So many people work hard and then give all of their money to people who hate them and hate what they believe – people who actually then give the money to work against the interests and beliefs of their own customers. How dumb is that?
I see a lot of people’s posts on social media. I’m followed by 2,500+ people just on Facebook, and as an unintended consequence, I get to see a lot of stupid stuff people post. (Not you, of course!)
They like to complain about politics and cry about the economy and bemoan the degradation of civilization. Everyone hates them (they cry); the old days were better; society is falling apart; whatever happened to decency?; woe is us! They cry when some historic business closes down, but they never spent their money there. If someone posts a nostalgic remembrance about how much they loved Hastings here in Brownwood back in the day, there will be 200 comments from people who miss the place SO MUCH – but we have a great bookstore downtown right now and they don’t go there. They buy their books on Amazon. “It’s cheaper, you know?”
Societal devolution and economic apocalypse are always cheaper. Funding the people who hate you is always cheaper.
Then they wonder why they can’t get yet another Dollar General or Wal-mart or HEB near them. They talk happily about spending their money at the fast food chain restaurants up on the highway. They drink their Bud Lights and eat Pizza Hut delivery and talk about the way things used to be. They “don’t like nothin’ fancy.” They are “down-to-earth country folk.” They “like the simple life.” I don’t eat at no fancy restaurant! I’m a simple man! I like corporate Nashville country music and Taco Bell is good enough for me. Then I’ll go home and watch Disney and make some social media posts about how the world has gone to hell and how no one builds anything good anymore. When is the new iPhone coming out?
When a new restaurant or shop is opening downtown, they complain that we don’t need another restaurant… we need a Payless Shoe Store or an Academy or some such national chain. We don’t need another bar downtown, we need a Chuck E Cheese!
They say you can’t fix stupid.
Our weekly daytrip was on Friday this week because Danielle had an appointment on Thursday which would not give us enough time to take a trip and get back. That is one of our rules for daytrips, we need to get back at a reasonable hour. Mainly that is so we don’t feel like we need to get a room and stay overnight or spend a lot of money if we are there too long. Money-wise these trips only make sense if we can get to our goal location, spend a few hours experiencing the place, then get back at a reasonable hour. We limit ourselves to a three-hour drive one way, that way we feel we can get back. We usually have one meal and a few drinks at local joints and spend most of the time walking and window shopping. Looking in antique or junk stores, too.
This Friday we drove up to Cisco. Some friends told us their friends had a wine-tasting room there, so we made that our target. The drive up was great. It started out cloudy and overcast and a little cool. The trip was to be about 50 minutes, and halfway there the clouds thinned out and the sun peeked through, and the blue skies showed through more and more as we headed north. We didn’t get gas when we left Brownwood because I figured the gas would be cheaper up by the Interstate, and we had just enough gas to get to Cisco according to the car’s computer. Just. Enough.
About ten miles out of Cisco the car was showing we had 8 miles of gas left, but I know the computer lies. As we approached the Interstate intersection the car was showing ZERO miles to E, and I was not stopping at one of the intersection gas stations. Gas would be cheaper in town. I was smiling and laughing about it, but Danielle would just give me the side-eye. She’s seen me do this a lot in 30+ years. We haven’t always made it, but usually we do. We coasted into the gas station and the gas there was just $2.62/gallon. WIN. We have a 13-gallon tank and it took 12.979 gallons to fill it up. Life is exciting when you’re poor. I’ll save ten cents a gallon, which only comes up to a few bucks, but I’ll spend that at a local business that needs it.
We found the Broken X Winery and parked. The skies were blue now but the winds had picked up and the big “OPEN” flag was whipping wildly. These open flags in small towns is a sign of someone that is just trying to make it in a world that grows more and more hostile to small businesses and local owners every day.
I could tell by the flag that there was another wine bar just a half block up the street, and just a block down was Red Gap Brewery (we’d been there before.) Down the street a few blocks there were a few locally owned restaurants that we marked as possible places to visit, too. They had open flags out, whipping in the wind. Lots of places to visit if we had a mind to do it.
The place was open (but empty) and we met the nice owner lady and her friend who worked there. We ended up spending our whole time at the Broken X because we enjoyed the talk. The husband-owner wasn’t there. He was working at his other full-time business. The wife told us about the process of opening the place. The difficulties. We were friends with a lot of the same people, and many of the people who had helped build out the little restaurant and wine bar were also friends of ours. We ordered a charcuterie board and an appetizer and sipped on wine. The owner’s son had a genetic birth affliction and they had that to deal with too. Things were good, she said, but it was hard. Sometimes they would be open and no customers would come. It was hard to stay open until 9pm if no one came. They’d had to change their hours a few times to try to better target their audience. Running a small business is a struggle.
The story is the same everywhere. Every week we take a daytrip and we talk to small business owners where we visit. Then we come home and talk to the small business owners here.
The next day we walked over to another local restaurant/bar here to watch the Texas Tech football game. The place opened at noon, and it was packed. PACKED! There was a line at the bar for an hour, and then the place emptied out. The owner told us, “this is how it goes. Slammed busy, and then dead.” His wife owns a local business, and she’s working hard to make it too.
The point is that these small business owners – local friends – they are the ones keeping civilization afloat. And all the while you make choices every day – one usually based on your own comfort and ease – as to where you are going to spend and send your money. Usually, for most people, their money goes directly to national and international corporations that spend that money with the politicians who are working directly against their interests. These chains bend to the whims of the activists and the clown-show narrow cliques who make the most noise. The quality of the products degrades, more and more of it comes from overseas… and we all complain. The riots in the streets that are organized by international grievance groups? Those are being paid for by the money you spend at national chains and online retailers.
Frankly, I don’t care about or ask the politics of local shop owners or restaurateurs. I just care that they are more likely to hire local people and spend their own money locally. That is the fountainhead of civilization.
If everyone just picked one day a week and instead of sending their money to the financiers of demoralization, spent that money at a local joint, things would change. Right around here, things would change overnight. No doubt about it.
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Michael Bunker is a local columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose columns appear on Wednesdays and Sundays on the website.
