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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   28613 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 19, 2024

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seeing all these bars and restaurants that literally close at 8pm (I guess maybe it’s too dangerous after),

You've hit upon another aspect of our city. Almost all the restaurants here close super early (usually 9pm, but if you come in after 8:30 they'll give you a hard time or turn you away). I've literally never visited another city where restaurants close so early.

We're just an early town in general, perhaps due to being on the West Coast.

I think the restaurants close early because they don't have staff. Seattle might have the highest labor costs of any major city in the United States. Median household income is $115,000/year. Housing is expensive as hell, and there's no good public transit to bring cheap workers in from the outskirts. Finally, we don't have the same flood of illegals which keep NYC and Cali prices down. Combine all that and you get McJobs paying $27/hr to start as you noticed.

You've hit upon another aspect of our city. Almost all the restaurants here close super early (usually 9pm, but if you come in after 8:30 they'll give you a hard time or turn you away). I've literally never visited another city where restaurants close so early.

You should visit Germany, then. I remember going outside in Leipzig at 8pm and the town looked like they were expecting a RAF bombing raid.

I worked for a bit in Germany almost 20 years ago. Coming from Finland, it was a shock when most stores closed at 18 and if I wanted to buy groceries, I had to go to the special ones that were open late - meaning all the way until 19.

I've heard that Dresden the city just shuts down on a Sunday to the point where you can't get a coffee at noon.

The worst thing in Germany for this is Christmas. If Christmas Day falls on a Monday (or is it Tuesday, one of those days is the worst) then stores are shut for like 4 days and you have to go to a gas station if you forgot anything.

there's no good public transit to bring cheap workers in from the outskirts

Just reading the post, it seems like a chicken and egg problem. Everyone travels by car (forget the walkable, bikeable city) because it's too risky to go around on foot, so there's no public transport provision. Since there's no good public transport, everyone has to travel by car (because it's too risky to go around on foot). Since everyone travels by car... and so on.

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