I feel silly saying, “I have never seen anything like this before” since I am only thirty-two and missed the Great Depression and most other popular comparative references for what we are experiencing now, but I truly have never seen anything like this before. Not a single American remains unaffected by our demolished U.S. economy. Some have felt it marginally, an unpleasant tickle, others speak of a friend of a friend while I can compete with any variation of the stories having lost two jobs in less than a year. Honestly, I’m not a total numbskull loser but I did work in fashion, so what did I expect, right? When the nation is frightened into white knuckling their money, they certainly aren’t going out on an emotional limb to purchase the designer jeans that I pushed. Everyone needed to learn they could live without another hoodie and tomorrow will still come if they wear a recycled dress on Valentine’s Day.
Penny pinching and doing it well has become a source of pride for some who are braving this terrifying and quickly spiraling economy. Drinking my tea at home, cooking for my husband (although groceries seem to cost as much if not more than ordering out now), less dining out in general, not talking about the Caribbean, and reluctantly canceling HBO and Showtime. We had to make choices, even if they were hard ones. Before I even got laid off again, I knew I was losing my job and had to prepare. If people aren’t buying clothes, the buyers in the stores aren’t placing orders with the vendors, and account executives at the clothing companies aren’t meeting sales projections, and the factories can’t cut the line without enough orders and the next thing you know, this has happened twice and both companies went out of business, right out from underneath me. The first time it happened I was devastated; the second time it happened I was relieved. I needed some time off!
When I was working, I was expected to put in at least forty-five hours per week. The minimum fashion sales workday, which is the only industry I can speak of, is nine hours. Nine hours, as opposed to eight, is justified by exclaiming that you get an hour lunch break every day, which is then frowned upon if you actually take it. In other words, you work nine hours a day to take an hour-long lunch break that you are not supposed to take so you are actually paying your company to go to lunch. Now, add an additional two hours per day for the door-to-door commute and you are out of the house for eleven hours per day! If you require eight hours of sleep to avoid feeling hung over, fatigued, angry, defensive, or suffering from acute short term memory loss, then you have six hours of “free time” per weekday. Other variables must also be considered: do you go to the gym, do you cook your meals, do you have children or pets, a spouse, or a second job (please say no!), then you probably can’t find the time or energy to get your ass to the movies as often as you would like. Some may say that’s what the weekends are for, that’s laughable.
Weekends are for attending other folks events or getting to your own extracurricular scheduling: Christenings, brunches, showers, birthday parties, housewarmings, yoga, a date with your husband, sleeping, downtime, cleaning, Grandmas and Grandpas, weddings, pet projects, apartment shopping, grocery shopping, flea marketing, mouse trapping, in-lawing, reading, and grooming. Too many whiners view going to the movies as a “waste of two hours” and not suitable because “it’s so beautiful out” and they have “too much to do” besides “sit in a movie theater all afternoon.” Well excuse me for living. Sorry one of the only things I love to do involves relaxing in a dark room and being entertained for a couple hours while eating delicious food. Is that so hard to understand?
