Self-Serve Has Killed Thousands of Jobs

We were at a gas station tonight and it occurred to me once again how automation is robbing us of jobs for people.

My husband was a gas station attendant at a time when service with a smile was the standard all employees reached for.  As newlyweds that job was what paid for the roof over our heads and the food on our table.  Later on, as we were preparing to have a family, that job paid for all our baby products.  His boss at that time was so spectacular, he paid extra so I would get semi-private coverage in the hospital.  To this day, my husband looks back fondly on the work and the employer.

Is it realistic to ask people to stop using self-serve gas bars and force the business owners to hire gas attendants?  I'm willing to pay an extra couple of cents per litre if that means a few more people get work.  Personally, I only go to full-serve stations and they are few and far between  The Tecumseh Big Chief is full serve and they smile, wash the windows and wish you a good day - the way it always was and how it should be once again.  Also, the Shell at Central and Tecumseh has one section that is full serve and that man is also very pleasant to deal with.  He always smiles and let's you know he values your patronage.

At gas stations, I opt for full serve.  I'm hoping to get more people willing to support full serve gas stations to put enough pressure on the corporations and owners as to help put more people to work.  Overnight we can have several hundred jobs created in our area alone.
I say let's do it!  Who's with me?

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Let me know where the full-serve gas stations are by posting it in the comments section.
Thanks :)

Black Friday, eh?

Black Friday is the name given to the day following the American Thanksgiving.  Traditionally it's the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.  On this day, most major retailers open extremely early and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to the post Christmas Boxing Day sales here in Canada.  It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year.

The day's name originated in Philadelphia by the Police Department, because the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.  The term has been in use prior to 1961 and began to see broader use outside of the Philadelphia area around 1975.  As time went on, the term received an alternative explanation.  Black Friday began to indicate a point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or as bookkeepers call it, be "in the black".

As Canadians in a border city, this explanation should help make our decision easier to keep our money in this city.  Knowing now what the term "Black Friday" means, which merchants would you like to see "in the black", the ones across the border or the ones in your own hometown?

Let's make our own Black Friday  a success.

Happy shopping Canada, eh!

O Canada eh, Clip Art by Phillip Martin

Copied from Windsor Business Networks