Saturday May 28, 2011
A QUICK ONE WHILE SHE'S AWRY. Sorry I've been absent, guys, though now that Memorial Day weekend is here I trust you're busy with traditional liberal recreational activities (e.g., aborted fetus barbecues and Pin the Blood-Libel on the Palin). If you find yourself checking your Blackberry even at the seaside show trial, though, here's an easy layup for you and for me -- Dr. Mrs. Ole Perfesser:
Why are there "Now Hiring" signs in front of so many businesses these days when so many people are complaining about not finding a job? Everywhere I go in Knoxville, there are generic "Now Hiring" signs from the hotels to the car dealerships to the stores at the mall.
Probably means they're hiring, just like the "Men" and "Women" signs on the bathrooms mean one bathroom is for men and the other is for women.
I find it puzzling because if businesses were really that desperate to hire, so much so that they are all putting up signs, why are so many people saying they are having trouble finding work?
Similarly, people keep talking about all these sick people in America who need health care, but I was just over on the West Side bike path and most of those people looked very healthy. It just doesn't add up.
DMOP, her curiosity piqued, goes into some of these businesses and asks them about the signs -- oh just kidding, she does nothing of the kind.
During the Depression, businesses showed their compliance with New Deal programs by putting up the "Blue Eagle," with the motto "We do our part." "The eagle, which had been modeled on an Indian thunderbird, was displayed in windows and stamped on products to show a business's compliance"...
Is the "Now Hiring" sign just a slogan being used to show the business "supports their community" in the current recession even though they are not really hiring? Is it a ploy to make people feel good about the business so they will shop there or is it legit, or both?
She then throws this bizarre speculation to her commenters, who are (as usual) such a delight that I will (as usual) reverse normal alicublog policy and make fun of them.
For instance, there's a guy, TMink, who asserts that the "long line of mothers in stay at home clothes" he saw one day "are getting paid by the government to stay at home, and it is my money that my wife and I earn by going to work that is used to pay for them to stay home." A commenter called Suzanne says there are other possible explanations -- "I'm willing to bet that many of the women who stay home with their children have husbands who earn the same or less than you do." TMink returns to triumphantly explain that "the apartments" -- first mention of these; I guess he means the ones he saw the mothers standing near -- "are listed as 'low income housing' or 'based on income housing.'" So the bitches are by definition layabouts sponging off Mr. and Mrs. TMink! He then adds, "So Suzanne, you lost the bet. What do I win?" -- clearly hoping for the first blowjob of his adult life.
2nd Prize, Carol_Hermann: "Maybe, those signs are the new 'photoshops?'"