The Service Economy.

Supposedly, our economy is a service economy.

If that's the case, why is it so hard to get good service?

Over the past two weeks, my wife and I were reputedly vacationing in the lap of American 1% luxury. And everything sucked.

The airlines, of course, even business-class, are surly and uncaring. Not to mention airports themselves which present as something out of a dyspeptic Kafka.

The worst of all might be the rental car companies. 

Their "courtesy buses" are Afghan paramilitary issue. Devoid of smiles and shock absorbers.

Even the five star hotels we stayed in (my wife is executive platinum titanium malachite) were a whopping disappointment.

Everything ran as well as a cheap Soviet alarm clock

Here's what's happened.

Everything in our country is now done as cheaply as possible.

Every counter is understaffed and therefore overworked and, like I said, surly.

And everything basically sucks.

The same impetus toward cheap afflicts advertising.

Cheap is the reason for being for a host of channels. 

We're driven to do smaller and smaller ads for less and less money that have less and less impact

And more and more work is compromised for this reason or that.

Usually, "because the client has no money."

You never here about a meeting being cancelled because the client has no money.

But that's the way things are.

As we lurch into 2016.