

  16. 16.

    New Deal democrat

    May 21, 2021 at 5:39 pm

    If increased unemployment benefits were the reason for April’s “disappointing” 266,000 jobs added, then the lowest wage jobs would have had the most shortfall.

    That wasn’t the case. Multiple analyses have indicated that it was mid-wage, not low-wage, jobs that had the most shortfall. The increased benefits apparently *did* have some effect, but weren’t the primary driver.

    Also, if you’ve been following along, RWers are citing the huge increase in job openings from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) report released last week. But here’s the kicker: that report was for *March,* the month in which 766,000 jobs were added.

    Employers have been conditioned by the past 40 years that they can deliver ever lower wage increases, and increasingly cr*ppy conditions, and get away with it. A change in fundamental conditions is always a jolt. Aw shucks.

  17. 17.

    japa21

    May 21, 2021 at 5:40 pm

    @mali muso:  I was going to bring up Costco. Analysts have always been down on Costco because 1) they paid better than any of their competitors and 2) offered benefits even to part time people. It took a while to realize that both those things resulted in higher productivity, lower turnover and reduced training costs. Duh!

  18. 18.

    MomSense

    May 21, 2021 at 5:42 pm

    They may have just left early for the day.  Whatever it is we will be here and rooting for you!

  19. 19.

    Darkrose

    May 21, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    The reason restaurant portions are so big is because the expectation is that you’ll take food home. The problem is that so many of us were raised with the idea that we have to eat everything that’s put in front of us, we force ourselves to eat past the point of fullness. The tension between the “Clean Plate Club” and my mother constantly harping on my weight growing up is why I have such a fucked-up relationship with food, and I know I’m not the only one.

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    May 21, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I would call the office before 5:00 and ask about it. Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle and someone should be able to at least let you know if the call is coming today.

  21. 21.

    mali muso

    May 21, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    @japa21: I know the employees at my local Costco because they have been there for YEARS.  They tend to stay; very low turnover.  I saw the founder and then-CEO (now retired) speak at a local business school function, and he was very much of the “pay fair wages, give good value in products, and no need for ridiculous CEO compensation”.

  22. 22.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 21, 2021 at 5:56 pm

    @mali muso:

     “pay fair wages, give good value in products, and no need for ridiculous CEO compensation”.

    Now that’s just crazy talk.

  23. 23.

    Feathers

    May 21, 2021 at 5:56 pm

    I let my Amazon Prime go because it was just too expensive. It’s also full of so much scammy garbage and the shipping seriously degraded once they took it in-house. Couldn’t even track it anymore.

    I’ve found the same sorts of stuff I can’t find locally online at Target, at higher quality and lower prices than Amazon. I don’t have a car, but I can either have it shipped or sent to my local store if it is something I want to look at first.

  24. 24.

    JaneE

    May 21, 2021 at 6:00 pm

    There is a hole-in-the-wall Thai place near me that is run by an 83 year old cook.  He barely speaks English.  Each entree is easily enough for 4 servings.  $8 with any meat, shrimp $1 more. Mostly a can of soda or bottle of water are free, but if his niece is there to do the check she charges $1 each.  I don’t know how he stays in business.  That is the only place I routinely tip 100%.  Well worth twice what he charges.

    In general the portions could be reduced a lot.  Or people could pay what it costs.

    Over the years I have seen restaurants raise prices or go to cheaper ingredients to keep their profits up.  I even saw one that went the cheaper route and then reversed to bring back better quality with higher prices.  There may be an exception I can’t think of now, but it sure seems like the ones that go with cheaper go out of business and the others stay open.

    Fast food chains have their value deals for people who only care about quantity for the price, but most have their names on the stuff that costs 7-10 dollars a pop.  If everything goes up 5 % most of their customers will still be there.  They will still have a range of prices to choose from.

  25. 25.

    pluky

    May 21, 2021 at 6:01 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Could be they’re backed up with people getting procedures put off due to the pandemic. Breathe, stay in the moment, and don’t project the worst unnecessarily.

  26. 26.

    JoyceH

    May 21, 2021 at 6:03 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: my sense of those tests that are done in the specialists’ practice (and not at some remote Imaging Center) is that if the tech doing the test sees something worrisome, they call a doctor to look at the results before you leave. At least that’s the way my cardiologist’s office does it. They tell me that I’ll get results in the mail and doctor will discuss with me at next visit. I ask, “But I can take comfort in the fact that you’re letting me leave before the doctor reviews the results?” and they say yeah. They can’t really tell you the results, but they know. And no news is good news.

  27. 27.

    cckids

    May 21, 2021 at 6:05 pm

    Something I rarely see addressed is also employer’s ridiculous demands for employee availability. At the Kroger store where I have my part-time job, we badly need employees; pay isn’t so much the issue (you start at $15.50-ish, which jumps to $20.60 after 3 months, benefits are quite good too, because it’s a union job). But management won’t hire people who can’t commit to working at least 5-6 days/evenings a week; including Friday-Sunday.

    It’s insane, it eliminates most people with kids (certainly any single people with kids), and also lots of people who  need public transportation. IDK how it is elsewhere, but in Seattle/King County, the bus system isn’t back to full schedules yet.

    So we struggle on, overstretched and stressed out, pissing customers off every day because of lines.

    It also doesn’t help that a number of Asian-American cashiers have switched to other, less customer-facing departments because of unrelenting racism from customers. The pandemic  plus Trump has really highlighted the ugly underbelly of white America.

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    May 21, 2021 at 6:06 pm

    @Darkrose: holla

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    May 21, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Or they are good, so he isn’t in a rush to call.

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    May 21, 2021 at 6:16 pm

    OT but quite striking: on the Fox News dot com homepage, the top story’s headline is (paraphrasing) “Liz Cheney denies being the one who slimed her primary challenger”

    The primary challenger is the guy who at 18 got his 14-year-old girlfriend pregnant.  He called it a “Romeo and Juliet” story.  Yes, really.  Ugh.

    But hey, way to make Liz the issue, Fox!

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 21, 2021 at 6:17 pm

    Gosh! Who woulda thunk that the free market applies to labor, too?

    Well, some obscure fuckin’ Scotsman that greedsters wear ties with his image on them wrote about this 245 motherfuckin’ years ago!

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 21, 2021 at 6:17 pm

    I’ve mentioned a couple of days ago, that I was in my local Wal-Mart and it’s offering $17.50/hr for third-shift shelf stockers. Yes, it’s third shift, but it’s a full-time job with regular hours.

  33. 33.

