Recession?? What recession??

My wife Dawn and I made a stop at Maplewood Mall for a few last minute Christmas gifts and a couple other things.


I was amazed at how crowded the mall was. I know it should be no surprise that a mall was packed 12 days before Christmas but with all of this talk of the bad economy and a recession I figured many people would be staying home. Apparently not..



We first went through the annual ritual of finding a parking space in the mall's parking lot which took about 10 minutes alone.



When we got inside the mall our first stop was Bath and Body Works. Weaving through the sea of shoppers and lavender bath bombs my wife got what she needed..1 bottle of lotion. "Sensual Amber" if I remember correctly.


We then proceeded to the checkout line where it all hit me....the economy must be in better shape than I thought. I counted 32 people waiting to pay for their body creams, bubble baths and aromatherapy.


We waited in line for about 13 minutes...not that I was counting. The all of the sudden a cashier who couldn't be more than 12 years old hung a sign on the "cash" register
saying they are not accepting cash. Only credit cards, debit cards, checks, your first born child and gold bullion...but no cash.


I guess the store realized that in this economy most people no longer have any cash to their names so they figured they'd help the average consumer dig themselves deeper in debt by not even offering a cash option.



When I asked the clerk why only half of their "cash" registers actually accept cash-she told me it was to "keep the lines moving" and "giving out change holds up the line".



Really?? How long does it take to count change?? After all it says so right there on the dollar bill. "Legal Tender". At least 1 woman was so disgusted she left the store saying "They're not getting any of my money.. all I have is cash". Luckily that woman was in front of us in line so we moved up a space...



We finally got to the cashier who obviously did not want to be there. I overheard her tell another employee how she can't wait until the holiday's are over. But the holiday's is WHY this girl has a job.


I after 17 minutes of waiting in line, I finally paid $10.76 cents for my wife's "Sensual Amber" body lotion (on debit card).


Then it finally hit me..we spent all of this time in the store and our purchase wasn't even for holiday gift.


Leaving the mall about an hour later I thought about the parking lot filled with cars, a mall packed with shoppers, long lines, stores refusing to accept cash and people like me willing to spend a half hour waiting to pay for a bottle of body lotion. My question is how bad can this economy really be??



It's a question I'd love to ask someone who has lived through "The Great Depression"