I have noticed a rather disturbing trend of late. The last few Fridays, I have been driving down the Boulevard in Smithville, and I have noticed a conspicuous absence of normal workday traffic.
On a normal work day, there is at least a moderate amount of traffic on the Boulevard throughout the day. Yes, the commute hours are much heavier, but even at noon it is generally rather difficult to get from one end of town to the other.
Recently, however, I have caught myself thinking of how the Boulevard looks like Sunday, even though it's Friday. Right down to the lack of vehicles parked along the curbs in front of the businesses.
I don't know for sure why this is, but I have heard some interesting hypotheses.
The most realistic is the thought that there are so many people suffering from Furlough Fridays that the traffic on Fridays is almost non-existent. I can think of no other reasonable explanation.
I can only hope it gets better in the not too distant future,
For the sake of the furloughed....
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6 comments:
My dispatch center has to take mandatory furlough days!!! We were probably the only department in the city that was jumping up and down with joy when they announced it!!!!
Finally, we get a day off!!!!!
-Dispatcher
Aye... You have probably nailed the cause.
Almost frightening too. I see more than a few signs of a problem economy... newspaper want ads that have dried up to dust, equipment lots chock full with no place to store unwanted machines, empty store fronts multiplying....
Hm. I've heard that the underemployment rate is about double the unemployment rate, so there may be lots of people working reduced hours and taking three day weekends. I'm one of them myself. I've noticed that my commute is lighter in general now than it was a year ago - and I ride public transit, which you'd think would see an increase in ridership during a recession!
There is the furloughed people and also those that have gone to 4 day work weeks. We have done that here with employees who live further than 25 miles from the office. They have the option to work 4 10 hour days. The thought was to help them save $$ by saving gas.
I work for a city that's dependant of tourism. It's been pretty quiet around here.
Quite a few places have gone to a 7-6 schedule 4 days a week and most employees seem to approve. My wife's work has gone to that schedule for certain employees and they all are happy with it.
It's either that or they're all at home drinking.
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