See each of the submitted stories below.
Lorna Mesina-Husain
Behavior
Mega Million
It's so bad that the I'm going to owe the lottery $26M if I win?
We were driving down Riverside Drive at 7:02 pm tonight and noticed the lottery sign, (on the bridge just above Fairway on 135th St.)
550 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10031
Jen from Brooklyn
Commerce
my deli disappeared
I get breakfast and/or lunch from the deli across from my office several times a week. I've gotten to know the staff - I know who has kids, who has immigration troubles, and I bake them cookies at Christmas. When I walk in, they shout out my order and I smile. It feels like walking into Cheers.
On Friday, I went in for lunch. When I came back on Monday, the place was completely gutted. No trace of the place. I'm worried about the guys who worked there - are they ok? Do they have jobs? The speed of the disappearance disturbs me.
Fulton and Nassau
Liz Reddick
Commerce
Light Bill
I have a question: now that Circuit City has sadly closed, why are all of the lights still on in the stores during the daytime? Who will pay those electric bills?
I understand security needs, but why is the whole store glowing mid-afternoon? Just curious.
Broadway and 66th St
Derek DeMarco
Behavior
42nd Street Rollback
Spray paint on the shuttered door on 16 East 42nd Street. Is the city reverting back to the 42nd street of the 70's & 80's?
16 East 42nd Street
Fredrick Selby
Commerce
Dead Billboards
Seeing more and more outdated and empty billboards.
There is billboard before going over the 3rd Ave bridge city bound that is still advertising a History Chanel Special premiering on Jan. 4th.
Two blank ones on 287 as well.
3rd ave and bruckner blvd
Rob Bush
Bright
Booming in a bust.
We here at Crossroads Finance, a discount mortgage lender serving the tri-state area, are swamped with business. We charge the consumer no fees, they pay their appraisal COD, and all third party fees are rolled into the closing. Our goal is to beat any rate & fee package for the exact same product, terms, & conditions. Our business model & lower interest rates are hitting a nerve in these troubled times.
Pompton Plains, NJ
Mical
Commerce
Van help offers @ Lowe's
There are always people offering to drive you home with your purchases from Lowes, but this weekend, there were a lot more guys than usual and they were offering more enthusiastically than before.
Lowes on 9th Street in BKLYN
Dw Dunphy
Behavior
The Dead Cat Problem
For the past three months, I've been noticing more dead cats on the streets all over Monmouth County. Because housecats are becoming too expensive to maintain, they're being let free by their owners. Because they have no clue to the danger of the outer world, they're getting mowed down in more noticeable numbers.
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Kim
Commerce
Skimping on Napkins
Noticed while eating Sunday dinner: Vanity Fair napkins used to be 2-ply, now they are single ply!
Morristown, NJ
Bob Levy
Commerce
115 Year Old Business Struggles to Stay Open
My wife and I run a family retail business that was established in 1894 by my great grandparents. 115 years old and we are the 4th generation, direct descendants of the founders. Throughout all of our history we have been in four locations all on the Lower East Side and all within a six block radius. We are members of the 100 Year Association of New York City and have received many proclamations over the years from such dignitaries as Mayors Guliani and Bloomberg and NYS Assemblyman Sheldon Silver. I am the Chairperson of the Lower East Side BID. The 9/11 tragedy devastated our business as we lost more than 30% of our business for years after. We responded by cutting our space in half and re-inventing ourselves as a boutique. We used what was formally our warehouse, a circa 1900 catering hall, which we restored to it’s original beauty. Last year was the first year since 9/11 that we increased volume and were almost profitable. This recession comes at a time during our re-building and we do not have the resources to withstand much more. Our business is off by about 25%. Since the business is not able to pay my wife and I a salary I am working as a NYC Paramedic for St Vincent’s Medical Center during the day and working at the store in the evening. There is much more to our story and I welcome being contacted as we are not expert in recordings or videos. I certainly have many hundreds of pictures. I hope that your publicity will make people interested. Thank you!
98 Forsyth Street
Tyler
Commerce
pickles and coleslaw?
Last night I dined at a Hell's Kitchen restaurant and ordered a burger. The server asked if wanted "the pickle and coleslaw?" When I inquired further, she told me that the restaurant had been throwing too many of them out, so the servers were asked to make sure the patrons in fact want the sides.
Natasha Assa
Employment
Adjunct Professors
I work as an adjunct instructor earning far less than a full time professor doing the same work. Still I believe that as colleges struggle to balance their accounts adjuncts employment will be up rather than down. It is cheaper to employ and adjunct rather than ask a full time professor take on another course. I was able to find 4 courses this semester at different colleges, which is almost twice as much in normal times.
Metro Tech Center, Brooklyn NY
Richard Goodwin
Commerce
Crickets on the GW
I have lived for 29 years in the upper 90s on Amsterdam Avenue, a feeder for cars and trucks to the GW Bridge. I have noticed in the past months that traffic during the night is very light late at night, and will go for a few minutes at a time in total silence. This has never happened before, especially with trucks.
95th street , Amsterdam Avenue
sorabh
Commerce
$7,000 extra out of pocket due to increase imposed by 3 essentials
1. Hoboken Property Tax ~ up 40% in 2008 compared to 2007.
2. Gas and Electric companies have raised prices by 13 to 15%.
3. Company provided new Health Care plan deductible = $2,300 and monthly premium payment = $150 hence $4,100 from my pocket before insurance chips in anything!
Grand Total extra cost ~ $7,000 in a year with no salary increase!
ericf
Commerce
Which stores are crowded?
While shopping on my neighborhood's main shopping street I've noticed many stores pretty empty except for the 99 cent store which has been consistently crowded.
Newark Ave near Grove St, Jersey City
ericf
Commerce
Cash Registers In Use
Yesterday I noticed that there were only two cashiers working at the twelve cash register in the store I was visiting.
I wonder how many were in use a year ago?
23rd street, 6th Avenue
Kimberly Macher
Behavior
POOPIE CREDIT.COM....A SIGN OF THE TIMES
Recently, while riding down the HWY in Michigan I noticed a big billboard sign for POOPIE CREDIT.com
My eyes did a double take. My mind did a double take. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.Never in my lifetime had I encountered such an"in your face", rude , crude and obnoxious billboard sign describing some American's sad state of economic affairs. But I chalk it up as a "Sign of the Times"
Unfortunately , I did not take a picture of the POOPIE CREDIT sign. But I did blog about it on my blog: Cheyanne's Campsite.blogspot.com
http://cheyannescampsite.blogspot.com/2008/12/heres-your-sign-americapoopie-creditcom.html
anon
Employment
watering down the milk
My nonprofit employer started by announcing a wage freeze. So no raises this year. Next was the budget cutbacks for freelancers. So we're going to be doing more of the work we were farming out. Then it was announced that we'll see about retirement contributions. Maybe we'll get them in a lump sum, maybe we won't.
I feel like there's a cake in the kitchen and everyone keeps taking "just a sliver"
lisa
Behavior
Private Pre-K dilemna
Is it necessary to spend thousands of dollars a year to on pre-K for 3.5 yrs old in this uncertain economy? with a paranoia of losing my job any day and even with social burden to keep up with neighborhood parents (wealthy parents where I live) I have to vote for not sending my kid to school for a year more till public school will take him.