    Cameron

    May 21, 2021 at 6:18 pm

    @cckids: Amen on the availability thing.  A while back I took a part-time job at a supermarket about 2 blocks from where I live.  It was supposedly in their bakery.  I went in, jawed a bit, was told that they ACTUALLY needed somebody in the produce section.  I said, cool, jake, whatevs, I’ll work mornings/nights/weekends as long as I can have Monday afternoon off.  (I take a class on and off on Monday afternoons.)  No problem, I’m told.  Went to work on a Sunday afternoon, and was immediately told that I was expected to work all day Monday.  I figured a mistake, missed a class, told all involved what my deal was…..and had the same thing happen for the next two weeks.  So I figure – what? I moved to Florida so that I could work in a storage room registering 38 degrees, while missing a class that I not only liked but had paid for?  Only time in my life I’ve ever walked out on a job.

  34. 34.

    Kineslaw

    May 21, 2021 at 6:19 pm

    I was just on a road trip and eating out a lot.  A restaurant on the north side of I-20 in Meridian, MS had a 45-minute wait and lots of empty tables because they couldn’t hire staff.  An Olive Garden 500 yards to the south had no wait, the food came out hot and the server was friendly.  I think I know which restaurant had the better manager.

    Plenty of places had signs asking customers to please be patient with their staff and saying they were trying to hire.  Some places had enough staff, others did not.  I think we are heading for a big sorting as staff realize they can quit the bad manager and will be hired by another place the next day.  Employees need more power and I’m glad they have it now and I hope it lasts until the bad managers/owners are driven out of the business and beyond.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 21, 2021 at 6:19 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Better yet, put the CEOs and their MBA underlings on tumbrel rides.

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    May 21, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Oh, I hope you get good news. Don’t draw any conclusions from no news.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    May 21, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    More likely, it means the day got away from him. This happens to me more often than not when it comes to dealing with the medical profession.

  38. 38.

    jl

    May 21, 2021 at 6:25 pm

    When the market works this way, it’s effectively and objectively tyrannical communist, everyone knows this.

  39. 39.

    JoyceH

    May 21, 2021 at 6:26 pm

    @Jeffro: Romeo and Juliet. Well, they did get married when the girlfriend was fifteen, so that tracks. But then they got divorced three years later, so not so much. And then at twenty, she committed suicide. So maybe she’s Juliet but he’s no Romeo.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    May 21, 2021 at 6:27 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Gosh! Who woulda thunk that the free market applies to labor, too?

    Right? Who knew supply and demand was a two-way street? //

  41. 41.

    jl

    May 21, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    Wonder if the Biden plan implemented so far is pushing US towards Nordic style ‘flexi-security’ (I think that is the translation). Social benefits serve to set floor for worker compensation and treatment.

    Nordic still have more protections from ill or arbitrary treatment of workers than US. But not nearly as many as continental Europe, and not as many are baked into black letter labor legislation.

    GOP seems bent on going to the worst possible world, writing a lot of bizarre, obscure, and endless, nonsense into black letter law to force ‘free market’ to crush the ordinary people, and stuff money down the gullets of the rich and powerful as much as possible. At least that is what is happening in some GOP states. They haven’t gone as far as Australia under Howard yet, with foot thick laws to make sure the unregulated market worked just like the rich wanted them to.

  42. 42.

    VeniceRiley

    May 21, 2021 at 6:34 pm

    @mali muso: And Costco…they’ve been paying their people fair wages for years.  And I believe they still turn a profit…place is always busy.  whocouldaknown

     

    One of the sweetest pandemic moments was when the huge Walmart in Irvine went tits up. Right next door? A super busy Costco.

  43. 43.

    cckids

    May 21, 2021 at 6:37 pm

    @Cameron: Agreed. This is my part-time job, my full-time one requires me to be there/WFH till 3:00. During 2020, I would sometimes push that a bit & take a 2:45 shift. Big mistake; they started scheduling me earlier & earlier. Now, since it is a union job, I can point to my availability “contract” and say no, I won’t be here till after 3, and they pretty much have to suck it. But the general disrespect is just exhausting.

  44. 44.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 21, 2021 at 6:40 pm

    @jl: Market failure.

  45. 45.

    lgerard

    May 21, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    I was reading an article about a month ago which claimed that there was a looming crisis because there was a shortage of fuel truck drivers and that 25% of the jobs were unfilled.

    About 8 paragraphs down was this little factoid:  In”normal times” these positions had an annual turnover of 50%.  Evidently that problem was not important enough to solve.

    That is the truth about the supposed job shortage.  These jobs are always hard to fill and they always have turnover in the 50% to 100% range because they suck and the employers suck

  46. 46.

    schrodingers_cat

    May 21, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: OT question. What software do you use with your xp-pen display

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    May 21, 2021 at 6:43 pm

    Biden is my hero.

    Biden agrees to take a question from Peter Doocy on the condition that he "not ask me a mean one like you usually do." (He was joking.) Doocy then asks him to react to a statement Obama recently made about UFOs."I would ask him again," Biden quips, ending the news conference. pic.twitter.com/THOnCnjAcT— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 21, 2021

  48. 48.

    Steve in the ATL

    May 21, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    @Cameron:

     

    I moved to Florida

    If only there were some way to identify the mistake that you made….

  49. 49.

    Dan B

    May 21, 2021 at 6:51 pm

    @jl: It’s a Marxosexual abortion*, that market is!!!

     

     

    *As a wise** Jackal once said…

     

     

    **prolly in the wise-ass version of wise.

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    May 21, 2021 at 6:51 pm

    Simone Biles just landed her Yurchenko double pike in podium training and we are SPEECHLESS. ? #USClassic@Simone_Biles @OnHerTurf pic.twitter.com/S9YsasXoXu— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) May 21, 2021

  51. 51.

    Cameron

    May 21, 2021 at 6:52 pm

    There’s a Target on the other side of the strip mall across the street from me.  I get most of my household stuff there already, but it’s nice to know I’m patronizing a decent place.

  52. 52.

    Cameron

    May 21, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Believe me – I have….

  53. 53.

    Soprano2

    May 21, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    Restaurants and bars already do portion control – we work on it constantly, because it’s wasteful and costs you money to give too much food or booze. (I liked Germany, where all the glasses have a measuring line so everyone knows they’re getting a full portion and it’s a lot harder to overpour). As for reducing the whole size of a meal, you can do some – we reduced several sandwiches from 8oz to 6oz, and no one even noticed. You can only go so far with that before you have to reduce the price, though because of people’s expectations. (I agree, a lot of portions are way too big!)

