Even though our local numbers are well beyond expectation, at the corporate level our mother company is preparing for a few waves in the approaching economical storm. Our company has offered four thousand corporate (fat-bearing, bastard!!) employees a buy-out arrangement.
I am sure that there will be some trickle-down efffect and some of those (possibly worth keeping, in some cases) employees will be looking for other jobs within the company.
Our store numbers are beginning to show a less than enthusiastic holiday buying season. There are many shoppers, but they are not buying in the quantities we expect. They are stealing in record numbers, though. Fuckk I mean really!
... taking shit like air dusters, CD labels, ink cartridges, ear buds, DEMO MP3 players (with no functionality outside of the proprietary connection to my display units - worthless!), cookies, gum, candy, iTunes cards (can't be used without an active account AND our point-of-sale validation) ... in other words a bunch of cheap shit is being stolen!!
This is a sign of desperation, in my understanding.