Weekly, What recent changes are going on at your work / local businesses?
Posted by AntiSonOfBitchamajig@reddit | PrepperIntel | View on Reddit | 46 comments
This could be, but not limited to:
- Local business observations.
- Shortages / Surpluses.
- Work slow downs / much overtime.
- Order cancellations / massive orders.
- Economic Rumors within your industry.
- Layoffs and hiring.
- New tools / expansion.
- Wage issues / working conditions.
- Boss changing work strategy.
- Quality changes.
- New rules.
- Personal view of how you see your job in the near future.
- Bonus points if you have some proof or news, we like that around here.
- News from close friends about their work.
DO NOT DOX YOURSELF. Wording is key.
Thank you all, -Mod Anti
VariousFalcon7466@reddit
I’ve seen stores with “no meta glasses/smart glasses allowed” signs and more assholes wearing them. A pair of idiots were wandering around the farms market following people and laughing at them(they laughed at me for using cloth bags). They were escorted out pretty quickly.
Adventurous-Site-630@reddit
Technology moves on, and honestly, this was completely expected. We lost our expectation of privacy the second cell phone cameras became ubiquitous. In fact, we probably lost significantly more privacy back then than we are now. Smart glasses are really just a different tool doing the exact same job. We're already at a point where anyone you pass could be recording you—if you step out into public these days, it's safer to just assume you're already on camera
VariousFalcon7466@reddit
A phone makes it obvious when someone is in your face though.
Adventurous-Site-630@reddit
Not really. I'm 99% sure I could be pointing my phone at a person pretending to play a game for a very very long time before they noticed.
VariousFalcon7466@reddit
They would notice it long before they would notice someone’s glasses particularly in places you shouldn’t have your phone out.
catzzzzzzzzzz@reddit
The fact that they exist makes me sick to my stomach. We really have been conditioned to jump gleefully into a surveillance state.
VariousFalcon7466@reddit
And the weird idea that being in public means you consent to being filmed and bullied online while just going about your day.
shryke12@reddit
This was completely inevitable. It sucks but this was always the track since the first phone camera.
VariousFalcon7466@reddit
At least phones are noticeable. I don’t think some of the elderly people there even realized what was going on.
Sneakygit12@reddit
The old term was Glassholes. Still fits.
VariousFalcon7466@reddit
I remember when Google glasses were ridiculed. We need to start doing it again.
greendildouptheass@reddit
i am seeing significant increase in hacking/spam targetting corporate finance teams as of late. This actually led to afew of the businesses that we deal with to send money to these scammers. Their phone#, email address are now spoofed to look like a legitimate one.
marioncrepes@reddit
Grocery store, these past two weeks as cashier I've been hearing grumbling about gas prices on top of the usual complaints about bill totals. On Tuesday, had a guy come through with a $500 cart of pantry and freezer staples, think dozens of frozen veggies and cases of broth etc. I said to customer, "yeah this is a smart moment to stock up" he was surprised but admitted he was concerned prices would rise. We had an honest conversation about everything occuring, it was strangely validating to hear from someone else decently informed. The once no fee ATM now charges a dollar, I'd just picked up money charge free on Friday, noticed that'd changed Monday. This week and last, I have never seen this amount of deactive barcodes meaning the price is being adjusted. Produce, cleaning supplies, condiments. Everything is subtly changing beneath the surface
keinezeit44@reddit
I'm friendly with a particular cashier who checks me out on most Saturdays. We chat a lot, but have always kept conversations neutral, no current events, just personal chitchat. This past Sat. I was not having a good mental health day and I broke down a little and told her I was so tired of pretending things were normal when they were in fact, not normal. She seemed relieved that I'd said it first, and I think we both benefited from validation outside our homes.
I think a lot more people than we realize are aware that things are collapsing around us; they just aren't willing to admit it outside of the people they trust the most.
GWS2004@reddit
It might also be that a lot of people who voted for this are realizing they made a terrible decision. Not that I think they will learn anything from this though.
inknglitter@reddit
Recall-related shortage of contrast fluid for medical imaging. Canceled all outpatient/non-emergent imaging to ration supply for strokes & traumas.
Ironynotwrinkly@reddit
Last fall, I had an extreme allergic reaction to contrast. The doctors at the hospital were shocked as this is not supposed to happen. Now I wonder if I had contrast that should have been recalled and don’t actually have an allergy.
mslinky@reddit
You can suddenly become allergic to contrast (and basically anything). Even as an adult. I did, and it came along with a sudden onset crab allergy.