    Everyone around here thinks the labor shortage will be fixed when the unemployment supplement ends on June 12th. I keep saying I’d be happy to be wrong, but I don’t think it will make much difference – unemployment here is already 3.7%. Where do they think these tens of thousands of workers are going to come from? The state government would do a lot more good if they could address the dearth of safe, affordable child care. I think that’s a bigger barrier to women re-entering the job market than an extra $300/week unemployment. People seem to think everyone who’s not working right now must be drawing that unemployment, but they obviously aren’t. A restaurant near our pub is closing on Sunday and Monday because they can’t find enough help. Another restaurant we sometimes go to closes at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for the same reason. The labor shortage is a real thing – even higher-paid skilled jobs are going begging. I think it will work itself out eventually as more and more people get vaccinated, but things are going to hurt for awhile. My manger said when she was on vacation last week at the coast in Alabama they went to more than one place where you had to go to the counter and order, then they brought you the food – there was no wait service because they had no wait staff! I think the lack of summer visa workers is hurting a lot of tourist spots, too. It’s like a perfect storm for so many industries, not just hospitality.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 7:02 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    We are gonna see some bizarre price fluctuations in the coming months (slash right this second), hopefully nothing too permanent. One, because it’ll hurt people, and two, because people will blame government spending.

    Some prices are rising because stores were shut down or had to deal with reduced operations during the pandemic. It would be absurd for anyone to think that prices would stay the same coming out of this thing.

    I don’t see that government spending is much of a factor at all.

    I read that 22 states are eliminating the $300 unemployment supplement. The leaders of these states are fools, but there is little to be done here. Their reaction is “moralistic,” an insistence that people should be forced to take any job if the economy is close to normal.

    But it is still the case that there are entire industry segments that have yet to recover and which may be severely damaged and which may never fully recover. And it is a bizarre over-simplification on the part of GOP dopes to insist that there is a job waiting for everyone who wants or needs one.

  55. 55.

    Gravenstone

    May 21, 2021 at 7:03 pm

    @Jeffro: were it Romeo and Juliet, he’d have died with her and not been around to continue spreading his hate through the world.

  56. 56.

    HumboldtBlue

    May 21, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    @guachi: ​ 
    It’s still a vile corporation, just a shitty, shitty place to work and it’s run by the very fucking worst of the vulture capitalists this country offers.

  57. 57.

    BruceFromOhio

    May 21, 2021 at 7:07 pm

    Anecdata:

    There are four restaurant/bars that we have been getting takeout from regularly throughout the pandemic. Three are rocking – full dining rooms (modified sizes for spacing diners apart), same staff throughout, some modest pricing adjustments upwards on the menu (chicken wings, anyone), but otherwise business as usual.

    The fourth has been bitching repeatedly about “we can’t get anyone to work.” Guess which one is owned by a guy with a reputation for running things into the ground, and has been completely absent the entire time?

    Costco – always rocking, always fully staffed i.e. plenty of checkers and cashiers, no interruptions to service or hours. Gee, what could their secret be?

    Platform Beer Co. – when it first started, it was a great place to work and party. Then it got bought out by AB-InBev (henceforth known as MEGABREW) and, gosh, something changed because it didn’t go so well for the staff.

    I conclude that if you pay people shit and treat like them shit, they figure it out and won’t work for you anymore.

    May the Invisible Hand Of The Free Market slap some owners and bosses upside the head but good.

    Finally – fascists in 16? 19? states are cutting off unemployment benefits because the corporate maw needs slave labor. I wonder what the excuse will be in October when these shitty employers still can’t find enough staff.

  58. 58.

    HumboldtBlue

    May 21, 2021 at 7:09 pm

    @Cameron:

    There is nothing decent about Target. They rake in billions in profit every year and just because they raised the minimum starting wage to barely above poverty level wages only means they wanted to hold on to employees as the worst pandemic in a century ravaged the globe.

    Fuck Target, they’re no better than Walmart or any other giant corporation.

  59. 59.

    TriassicSands

    May 21, 2021 at 7:11 pm

    The Wall Street Journal is shocked, shocked — companies that pay competitive wages draw the best, loyalest hires!

    My preference has always been to work for the lowest possible pay and for the most abusive employer. It’s just human nature. The cluelessness on the Right is astounding.

  60. 60.

    Kelly

    May 21, 2021 at 7:12 pm

    Local lumber mills would like to run 24/7 because lumber prices tripled this year. Can’t hire enough staff. Lumber wages have been stagnant for 20 years. Clean up and construction jobs due to last year’s Beachie Fire are plentiful, pay better and are more enjoyable. Several weeks ago the one of the mills announced 10% raises, referral bounties and signing bonuses. Haven’t heard if it helped. Also yard services aren’t taking new customers because their guys like the post fire jobs are better.

  61. 61.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 7:15 pm

    @Soprano2:

    Restaurants and bars already do portion control – we work on it constantly, because it’s wasteful and costs you money to give too much food or booze. .. As for reducing the whole size of a meal, you can do some – we reduced several sandwiches from 8oz to 6oz, and no one even noticed.

    There are times and places where people notice. I know that it is hard for restaurant owners, but I have seen instances where decreased portion sizes and increased prizes meet that point where people will not order the item anymore.

    The state government would do a lot more good if they could address the dearth of safe, affordable child care. I think that’s a bigger barrier to women re-entering the job market than an extra $300/week unemployment.

    I will write more about this later, but the tax law provision that lets lower income people get advance monthly payments of part of their child tax credit may make it a bit easier for workers to pay for child care. The new tax law also increases the credit for child and dependent care in 2021. Unfortunately, because this is a non-refundable credit, the changes tend to give a greater benefit to middle income earners.

  62. 62.

    BruceFromOhio

    May 21, 2021 at 7:18 pm

    @Old School: ​ That is obscenely accurate.

  63. 63.

    Wag

    May 21, 2021 at 7:18 pm

    So I read the story about Target on the WSJ site.  Comments were fascinating.  A total of 17 comments, the majority of which were people whining about Target’s trans-friendly bathroom policies.  On person left a comment about how the free market is working; when the labor market is tight, companies need to pay more, and it works for Target.  That comment ruffled some feathers.  Fucking MBA’s are ruining our country. 

  64. 64.

    RaflW

    May 21, 2021 at 7:19 pm

    Interesting. I shop at a Target in Summit County, CO several times a year. For a couple of years it seemed like it was going out of business, which didn’t make any sense. There’s a wave of homebuilding, lots of economic activity, and W*lm*rt is miles away.

