We were no where close to Arizona yet, but I thought this was an impropriate image
When we drove through Iowa it is clear immediately that we are in the Bible belt. We saw a huge billboard that said, “EAT BEEF!” Christians are meat eaters. I think they see vegetarianism as a liberal disease. Eating meat is part of the Christian heritage. We also saw a row of large billboards advertising a particular Evangelical church. This is the land of Christian Meat eaters. Loud ones.
We ended our second day of the trip in York Nebraska. Friends of mine routinely get farther than this on the first of their trip down south. We are slackers!
Our so-called “award-wining” hotel was also showing signs of decay and neglect. It was a Days Inn by Wyndham a modest but reputable chain of hotels. The hotel had a round hole in the front window beside the main desk. It looked disturbingly like a bullet hole. I wondered how long it had been left unattended without being repaired. Fake “wood” siding in the elevator was partially broken from the wall exposing the shell.
For dinner, because Chris did not want to go out, so we tried to order delivery KFC chicken from a surly server who hung up on us. Ordering delivery food, even though it was advertised in the phone book, proved impossible though we were not told why. Chris phoned again and it was explained to her that we could only order from the store. So I drove to the store. Here I realized that the restaurant was actually closed. The only way to buy food was to order take out. Even that was difficult. Most of the restaurant was dark. When I paid, I had to give the server my credit card and I reluctantly obliged. I was very hungry by then and was a bit rushed because I was holding up a customer behind me. After I paid, I wondered if I would ever see any food. The serving staff looked suspicious. Had “the store” been taken over by insurrectionists? Was this the beginning of societal collapse? All of that seemed entirely possible.
I realized that many restaurants and stores were having trouble hiring staff. As a result, many were understaffed and could provide only limited services. I wondered to myself, ‘is this the last dying gasp of capitalism?’
That is why I have included a sunset in the post of this incident. Is this the sunset of civilization? Employees refuse to accept crap from patrons. There is nothing wrong with that but sometimes the standards of what constitutes crap are pretty low. I also know that for about 40 years, since the steep rise of neo-conservatives working people have been denigrated and abused by capital. Are they saying no more? They sure seem surly and unhappy. Perhaps their surliness is justified. I wondered is this our future? After all, we have earned it! Is this what a world of surliness is all about?