[FRIAM] Friday AM
Steve Smith
sasmyth at swcp.com
Fri Dec 30 15:16:13 EST 2022
> OPT Cafe is closed as well. What a way to run a business this is peak
> Family dining out Time.
A new phase of customer service seems to have emerged after COVID. I
have ambiguous feelings about it. Previously I was a little offended
by various examples of businesses not catering well at all to their
customer's needs/desires/convenience. Los Alamos as a community is
somewhat famous for this... the "captive audience" and the myriad
flexibilities of LANL employees lead to things like retail businesses
only open from 9-5PM M-F such that anyone who can't get away from work
at a whim simply not being able to do business there... or restaurants
that are satisfied with a short M-F lunch hour and/or closing early (by
urban standards) and leaving business on the table.
With the hammering that service personnel took with COVID (in spite of
the myriad relief programs) as well as small-business owners (which can
include franchise operators) I have been pretty sympathetic with
businesses unable to return to the (sometimes generous) hours and
services they kept before COVID. I would certainly *like* to see the
rich range of available services out there return to "normal" but also
appreciate that the most vulnerable folks aren't out there 'hurting
themselves' to meet my whims.
The implications of spiking minimum wages and prices and corporate
usury, disaster profiteering are all over the place for me... I think
there will be a lot more "ringing in the system" left to be experienced
in the aftermath of COVID.
In any case, I'm glad to hear you guys found a venue.
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