    But I think now that maybe what was happening was that they couldn’t keep shelves stocked or the store looking decent because they probably weren’t able to offer competitive wages for a period of time (due to corporate policy not adapting to a pricey local labor market). I bet they were desperately short staffed.

    My more recent visits, the store seems fine, busy, well stocked, and when I ask about items not on the shelf, there’s a) someone to answer, and b) it’s been things like “ok, that Texas utility outage screwed up our fresh produce shipments”.

    Amazing what $15/hr can do!

  65. 65.

    Baud

    May 21, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    @TriassicSands:

    My preference has always been to work for the lowest possible pay and for the most abusive employer.

    You are a perfect fit for the Baud! administration.

  66. 66.

    BruceFromOhio

    May 21, 2021 at 7:22 pm

    @Bruuuuce: ​I hear you. Costco opened one shop in Rochester, NY, and it’s a 45-min drive for the folks. Not convenient.

    Costco opened 15 minutes from Chez Ohio, and we fucking love it. Walmart can kiss my ass.

  67. 67.

    Wag

    May 21, 2021 at 7:25 pm

    @zhena gogolia:   Holy guacamole.  That is AMAZING.

  68. 68.

    debbie

    May 21, 2021 at 7:29 pm

    @Wag:

    At that speed, Simone should have a top spot on the track team.

  69. 69.

    Mallard Filmore

    May 21, 2021 at 7:33 pm

    @Cameron:

     

    There’s a Target on the other side of the strip mall across the street from me. I get most of my household stuff there already, but it’s nice to know I’m patronizing a decent place.

    Target has come a long way from fighting the “virtual strike” in the early 1980’s.

  70. 70.

    trollhattan

    May 21, 2021 at 7:33 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    [Checks] It’s Friday, isn’t that the docs’ golf o’clock?

    Very annoying, I hope the reason is something dumb and doc has simply failed to call, and that all is well.

    My experience has been that doctors do their patient calls at the very end of the day, regardless of how long into the evening that day pushes.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    May 21, 2021 at 7:37 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Say what you will about Target, they still lack Waltons.

  72. 72.

    Ken

    May 21, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    @Soprano2: Where do they think these tens of thousands of workers are going to come from?

    Time to revise those child labor laws!

  73. 73.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    May 21, 2021 at 7:44 pm

    @Bruuuuce: In case no one else has mentioned it yet, Joe Manchin is acting as Chuck Schumer’s Plausible Deniability Representative for the benefit of the press, both national and Beltway.
    Joe is sent out to make noises that show the Democratic Party includes reasonable people who believe in bipartisanship, luring unsuspecting  Rethuglicans into posturing about not cooperating with these unAmerican socialists all over the media.

    Then when things get passed, the media has been given reason grasp that Joe Manchin, God bless him, reached out across the aisle, only to have the hand of friendly bipartisanship slapped away. If these people can’t work with Joe Manchin (Reasonable Man and Not a Bombthrower™️) , what else can be done but to go ahead and pass this wildly popular piece of legislation without them?

  74. 74.

    Princess

    May 21, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    @Jeffro: it was a Romeo and Juliet story in the sense that the 14 year old girl killed herself a few years later.

  75. 75.

    Jeffro

    May 21, 2021 at 7:57 pm

    @Princess: yes, sadly

  76. 76.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 21, 2021 at 8:04 pm

    @a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio: Yup, President Biden is doing somewhat the same thing.

  77. 77.

    coin operated

    May 21, 2021 at 8:07 pm

    @Kelly: One of my FB buddies was bitching that, even at $22/hr, nobody would come to work at the mill he works for.  When asked what the work was like, he replied ‘rotating-shifts, no weekends, and the system was so automated that people complained of boredom’

    I think I see the problem there…

  78. 78.

    West of the Cascades

    May 21, 2021 at 8:08 pm

    @Princess: This reminds me of the title of a Jet Li film from a couple of decades ago, “Romeo Must Die.

    “Romeo is Bleeding” works, too.

  79. 79.

    Quinerly

    May 21, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    @Jeffro: and I read in one piece that she killed herself at some point.

  80. 80.

    Soprano2

    May 21, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    @Brachiator: I know you can only do so much with portions. We watch sides a lot, because they can overdo it in an attempt to fill the plate. If a lot of fries are coming back uneaten, it’s time to decrease the portion. Liquor overpours are a bigger problem; they get the staff bigger tips and make the customers happy, but they can kill profits and cause you to incur liability.

    I’m more concerned about a lack of childcare altogether than about the cost. When they’re operating at half capacity because of Covid, that makes it even harder for people to find care.

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    May 21, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    @coin operated:

    Had a steel mill job back in the day–rotating sift, split days off, that was HARD even for a twenty-something and it’s inherently dangerous work where one might wish to be on top of their game surrounded by similarly alert coworkers.

    For a college kid the pay was way beyond anything else I might have done (quit a minimum wage warehouse to go there) and I was appreciative but made sure I got the hell back to school after recharging the bank account. Rotating shift is the devil’s playground.

  82. 82.

    debbie

    May 21, 2021 at 8:26 pm

    Can’t embed from this iPad, but this tweet is great.

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    May 21, 2021 at 8:27 pm

    Krebs – How to tell a job offer from an ID theft trap:

    One of the oldest scams around — the fake job interview that seeks only to harvest your personal and financial data — is on the rise, the FBI warns. Here’s the story of a recent LinkedIn impersonation scam that led to more than 100 people getting duped, and one almost-victim who decided the job offer was too-good-to-be-true.

    […]

    Be careful out there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    May 21, 2021 at 8:29 pm

    @debbie: Indeed.  Excellent.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    May 21, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I had the GREATEST day on Wednesday when not only did I interview for a jerb I had not applied for, I managed to finagle an extended warranty on my 2013 model car.

    Winning!

  86. 86.

    trollhattan

    May 21, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    Friday amuse douche.

    “Federal authorities investigating alleged sex trafficking by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz have secured the cooperation of the congressman’s ex-girlfriend,” CNN reports.

    “The woman, a former Capitol Hill staffer, is seen as a critical witness, as she has been linked to Gaetz as far back as the summer of 2017, a period of time that has emerged as a key window of scrutiny for investigators. She can also help investigators understand the relevance of hundreds of transactions they have obtained records of, including those involving alleged payments for sex.”

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    @Soprano2:

    I know you can only do so much with portions. We watch sides a lot, because they can overdo it in an attempt to fill the plate. If a lot of fries are coming back uneaten, it’s time to decrease the portion.