JicamaAppropriate920@reddit
yup I became allergic to tomatoes a few years ago when I turned 40 and it's progressed to the point I can't eat any nightshades
JicamaAppropriate920@reddit
I had a weird Raynaud's reaction when I had a CT with contrast last year. Almost my entire right hand turned white. It was so strange and the tech hadn't ever seen anything like it before, but didn't seem concerned.
GWS2004@reddit
I didn't know CT and MRI contrast are different. I had an reaction to one and not the other.
BuffaloThese8249@reddit
I live in a small town on a fairly major highway about 45 minutes away from any bigger city. All the neighboring small towns are about 5 miles apart. I've started noticing full grown adults using e-scooters and e-bikes to travel on the highway shoulder between towns to run errands like going to the dollar store. Definitely not typical.
Unusual_Specialist@reddit
I’ve noticed this too! A ton more people taking public transportation, riding e-bikes, and walking. Our entire family recently started looking at E-bikes as an alternative to these high gas prices.
Aint2Proud2Meg@reddit
The mental health firm I work for suddenly started treating us like drones within the span of 2 weeks. Pages upon pages of new policies on top of meetings about other new policies.
We’ve already been extremely successful and have not backslid in the least, but the whole day and all discussion is KPIs and all of the flexibility we were previously allowed is gone and we also now suddenly have to all lunch from EXACTLY noon to 12:30, when there is literally 0 reason for this. We do not have clients looking for us or anything like that. I know it’s a first world problem, but if a business as high demand and short supply as we are is like “hey- YOU don’t get to have good mental health, that’s for the clients”, then I feel like the job market is staying tough.
keinezeit44@reddit
Wondering if making the workplace less appealing is a strategy to convince people to quit rather than deal with layoffs
TeaPrimary1147@reddit
This
Aint2Proud2Meg@reddit
After yesterday’s meeting one woman was like “I literally cannot do this, I am not a robot. You’ve been letting me use my lunch to run my daughter to work every Friday for 2 years and I’ve never taken advantage. If I can’t have that anymore I just have to leave. I like it here and I don’t want to but I will have to.”
The owner came to talk to me about it and I held my tongue because we were in mixed company but I am going to be honest with her today. There are some policies that are totally reasonable and people are being babies about, but it’s a matter of it all being dumped on us in such a short time- that will get a reaction and make people anxious.
FriendlyArachnid6000@reddit
She can do whatever she wants during her lunch, which is 30 minutes long.
danielledelacadie@reddit
She may need something like 40-45 minutes and local management was fine with it because it didn't impact the office, either because of their role or others covering and her repaying them in kind.
A bundle of new, stricter policies is a sure sign of the executive suite trying to get control over a situation they realistically can't control/have no idea what to do about.
FriendlyArachnid6000@reddit
Spoiled people get the adult job treatment:
MightyMTB@reddit
We’ve seen 15-40% increases across all refined oil products & 42% on DEF since the war started. There will be another 25ish% hike on oil coming soon.
If you don’t already have one an AST (above ground storage tank) at the house it definitely time to jump on it. You’ll save anywhere from $.25-$.75 per gallon.
FriendlyArachnid6000@reddit
mean like nat gas or propane or something right?
MightyMTB@reddit
No e87, unleaded, diesel, off-road diesel, whatever you use most of honestly lol
FriendlyArachnid6000@reddit
Interesting
MOF1fan@reddit
Saw in a users group a power plant in CA asking for turbine oil because they were out and willing to hot shot a barrel from any plant with a barrel to spare. Shortages of turbine oil means no power generation if they run out.
Major controls company for powergen sent out an email recently about shortages of Hardware (hard drives, ram) would delay upgrades. They also won't honor quotes past a week.
FriendlyArachnid6000@reddit
Christ can we just raid the fascism data centers being constructed
alex_bit_@reddit
It seems motor oil is already going into short supply.
MOF1fan@reddit
I saw an article about that as well just the other day. I'm curious how that will affect synthetic oil (turbine oil is synthetic).
IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit
Even with everything synthetic, many of the base ingredients might still be most easily sourced from fossil fuels and in shortages. Ethylene is probably needed at some point in the process and most of that comes from the middle east too.
