"Don't You Know There's a Recession!"

It was Tuesday morning. I was experiencing the typical beginning of the week dread during my morning commute on the LA Metro bus. I proceeded to plunk my quarters into that tall box by the driver and found my seat near the back door. The ride really isn't that bad as long as everything is on time, and the other passengers keep to themselves.

Then, there she was - the woman who refused to pay. She loudly announced that she did not have any quarters to plunk into the machine, coughed, then annoyed the driver so much, he allowed her to move on back. She dragged her large laundry bag down the aisle, the whole time justifying her lack of funds saying "Don't you know there's a recession." She repeated it and repeated it and repeated it as if that was a good reason. A lump of indignation formed in the bottom of my stomach. I imagine the dozen of us who paid fairly didn't feel much sympathy. None of us carry around our endless supplies of bus fare.

Nevertheless, I've decided to follow this woman's example. I'm going to go to the grocery store and find all the essentials including gummi worms and frozen taquitos. When the checker tells me that I owe $237.13, I will declare "Don't you know there's a recession!" and run out with my armfulls of groceries. Oh wait ... that's stealing!