    Makes sense. There are a number of burger places that maybe serve more fries than you can eat. But my favorite coffee shop cut back on the serving of zucchini fries, and raised the price. They also cut back on the portion size of regular fries, but did not increase the price as much.

    During the pandemic, a number of places that were able to do outdoor dining substituted plastic cutlery for metal knives and forks. I wondered what the net effect was on average. You didn’t have to wash the cutlery, but I don’t know what it cost to buy more plastic ware.

    I’m more concerned about a lack of childcare altogether than about the cost. When they’re operating at half capacity because of Covid, that makes it even harder for people to find care.

    The two go together, along with hours of availability. Finding any kind of child care is tough if you have to work an evening shift.

  88. 88.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 21, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    You all are very encouraging. Thank you. I’m eating chocolate chip cookies, so now I feel better

  89. 89.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 21, 2021 at 8:50 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That always works.

  90. 90.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    An odd little story from BBC News. Alabama crawls towards the 21st century

    Yoga can legally be taught in Alabama public schools, after the southern state overturned a nearly 30-year ban. 

    The state’s department of education had barred yoga in 1993, citing its connection to Hinduism.

    The bill, brought for the third time by a Democrat, was approved by the state’s Republican legislature and governor.

    It limits yoga to stretches and poses, and prohibits non-English descriptions as well as “any aspect of Eastern philosophy and religious training”.

    Chanting is also not allowed. The use of the sound “om,” and the Sanskrit-based word “namaste” are also still banned.

    The Baby Jesus don’t like non-Christian forms of exercise.

     

  91. 91.

    Mike in NC

    May 21, 2021 at 9:00 pm

    @trollhattan: Funny how macho men like Trump and Gaetz have to always pay for sex.

  92. 92.

    J R in WV

    May 21, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    @Wag:

    WSJ …people whining about Target’s trans-friendly bathroom policies.

    Kroger’s did a major remodel of their store I shop at — amazed to learn people call it the “Gucci Krogers” because it has more selection and is bright and clean — all the new bathrooms are “family” style, with a lock on the door.

    Very nice, private bathrooms.

    I had no idea those are “Trans friendly” … I thought they were for people with a need to use the bathroom, folks with kids, single guys like me with IBS, you name it. But maybe not, maybe just for the 8 people in WV who are actually Trans… OK maybe more than that, but not a whole lot more…

    Our one openly gay bar disappeared during the plague, building flat gone… don’t know what those folks will do now, hope they find a nice welcoming place!

  93. 93.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    @trollhattan:

    “Federal authorities investigating alleged sex trafficking by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz have secured the cooperation of the congressman’s ex-girlfriend,” CNN reports.

    The authorities really seem to be dragging this out.

    ETA: Yeah, I know they want to make sure they have a good case. But still.

  94. 94.

    Roger Moore

    May 21, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    @Kelly:

    Local lumber mills would like to run 24/7 because lumber prices tripled this year. Can’t hire enough staff. Lumber wages have been stagnant for 20 years. Clean up and construction jobs due to last year’s Beachie Fire are plentiful, pay better and are more enjoyable. Several weeks ago the one of the mills announced 10% raises, referral bounties and signing bonuses.

    If lumber prices have tripled, the mills should be able to afford a lot more than 10% raises.  It seems to me that the owners are being very foolish.  With prices that high, they ought to pay whatever it takes to keep the mills running full time.  They’re more committed to keeping a thumb on workers than they are to maximizing profits.

  95. 95.

    Amir Khalid

    May 21, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    @Brachiator:
    Alaama banned teaching yoga in schools because of its ties to Hinduism? How was that constitutional?

  96. 96.

    scav

    May 21, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    @Brachiator: Alabama evidently recognizes that the local variants of xianity are so inherently and intrinsically repellent that the merest hint of a viable alternative (hearing ‘greetings’ in a foreign tongue!) will cause people to leap at the opportunity.

  97. 97.

    Ken

    May 21, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    @Brachiator: prohibits non-English descriptions

    “No, I didn’t use a non-English word. ‘Asana’ is as much a part of English as ‘bandana’, ‘cheetah’, ‘cot’, ‘jungle’, ‘khaki’, …”

  98. 98.

    Ken

    May 21, 2021 at 9:24 pm

    @Brachiator: The authorities really seem to be dragging this out.

    If I were able to embed gifs, I’d use this one.

  99. 99.

    Roger Moore

    May 21, 2021 at 9:31 pm

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    Liquor overpours are a bigger problem; they get the staff bigger tips and make the customers happy, but they can kill profits and cause you to incur liability.

    Depends on the customer. The manager at my local watering hole likes the group I go with and is always trying to give us bigger drinks. We order the fancy, high ABV beers that are supposed to come in little Belgian-style goblets, and she pours them in the big goblets instead. I appreciate the intent, but I’d like to try several different beers while I’m there, and if I do that with those big glasses of high ABV stuff, it’s more than I want to drink. I have a hard time convincing her I don’t want the bigger size.

  100. 100.

    zhena gogolia

    May 21, 2021 at 9:32 pm

    Where has Paul Mooney been all my life? I never heard of him until he died. He was hilarious!

  101. 101.

    coin operated

    May 21, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    @trollhattan: Same in the plywood mills of Oregon in the late 80s. Rotating shifts and a job so monotonous you could sleep standing up and keep getting paid.  Then the economy in the PNW took a hit so bad that the Army became an attractive option.

  102. 102.

    CaseyL

    May 21, 2021 at 9:38 pm

    @a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio:  There has been a lot of speculation that Manchin has been in the process of reaching a more-in-sorrow-than-anger recognition that the GQP is a bad faith actor, as opposed to being a naif with delusions of bipartisanship.

    I certainly hope so. It will cement my admiration for Manchin and the Biden Administration for being excellent strategists!

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    May 21, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    @Brachiator: I couldn’t believe this when I first heard about it,  but I shouldn’t have been surprised. My first yoga teacher said she had a lot of problems here when she first started teaching in the 1970’s. She got death threats! It’s crazy.

  104. 104.

    raven

    May 21, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    @Soprano2: This shit has been going on for years.

  105. 105.

    Cameron

    May 21, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Well, I got Target, I got a Walmart about a mile away (I don’t have a car), and I got Amazon.  We’re not talking mutualist coop paradise here.

  106. 106.

    Soprano2

    May 21, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    @J R in WV: All “one hole” bathrooms should be labeled as unisex. Our local state university did that a few years ago; it makes a lot more sense than labeling them “men” and “women”. Plus, it’s better for women!

