My family rarely finds itself as a complete whole. With my attending school in Connecticut and London and running all over Asia-Pacific in between, and my father running his own research lab in Shanghai and attending conferences around the world, the family is often split up in three pieces, three countries, and even three continents. Its only so often that we can actually have family meal together, especially on my birthday. The rare coincidence called for a quick visit to the neighborhood Chinese restaurant on the eve of my birthday.
Physically speaking, San Diego and US as a whole certainly has not changed much during my one-and-a-half-year absence. But just by going to a meal in the restaurant, the superficial sameness goes away, and much gloomy changes reveal themselves. Specifically, I can say after a single meal that the general economic conditions in the US, after that financial crisis of 2008, has not gone back up (as some expected), but pretty much stayed the same, with both consumption and consumer confidence looking consistently low.
First, upon entering the rather well-known restaurant among the Chinese community in San Diego, we cannot help by notice just how few clients there were. Yes, it is a weekday night, but even compared to similar time frames just a year ago, when the restaurant at least had about 7 or 8 groups, the utter scarcity of people is just plainly scary. With no definite newspaper ads or words-of-the-mouth information on new restaurants opening up in the time period since, one can only conclude that people are becoming less and less willing to splurge on a nice dinner once in a while.
Second, the food itself changed for the worse. The prices certainly went up across the board (not a surprise since inflation did happen steadily throughout the last year or so), but the quality of the food also declined. Sizes of portions general became smaller, while there were fewer pieces of smaller, more bony meat and much more cheaper vegetables in the serving. Even dishes involving more expensive vegetables such as stringed beans were taken out of the menu, with no replacements to be found.
Seafood such as crabs and lobsters, still advertised as "serving daily" main dishes of the restaurant, is quietly having its supplies cut out. When asked about when they will be available, the waiters simply stated, "they will be available whenever the next supply arrives." Evidently, as the restaurant's number of clientele declines, it cannot afford to keep up a large inventory of expensive raw materials, only to have them go bad over time as no one will purchase them in time.
And finally, the very few clients that are still coming to the restaurant are becoming more conscious in their orders. My own family, previously pretty careless about what to order when we do eat out, are becoming more nit-picky about how much each dish is priced. And looking at the one or two other groups present, the amount of food ordered is also significantly smaller than before, perhaps averaging no more than one dish per person. All the anxious waiters can do is to go around asking each table if more food is needed.
An economic downturn is an endless spiral. More constraints on income force consumers to cut out unnecessary expenses like outings to restaurants. And those employed in industries offering the "unnecessary expenses" see their incomes decline and jobs lost. Consumption goes down further, hurting more industries and more people. The only thing sadder than businesses begging the clients to stay and spend more is the exasperation of the clients themselves when they realized that they spent way too much.
If I would wish anything for my birthday (I just realized that I have yet to do so), I would simply ask for an end, or at least a temporary suspension, of the downward spiral. For the sake of too many common people suffering out there, and more importantly, for people looking for jobs in the upcoming year (like myself), I hope that the global economy can at least show a little sign of an upward tick so that consumer confidence and consumer spending can both begin to make a comeback of some sort....
Physically speaking, San Diego and US as a whole certainly has not changed much during my one-and-a-half-year absence. But just by going to a meal in the restaurant, the superficial sameness goes away, and much gloomy changes reveal themselves. Specifically, I can say after a single meal that the general economic conditions in the US, after that financial crisis of 2008, has not gone back up (as some expected), but pretty much stayed the same, with both consumption and consumer confidence looking consistently low.
First, upon entering the rather well-known restaurant among the Chinese community in San Diego, we cannot help by notice just how few clients there were. Yes, it is a weekday night, but even compared to similar time frames just a year ago, when the restaurant at least had about 7 or 8 groups, the utter scarcity of people is just plainly scary. With no definite newspaper ads or words-of-the-mouth information on new restaurants opening up in the time period since, one can only conclude that people are becoming less and less willing to splurge on a nice dinner once in a while.
Second, the food itself changed for the worse. The prices certainly went up across the board (not a surprise since inflation did happen steadily throughout the last year or so), but the quality of the food also declined. Sizes of portions general became smaller, while there were fewer pieces of smaller, more bony meat and much more cheaper vegetables in the serving. Even dishes involving more expensive vegetables such as stringed beans were taken out of the menu, with no replacements to be found.
Seafood such as crabs and lobsters, still advertised as "serving daily" main dishes of the restaurant, is quietly having its supplies cut out. When asked about when they will be available, the waiters simply stated, "they will be available whenever the next supply arrives." Evidently, as the restaurant's number of clientele declines, it cannot afford to keep up a large inventory of expensive raw materials, only to have them go bad over time as no one will purchase them in time.
And finally, the very few clients that are still coming to the restaurant are becoming more conscious in their orders. My own family, previously pretty careless about what to order when we do eat out, are becoming more nit-picky about how much each dish is priced. And looking at the one or two other groups present, the amount of food ordered is also significantly smaller than before, perhaps averaging no more than one dish per person. All the anxious waiters can do is to go around asking each table if more food is needed.
An economic downturn is an endless spiral. More constraints on income force consumers to cut out unnecessary expenses like outings to restaurants. And those employed in industries offering the "unnecessary expenses" see their incomes decline and jobs lost. Consumption goes down further, hurting more industries and more people. The only thing sadder than businesses begging the clients to stay and spend more is the exasperation of the clients themselves when they realized that they spent way too much.
If I would wish anything for my birthday (I just realized that I have yet to do so), I would simply ask for an end, or at least a temporary suspension, of the downward spiral. For the sake of too many common people suffering out there, and more importantly, for people looking for jobs in the upcoming year (like myself), I hope that the global economy can at least show a little sign of an upward tick so that consumer confidence and consumer spending can both begin to make a comeback of some sort....
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