The Lighter Side of Recession

For several years now, the headlines have been inundated with depressing stories of growing unemployment, skyrocketing retail prices and snail-paced economic growth. But, I've always been a glass-half-full kind of person, so I thought I'd take a moment to look at the lighter side of this continuing recession.

Just now, most of you rolled your eyes and scanned the page for something else to read. I know, it sounds ridiculous. But there really are some good things that have come out of the recession.

Immediately I can think of a few things that came out of the recession that are so ridiculous that they should be jokes but really aren't that funny. You know what I mean. Like thoroughly pointless and stupid things such as big Wall Street bailouts, stimulus packages and the Tea Party movement.

I was thinking more, however, about how individuals and families are dealing with a decrease of income or cutbacks in everyday life. The first thing that comes to mind is the revival of the coupon.

Coupons are suddenly everywhere, for everything. Reality television has even generated programming centered on coupon-clipping, shopping-crazed people who are, by the way, also incredible hoarders (but that's whole different show). These overzealous housewives clip every coupon ever printed, buying bulk amounts of just about anything you could think of from soap to car parts.

Local tourist traps are gaining a little ground in this economy too, because someone came up with the word, "staycation." Since gas prices continue to be unpredictable people are opting to vacation closer to home, choosing to visit local sites and spend less money.

If you still want to vacation farther away, however, you'll find nowadays it's the airlines that are doing the hijacking of their passengers. Flyers are forced to throw down more cash than ever to cover excessive baggage fees, overpriced tickets and you'll even have to shell out for you peanuts on some flights.

As for the business community, it has had its ups and downs. One story floating around the Internet tells of a company that staged a fire drill one Friday afternoon, forcing all of its 5,000 employees out into the hot sun of their Florida parking lot.

After about 10 minutes had passed, the public address system came to life and a voice said, "Sorry everyone but we're laying off about 80-percent of you. If your key card lets you back into the building, you still work here. Good luck and have a nice day." Creative, but abrupt, I'd say.

While some businesses are folding there are actually others that are thriving in this economy. A Facebook contact of mine in Cincinnati reported that her hair waxing salon business has, and I quote, "Taken off like a frightened beaver." (Don't worry; I don't know what it means either.) She's not totally clear on the reason for the sudden increase in sales though, since that kind of service is generally a luxury, unless you happen to be offensively hairy.

In an effort to balance their chakras, people are beating the stress brought on by the recession by swarming to Yoga classes. Ashrams are offering some great prices for new students and its working.

Yoga instructors are in high demand and strip mall owners are renting previously vacant retail space to yoga classes for pennies on the dollar. Their new mantra is, "All Yoga, all the time."

So regardless of the doom and gloom blaring from the lips of newscasters, there are some good things going on out there. You just have to look for them. If we all just keep doing what we're doing, try to stay positive and work hard, everything will turn around. It's just going to take time.

But, if you're not interested in having your hair ripped out of you or can't manage to fold yourself into a pretzel while you meditate, try to find your own bright spot in the dark cloud of this economy ... and relax.

Gery L. Deer is an independent columnist and business writer based in Jamestown. To read more visit www.deerinheadlines.com.