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    @Ken:

    prohibits non-English descriptions

    “No, I didn’t use a non-English word. ‘Asana’ is as much a part of English as ‘bandana’, ‘cheetah’, ‘cot’, ‘jungle’, ‘khaki’, …”

    “Alabama,” the name of a Native American tribe, also not an English word.

  108. 108.

    Roger Moore

    May 21, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    @Brachiator: ​
     

    During the pandemic, a number of places that were able to do outdoor dining substituted plastic cutlery for metal knives and forks. I wondered what the net effect was on average. You didn’t have to wash the cutlery, but I don’t know what it cost to buy more plastic ware

    It probably depends a bit on the loss rate for metal cutlery. People will walk off with it, or it will get tossed accidentally instead of kept with the dishes. It also has a finite lifespan, especially the cheaper kind. I think restaurants provide it instead of plastic primarily because of customer expectations, not because of cost.

  109. 109.

    raven

    May 21, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: you tell em Che

  110. 110.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 21, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    @trollhattan: “How would you like your goose cooked for you Congressman, well done OK with you?”

  111. 111.

    Suzanne

    May 21, 2021 at 9:56 pm

    @Soprano2:

    All “one hole” bathrooms should be labeled as unisex. Our local state university did that a few years ago; it makes a lot more sense than labeling them “men” and “women”. Plus, it’s better for women! 

    Fun fact: this is not exactly kosher in the current building code (IBC and its derivatives) in many occupancies. In some occupancies, especially assembly, fixtures have to be designated for men or women in order to count toward the plumbing fixture count. This was a change made some years back because women’s restrooms were historically underbuilt. But it’s a change whose time has come, I think.

    Another fun fact: most developers hate doing single-hole restrooms, as they are spatially inefficient and expensive.

  112. 112.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    The CDC’s new mask guidelines could actually increase risk of spreading Covid at work and in public, scientists say

    The CDC’s new mask guidelines could actually increase the risk of spreading Covid-19 in public spaces and workplaces, scientists of a leading infectious disease group said Thursday.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly reversed its mask guidance for vaccinated Americans last week to say that vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask indoors or outdoors in most settings.

    Officials said they changed their guidance, in part, because research shows the vaccines provide a very high level of protection against getting sick from Covid-19 and spreading it to others.

    “There is no debate about this fact,” Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, who sits on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said at a press briefing hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America on Thursday. The agency’s announcement, however, led to widespread confusion and frustration because “it was unexpected and lacked needed context for implementation by state and local public health community,” he said.

    Duchin is the society’s liaison to the CDC’s immunization committee. The society represents leading infectious disease specialists in the U.S.

    “There was no information on how to apply the guidance in practice, particularly related to the inability to verify vaccination status,” Duchin said. The CDC also didn’t provide any guidance on whether people should continue wearing masks in areas of high transmission or low vaccination rates, he said.

    “What the CDC did though was sub-optimal and allowed for misimpression that the mask mandates have been lifted.”

    Physicians across the country and federal health officials continue to emphasize that only vaccinated people are safe to remove their masks. The new mask guidance has been misinterpreted as an end to the pandemic and mask mandates, putting local health officials in a very tough position. States across the U.S. took the news as a cue to ease mask mandates. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott used the new guidance to justify signing an executive order that threatens to fine local officials and municipalities that don’t drop mask requirements.

    Duchin said both vaccinated and unvaccinated people are probably safe outdoors without masks, but that’s not the case inside.

    “Now the risk of Covid-19 spread is increased in crowded indoor spaces with unvaccinated people and especially with poor ventilation,” Duchin said. While the CDC’s scientific basis for the change “is solid,” Duchin said ending the indoor mask mandate “could lead to increased risk in public spaces and workplaces with preventable Covid-19 spread primarily among the unvaccinated.”

    Vaccination rates vary across the country, and the majority of those vaccinated are older adults. Large subgroups, such as younger adults, remain unvaccinated.

    Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, who also spoke at the briefing, said research has shown that up to 3% of Americans were told by their physicians that they have some level of immunodeficiency, which places them at an increased risk of exposure to Covid.

    “Millions of people fit this bill, and we have literally very little data on whether the vaccine works in them,” Marrazzo said. “It’s a real reason to be cautious and interpret the guidelines carefully.”

    The scientists also said that people need to acknowledge that there is uncertainty about the future course of the pandemic, the impact of emerging variants, how long immunity lasts and the potential for resurgence of Covid-19.

    “The Covid-19 outbreak is not by any means over, there’s still significant uncertainty and there’s still significant disease activity,” Duchin said.

    If someone is fully vaccinated and has no other conditions that compromise their community, and if the rates of Covid are relatively low where they live and the vaccination coverage is high, Marrazzo said, it “would be 100% fine pretty much going anywhere without a mask.”

    Marrazzo added that because vaccination rates are not even at 50% in her community, she will continue to wear a mask indoors, despite being fully vaccinated.

    “If I knew that we were seeing really remarkable declines in hospitalization and symptomatic illness that was related possibly to Covid, and had a very high immunization rate, then I would probably be fine going without a mask, but I don’t see that happening anytime real soon,” she said.

  113. 113.

    Juice Box

    May 21, 2021 at 10:03 pm

    California doesn’t have a tipped minimum, just the same $14/hr minimum for everybody and yet, surprisingly, we have a thriving restaurant sector. Equally surprisingly, employers aren’t having difficulty hiring here.

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 21, 2021 at 10:04 pm

    @Suzanne: Every “rest area” that I’ve encountered along I-95 between Boston and DC has at least one single-hole, lockable toilet facility. When I was driving with my grandkids recently, a girl and a boy, aged 5 and 3, this was a truly welcome thing to find. I don’t know if it’s mandated or just expected, but I was thankful.

  115. 115.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 10:04 pm

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    All “one hole” bathrooms should be labeled as unisex. Our local state university did that a few years ago; it makes a lot more sense than labeling them “men” and “women”. Plus, it’s better for women!

    In one office where I worked, the “Ladies” restrooms had a chair or little couch, where women could sit or rest. It also had a special setup for the disposal of tampons and sanitary napkins.

    On weekends, people were allowed to use either restroom, because there were fewer people in the building. Men still tended to avoid the “Ladies” restroom.

    In another office, women temporary employees had to be “instructed” on the use of the Women’s restroom because inevitably some idiot would jam a sanitary product down the toilet, causing a mess when someone unsuspecting flushed it.

