Are things going downhill post covid + cost of living?

[jennylamb1]

Wondering what people think. Went out locally with partner and son Easter Monday afternoon, head into a local bar/restaurant (son remembered having nice churros there). Person behind bar looks panicked and says she'll have to check if the kitchen is still open (this is 3.30pm), go to another local cafe hoping for better luck. The place is an absolute tip, tables covered with half-finished food, food mess on the floor, no-one comes to serve us. Walk out to go for a stroll along the shore, standing water all along the road, road surface potholed and broken up, walk home. People seem to be dumping all sorts of rubbish in their front gardens, houses run down, mentally unwell old man in co-op, shouting out, unnerving with a child, sounds like he's paranoid.
Has a voucher for a birthday treat today so went for a massage at a salon in quite a posh high street, toilet was a state, stains in toilet and sink, things broken, the massage room had some nice features but a swing top bin right next to where I was lying with stains all round the rim.
My question is, is this 'broken Britain,' or have people just got lazy? Surely if you run a salon you take some pride in creating a luxurious experience? How difficult is it to spend money in a local cafe?

I no longer eat out middle of the road places anymore, because of the COL crises has made their prices so high, they trying to absorb costs, have cheapened the menus to still bring it in at a price people are willing to pay

Im a waitress . I get more then NMW, we have been trying to recruit since January - just can not get staff for love nor money ( and where I work, no unsocial hours ). Days like these past few, where we have a queue of 30 or 40 for up to six hours, these customers are paying their hard earned money for a treat, and because we cant recruit and that we too have to cut costs, so staffing levels are at a bare minimum they arent getting the experience they expect, staff are being killed trying to deliver, staff leave, because their are more vacancies then willing workers, and its a spiral to the bottom

So those of us willing to still work in these industries, your servers, cleaners , chefs, baristas, shop staff, etc, want more money and better terms and conditions. Whos paying for that? Customer certainly doesnt want to so its up to the business to try to absorb the costs, so again, a spiral to the bottom

As for your pot holes, are you prepared to pay more in taxes? Council tax, road tax, fuel duty? Nope. None of us are. We all say we are, then when the taxes rise, we oust the government and get the next ones in who promise to cut taxes and spend

We have lived through 30/40 years of cheap food and services and its now biting us clean on the arse

We make nothing here, we expect China to make it for a pittance , we turn a blind eye to sweat shops, child labour and famine as long as we can get what we want at a price we are prepared to pay

Covid showed how us at the bottom of the earning pile were so needed. How you stood out and clapped the NHS, how you begged stores to give more home deliveries, how take outs flew - deliveroo and whatever growing huge, how crops were being ploughed back into the fields cos we had no cheap imported labour and nobody in this country who was furloughed wanted to do their bit

Thats why this country is fucked. No one wants to pay. We want everything but we want it cheap. Imagine how much your spuds would be costing you of you they were being dug by UK workers?

Same with the NHS, the care workers the person you mention obviously needs isnt there because I certainly wouldnt work in the care sector for NMW when I can clear tables for a quid more an hour and no unsocial hours