8Deer-JaguarClaw@reddit
Over the past 3-4 years, we've gone from have 120-day price guarantees to 90 days and then 60 days. And most recently (the last 2 months), we're down to 30 days guarantee. The cost of our consumables (fuel, chemicals, filter media, disposal services) is increasing but also inconsistent, making it a lot harder to forecast margin and maintain consistent pricing.
Powerful-Pie-3935@reddit
Sorry for this being rather vauge - I have something to share but cannot risk doxing myself quite yet. I am a stay at home parent in the DMV area, I try to keep my ear open to the happenings of other families like mine, which inherently involves lots of federal employees, political workers, ect
We are all aware of the financial challenges for those in the region, and I think people understand that this has consequences for the ability of americans to respond to issues within the government, ect.
Financially, I am planning to cut down on my families expenses significantly (we are moving in with family and out of the region) as I have doubts about the ability for my spouse to keep his job with what I am hearing about money at his organization. That being said, if it were to actually come to the point where my spouse was let go, that would mean some pretty bleak things for the upcoming elections, in my opinion. The fact that we are planning for the possibility is pretty concerning and even though it sucks for us finacially, I am more worried about the wider implications.
Certain-Entrance7839@reddit
Restaurant - all food pricing, outside of seasonal produce coming into season, has upward price movement - especially beef and chicken. Beef is just about to reach covid shortage era pricing. Consumers continue to believe there is some kind of conspiracy where we (the food industry) gets secret rock bottom pricing when, in reality, we can save money by just going to Walmart just like them. It's increasingly frustrating, especially for our FOH staff, to get the brunt of consumer rage in this specific industry while they shrug off inflation in every other industry like it's no big deal.
We're also getting lots more calls than usual asking if we're hiring. Although our sales volume remains solid, wage expectations in 2026 means "off the street" new labor is too big of a risk - we will only hire vetted referrals from other staff we consider strong workers. We just can't pay $15-20/hr alongside COGs inflation I referenced above for someone who can't read or thinks their weekly schedule is an "if I feel like it" calendar (I'm not exaggerating, both are standard problems today in the labor market).
MightyMTB@reddit
That’s interesting hearing about Walmart being cheaper. We have the same issue with quarts/gallons of oil. It’s only cheaper for distributors if they buy bulk & repackage oil themselves now.
I wonder how many restaurants have explored buying whole/half animals and butchering it themselves to save money.
turandokht@reddit
When I was a chef and considering starting my own business, I was really interested in trying to figure out how to do that. The potential issue I saw coming up was just the popularity of certain cuts over others. Like I buy a whole cow and now I have a finite amount of ribeye and tenderloin steaks and a really hefty amount of the kind of meat that ends up in stew, chili, and burgers.
I don’t really know how it would shake out exactly but I couldn’t shake the suspicion I was going to end up with a huge surplus of dishes nobody wanted while having to 86 the most popular things an hour into service.
I think if you had a really creative and very flexible menu and your customer base knew and appreciated what you were doing, it’d be fine.
Problem is, I live in America where a ton of people’s favorite restaurant is unironically a chain like Chili’s or TGIF or Applebees, where you can always go and get your favorite thing and never have to try something new because your favorite thing is unavailable. I might just be too pessimistic but I just couldn’t see it working outside of a super expensive metro area filled with rabid foodies, and probably I’d struggle to survive there because it’d be so expensive.
So I ended up just scrapping it before it really went anywhere.
Dazzling_Outcome_436@reddit
The whole "if I feel like it" problem is so much worse. The number of my college students who were like "yeah I was planning on taking the final on Wednesday" when the term ended the Sunday before absolutely floored me. I don't know where they got the audacity, but they need to put it back.
Natural-Berryer7@reddit
I work at a small garden center. I'm hoping we make it through the summer in business.
The owner bought the place from an older couple who built it in the 80s. I was lucky enough to work for the original owners for several years before they retired and sold a few years ago to the current owner who has absolutely no idea how to run either the landscaping or retail side of this business.
I've been doing my best for years to run the garden center with no guidance, budget, or help. But every day I'm asked to do more for less and we're not making money. That makes the owner grumpy and he just fired one of 2 landscapers we had for unclear reasons. At the busiest part of the season.
Oh, and our dump truck blew its engine so we can't make deliveries and customers are more rude and entitled than ever. So we'll see. Maybe this becomes a chance to pivot away from retail towards growing.