    On the other hand, some men would not flush at all, apparently having a need to want to admire their work, and to leave it for others to discover.

    I don’t give a shit who uses what facility. I generally hate all public restrooms.

    Reason 148 of why I love remote work.

  116. 116.

    Mike in NC

    May 21, 2021 at 10:10 pm

    @Brachiator: As a teen I often bought MAD magazine at the drug store. One time they showed a bumper sticker where all of the ‘A’ letters in Alabama were shown as Klan hoods with eyeholes.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    May 21, 2021 at 10:13 pm

    @Juice Box:

    California doesn’t have a tipped minimum, just the same $14/hr minimum for everybody and yet, surprisingly, we have a thriving restaurant sector. Equally surprisingly, employers aren’t having difficulty hiring here.

    In California and elsewhere, segments of the restaurant industry were getting hammered before the pandemic, and problems have continued. Ironically, some places were depending more on breakfast business. Remote worked had a devastating effect on this business.

    Some fast food places started hiring fewer front counter people and fewer cooks as foot traffic decreased.

    Some restaurants continue to have trouble hiring people even as business has increased, because former workers have moved on. Some waiters and staff were actors and musicians who worked in the food service industry between their main gigs. They have had to move on because their main work still has not picked up.

    Also, in Southern California, and other places, quite a few restaurant jobs are filled by undocumented workers.

  118. 118.

    smedley the uncertain

    May 21, 2021 at 10:14 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: my doctor calls if there’s an issue. Otherwise we talk at my next 10,000 mile check up.  For me, no news is good news. Wishing you well.

  119. 119.

    Another Scott

    May 21, 2021 at 10:18 pm

    Twitter dick_nixon thread on the newest Medal of Honor winner.

    Col. Puckett, then Lieutenant, a Ranger, commanded 51 men at Hill 205, above the Chongchon River, in November 1950. It was freezing. Puckett had already risked himself several times that night getting his artillery in position. https://t.co/PexJp3Nk00

    — Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) May 22, 2021

    It sounds like the honor was far too long in coming.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  120. 120.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 10:30 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Some restaurants continue to have trouble hiring people even as business has increased, because former workers have moved on. Some waiters and staff were actors and musicians who worked in the food service industry between their main gigs. They have had to move on because their main work still has not picked up.

    Also, in Southern California, and other places, quite a few restaurant jobs are filled by undocumented workers.

    No, it’s because those serfs are living it up on the government dole! That $300 federal UI bonus is hurting businesses! Moral hazard!1!1!!!

    /GOP governors, the US Chamber of Commerce, MBNAs, etc

    DeWimp said the other day that he hadn’t seen any “empirical studies” but yet he still concluded anyway that UI benefits had effects on the labor supply. Once a Repuke always a Repuke

  121. 121.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 21, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    @Jeffro: ​ He called it a “Romeo and Juliet” story. Yes, really. Ugh.

    I have it on good authority that in Illinois, when a 28-year-old male romances a 14-year-old female, it’s referred to as Romeo and Joliet. ​

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    May 21, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    @JaneE

    Try the priest.

    ;)

  123. 123.

    Danielx

    May 21, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Corporate board people sit on multiple boards, and look at stuff like average and median CEO annual pay for companies of the same size/industry/revenue level. The revenue art is important because it contributes to the myth that someone successful at running one kind of business will be better than most at running another totally different business, in my not very humble opinion.

    Anyhoo, when CEO hiring decisions are being made there’s an automatic ratcheting mechanism at work – who want to hire an average CEO, if we want somebody good we have to offer better than average, course we do. And if it turns out the CEO turns out to be a fucking incompetent disgrace, if he/she isn’t actually charged with a felony we pay him or her x million to go away and do it right next time.

    Rinse, repeat….and CEO compensation goes up no matter what untoward events may transpire. The invisible hand at work, donchaknow.

    Yes, on a soapbox, having observed a couple of the swine at work.

  124. 124.

    Honus

    May 21, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    @Roger Moore: think about the fact that they’re making three times as much on the same amount of wood.

  125. 125.

    Danielx

    May 21, 2021 at 10:33 pm

    @Jeffro:

    except that as I recall, Romeo was 14 and Juliet was 13. A mite different if not a legal relationship.

  126. 126.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 10:41 pm

    @Jeffro:

    @Danielx:

    All that needs to happen now is for Matt Gaetz to come to his defense. Reminds me of Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his 13 year old cousin, which pretty much destroyed his career as it was taking off. I read on Wiki that he tried to make a comeback in the early 60s but that was destroyed by the Beatles arriving in 1964, making his style of rock and roll out of style overnight

  127. 127.

    Another Scott

    May 21, 2021 at 10:42 pm

    @Danielx: Made me look.

    Billy Shakes:

    Elizabethan Wedding Customs – The Age of Consent
    With parental permission it was legal for boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12 although it was not usual or traditional for marriages at such young ages. The age of consent was 21 and boys would generally not marry until this age.

    […]

    Elizabethan Wedding Contracts
    Should a couple need to marry in haste an alternative, faster, route to legalising a marriage required a Marriage Bond which acted as a contract, security and proof to a Bishop that the issue of a Marriage Licence was lawful. The Marriage Bond was accompanied with a sworn statement that there were no pre-contract. The issue of a Marriage Bond would require only one reading of the Banns – thus saving a couple of weeks. Such a Marriage Bond was required by Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare – Anne was 26 years old and pregnant. William Shakespeare was only 18 and under the age of consent. Elizabethan wedding customs and contracts would have required that his father would have had to agree to the marriage.

    Hmmm… ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Who recognizes R&J was set in what is now Italy.”)

  128. 128.

    Danielx

    May 21, 2021 at 10:46 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Fake news! Fake news!

    Seriously – the turning of the screw, yes yes. There are some cruel people working in US attorney offices.

    Equally seriously, brave* of the ex since Gaetz will no doubt lose whatever flying monkeys at his disposal upon her.

    *unless the authorities have a gibbet all sized for her as well, which would not be a huge surprise.

  129. 129.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 10:48 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Of course Lewis had a comeback in the 70s with country music

  130. 130.

    James E Powell

    May 21, 2021 at 10:51 pm

    @Danielx:

    except that as I recall, Romeo was 14 and Juliet was 13. A mite different if not a legal relationship.

    Also, if I’m not mistaken, Romeo & Juliet are fictional characters.

  131. 131.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 10:51 pm

    @Danielx:

    Hopefully she’s not still working on the Hill. (Certainly not at Gatez’s office since she’s his ex)

  132. 132.

