Many things you have listed - decrease of quality in both food and in many cases, service; an increase in the presence of homeless, especially in places they used to not be; and a simple deterioration are all things I have observed as well. Not just post pandemic, but even beforehand. The pandemic, as well as the related economic consequences, simply made some things more obvious. I see it as related to our overall inability to make things work anymore, be it housing or transportation or simply cooking a decent hamburger in a Wendy's. Why is probably a book in itself.
I don't think you are the only one who still feels the lingering effects of the pandemic and I don't think it is simply your age. I am about 20 years older than you and I feel many of the same things. My life seems to be trapped in a suspended state where , in many ways I still try to recapture what life was like in 2019 even though I know the world has changed in irreparable ways. I think that those of us who lived through 2020 and 2021 will carry emotional and psychological scars for the rest of our lives, and March 2020 will always be a hard line of before and after.
I think a lot of strip mall places face a conundrum. My theory: their clientele will frequently be folks who don't / can't cook at home and rely on the lower prices. With inflation, maintaining the same quality as before (throwing out older but still edible food, etc) would require increasing prices. And while they may gain some customers by maintaining quality, they'll lose the regulars they care about. Therefore, if wages adequately rose with inflation, strip mall food would be better!
You're a brave man. I adore shellfish, but with the exception of a couple of pricier high-end places back in the glory days, I've always considered buffet mussels a literal crapshoot.
I've only gotten food poisoning once, possibly twice, in many years and many dozens of visits to places like this, and I always eat some mix of seafood and sushi. (I did refuse to eat a few oysters once that were warm, but if they look fresh and are sitting on ice I figure it's no different than buying them at the supermarket. We eat those on the half-shell sometimes, plus homemade sushi!)
Many things you have listed - decrease of quality in both food and in many cases, service; an increase in the presence of homeless, especially in places they used to not be; and a simple deterioration are all things I have observed as well. Not just post pandemic, but even beforehand. The pandemic, as well as the related economic consequences, simply made some things more obvious. I see it as related to our overall inability to make things work anymore, be it housing or transportation or simply cooking a decent hamburger in a Wendy's. Why is probably a book in itself.
I don't think you are the only one who still feels the lingering effects of the pandemic and I don't think it is simply your age. I am about 20 years older than you and I feel many of the same things. My life seems to be trapped in a suspended state where , in many ways I still try to recapture what life was like in 2019 even though I know the world has changed in irreparable ways. I think that those of us who lived through 2020 and 2021 will carry emotional and psychological scars for the rest of our lives, and March 2020 will always be a hard line of before and after.
It’s almost like shutting the whole world down has consequences you can’t anticipate.
I think a lot of strip mall places face a conundrum. My theory: their clientele will frequently be folks who don't / can't cook at home and rely on the lower prices. With inflation, maintaining the same quality as before (throwing out older but still edible food, etc) would require increasing prices. And while they may gain some customers by maintaining quality, they'll lose the regulars they care about. Therefore, if wages adequately rose with inflation, strip mall food would be better!
I retired in Jan 2020. Still trying to break into a new life. The old one is so changed due to retirement and the pandemic
You're a brave man. I adore shellfish, but with the exception of a couple of pricier high-end places back in the glory days, I've always considered buffet mussels a literal crapshoot.
I've only gotten food poisoning once, possibly twice, in many years and many dozens of visits to places like this, and I always eat some mix of seafood and sushi. (I did refuse to eat a few oysters once that were warm, but if they look fresh and are sitting on ice I figure it's no different than buying them at the supermarket. We eat those on the half-shell sometimes, plus homemade sushi!)
I lived in College Park around 1990, and it was worse than these pictures suggest, certainly as regards options for dining