Siobhan: One Victim of the Credit Crunch
blogIt is the dream of all journalists to live in interesting, historically significant times. If you told a journalist that by fanning the flames of the current financial crisis they could cause the collapse of civilization they would probably buy a bigger fan; just so long as they can write the valediction in the op-ed page the day before.
At present, in the early (?) stages of the crisis, the press are scavenging around for everyday credit crunch tragedies such as unemployment, reposession and the decline in consumption. Of the latter, the press have enjoyed noting the decline of M&S and the rise of Aldi and Lidl.
I was in Aldi last night, doing my weekly shop, and saw with my own eyes how much more popular it is now than 6 months ago. Where once there was peace and serenity, now there is noise and jostle. The staff, having to cope with thousands more customers, seem to be suffering the most. On the face of one checkout girl, Siobhan, the tragedy of the credit crunch is writ large.
6 months ago, Siobhan was pretty and vivacious, chatting with the customers about their plans for the weekend. She used to do this whilst scanning the products with an alacrity that I can scarcely fathom (by far the fastest I have ever seen). Now she is harried, checking out products with a promethean sigh at the endless queue. It is a shame. She is being ruined by the recession, her glow has gone, her vivacity replaced by desperation, her cheeks are sunken and her make-up badly applied.
You could argue that premature aging is a given in the callous world of the modern hypermarket and that she has been lucky to have escaped for so long. Perhaps I should take her aside, as a sophisticated French woman once did to me when I was working in Asda, to tell her that she shouldn’t be working there and that she deserves more. Even if she doesn’t follow my advice, my words may stay with her in dark times when she asks herself if this is all there is.
I recently watched Chris Martenson’s peerless explanation of the current financial situation, Crash Course, and was struck by the graph showing how the declining value of money causes people to work so much harder. This high-stress, high-volume strategy that chews people like Siobhan up in a mere six months, surely it hasn’t always been like this? When we restart society after the crash, let’s consume and do less: it might save the planet and prevent the inner death of people like Siobhan.