    Captain C

    May 21, 2021 at 11:01 pm

    @James E Powell: Somewhere on the intertubes it’s been pointed out that Romeo and Juliet is not a love story, it’s a 3-day teenage crush with a body count of 6.

  133. 133.

    James E Powell

    May 21, 2021 at 11:03 pm

    @Captain C:

    And it says, right on the first page, that it’s a tragedie.

  134. 134.

    Ken

    May 21, 2021 at 11:05 pm

    @Captain C: Rumor has it Shakespeare was working on a sequel, Friar Lawrence: Serial Killer.

  135. 135.

    Cameron

    May 21, 2021 at 11:05 pm

    This being an open thread (like all the rest of them at BJ), I’d like to post a question to the Floridians here.  I’m not the real deal – I’m a Pennsylvania transplant.  Would you agree that the state using sales taxes as a primary source of funding is incredibly regressive?  That, the screwed up unemployment procedure, the unwillingness to accept the expanded Medicaid from the ACA – this state really, really hates low-income people.  Unfortunately, the thing I’d replace the sales tax with, which would be land value taxation, would probably not win friends in a place that is mad for real estate gambling.  I’d like to see a public bank like they have in North Dakota, too, although that’s equally unlikely to happen.  Whatever.  I’d just appreciate your thoughts on what the biggest problems here are and how you think we could solve them.  Thanks!

  136. 136.

    Soprano2

    May 21, 2021 at 11:06 pm

    @Brachiator: I think the years of cracking down on immigration had a bigger effect than many people want to acknowledge. I’ve heard stories about tourist areas where they’re used to getting “x” number of temp visa workers and aren’t getting them this year because of Covid. It’s hurting a lot in those places.

  137. 137.

    L85NJGT

    May 21, 2021 at 11:07 pm

    Remember to give Trump his due. Canadian lumber? Trump fucked that up. Labor market? Trump fucked that up. Chinese trade & supply chains? Trump fucked that up.

  138. 138.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 11:08 pm

    @James E Powell:

    @Captain C:

    It never really made sense to me how two people who didn’t know each other super well (IIRC) could become so obsessed with each other. Seemed kind of contrived to me tbh

  139. 139.

    James E Powell

    May 21, 2021 at 11:09 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I can’t say that it makes any sense, but I can tell you that I’ve done it.

  140. 140.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 21, 2021 at 11:15 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Were you never a teenager?  FWIW Mercutio is the only good worthwhile character in the whole damned play.

  141. 141.

    Kelly

    May 21, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    @L85NJGT: Canada also has lumber shortages with crazy price increases. Homebuilding never recovered from the 2008 recession. Around half the housing starts compared to previous decades. Marginal mills went out of business. The plague seems to have released a lot of pent up demand for home sweet home.

  142. 142.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’m not really attracted to people unless I know them well and I know they like me. In the last few years I’ve discovered I’m (probably) a hetreomantic demisexual/gray-asexual, so I don’t really know the feeling. And I agree that Mercutio was the one decent character in that play, from what I remember of it from HS English lit class. I liked Shakespeare’s Juilius Ceasar better

  143. 143.

    SectionH

    May 21, 2021 at 11:21 pm

    @trollhattan: bisou du chef!

  144. 144.

    SectionH

    May 21, 2021 at 11:24 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Absolutely.

  145. 145.

    dc

    May 21, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    @James E Powell: ​

    They also both commit suicide. This loser is still with us.

  146. 146.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 21, 2021 at 11:31 pm

    @James E Powell:

    I’m sure it happens in real life. I don’t know, the Romeo/Juliet relationship always seemed silly but I admit it’s been awhile since I read it (HS)

  147. 147.

    Steve in the ATL

    May 21, 2021 at 11:49 pm

    @Cameron: you’ll want to avoid Texas and Tennessee as well

  148. 148.

    dmsilev

    May 21, 2021 at 11:53 pm

    In retrospect, we should have expected this:

    This Tucker Carlson chyron was inevitable. https://t.co/rimokboV3G— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) May 22, 2021

  149. 149.

    Ken

    May 22, 2021 at 12:00 am

    @dmsilev: Within a week, the entire GQP will be telling everyone to “just keep f*cking that chicken”.

    (Which, now that I’ve googled it, was originally said on a Fox channel. Small world, or decade-long conspiracy?)

  150. 150.

    SectionH

    May 22, 2021 at 12:01 am

    .

  151. 151.

    Hoppie

    May 22, 2021 at 12:07 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Soviet Realism: boy runs off with tractor.

  152. 152.

    dmsilev

    May 22, 2021 at 12:14 am

    @Ken: Should we be worried that Tucker Carlson’s producers knew who to call when they needed a ‘poultry enthusiast’ to appear on his show?

  153. 153.

    Mary G

    May 22, 2021 at 12:23 am

    Since for some reason I am now able to sleep before 5 a.m. our time, I will put the Orange County CA tweet here. Despite more astroturf protests at Huntington Beach and the county supervisors’ meeting, we hit new lows today:

    27 new cases of 11,387 tests

    68 people hospitalized, 10 of them in ICU.

    Will still be masking, but so nice to not have to worry about the housemates who had to go out into the world every day.

  154. 154.

    Steeplejack

    May 22, 2021 at 12:28 am

    @Mary G:

    Good news! Has the needle-averse teen been vaccinated yet?

  155. 155.

    Mary G

    May 22, 2021 at 12:34 am

    @Steeplejack: No, he is being a pain. Wants to wait until his 18th bday in September, when he can get the 1-shot J&J vaccine.

  156. 156.

    Steeplejack

    May 22, 2021 at 12:38 am

    @Mary G:

    Jeez, bullshit excuse. My condolences.

  157. 157.

    Ruckus

    May 22, 2021 at 12:45 am

    @Danielx:

    I worked at a for profit company that was a subsidiary of a non profit and which was leasing space from the parent company. The board of the non profit threw the CEO under the bus because they screwed up but could. He had 28 yrs in, 65 yrs old, very smart, he retired. They hired a duffus fuck who’d been CEO of 5 different non profits in 5 yrs. He lived up to my description but had a yr contract. That’s when I decided that leaving was the best option. When a company is swirling the bowl and the board is trying to figure out which way to run, and refuses to admit they fucked up, it’s time to leave, for your own sanity and life.

  158. 158.

    WaterGirl

    May 22, 2021 at 10:21 am

    @Mary G: Someone needs to slap him upside the head (not literally) and explain that his selfishness puts you at risk.

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