# Advantages of recession?



## WicklowMan (5 Mar 2011)

The title is a little tongue in cheek, but here are a few of my own observations / thoughts from the past couple of years, since the slowdown in the economy. This is not to ignore the list of problems, which would probably be double the length. 


1/ In the service industry something resembling customer care has come back into the frame (with exceptions, but we are getting there). No longer do shop assistants treat a bit of smalltalk with the reaction of being faced with an escaped mental patient.


2/ The enviornment; had things kept going at the dizzying rate of the mid 00's, there soon wouldn't have been much left.


3/ Pleasure driving has gone out of fashion, so it is now easier to get from point A to B on the roads.


4/ People are starting to rediscover free outdoor activities like climbing mountains and going to nature reserves etc. In countries like Sweden this is a part of life, but in Ireland it seems to go up and down with economics: during the boom times I knew people who were only happy to partake in activities if they cost money!


5/ People are also becoming more sociable generally in my experience: I would contend that economic challenges tend to bring people together, whereas the mad rollercoaster we were on saw everyone "too busy" for normal human interactions.


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## micmclo (5 Mar 2011)

The days of tradesmen letting you down, being "no shows", dropping you for the bigger job down the road or quoting you your job was not worth their time are not over.
But they are thankfully fewer.

So you'll have to forgive me if I don't shed a tear for tradesmen on Joe Duffy crying on how tough the market is and they have to emigrate.
Feel sorry for the newly qualified tradesmen though, they weren't part of the "wouldn't get out of bed for less then...." brigade.

The days of 16 year olds who quit school and went labouring on sites earning damn good money like several hundred a week and often cash in hand (my brother did this) and more then more graduates are gone also.
I don't see a big advantage for me on this but it's gone now, just an observation


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## Purple (5 Mar 2011)

Less traffic; great upside.


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## horusd (5 Mar 2011)

No more chit chat about "my property". We've reverted to calling it a house, a gaff, my home, wherever I hang my hat. Thank you sweet This post will be deleted if not edited immediately.
Noticable decline in the number of young wanna be's in ugh boots.
I no longer need to know the cost of a Hermes handbag.
 Landrovers & Pajaro's  have lost the battle with the Kia.
My plumber no longer wears Armani boilersuits
My electrician sold his Christian Dior spanner set (at a sore loss I might add).
Blue nun wine is back on the shelves.
You don't need a mortgage for a shampoo & set.
M&S are doing great deals on two for one, and dinners for 2.


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## Purple (5 Mar 2011)

The This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language has fallen out of the high-end second hand car market; I'm buying a 3 year old car for €36K that cost €96 new


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## horusd (5 Mar 2011)

Purple said:


> The This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language has fallen out of the high-end second hand car market; I'm buying a 3 year old car for €36K that cost €96 new


 
A fluoresent pink hummer? I saw that car!!


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## Purple (5 Mar 2011)

horusd said:


> A fluoresent pink hummer? I saw that car!!



Yes, that's the one.


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## becky (5 Mar 2011)

Great deal on the car purple.

I too agree that less traffic is great, I can now get to Limerick from Galway in 1 and 1/2 hours, in the boom this took me well over 2 hours door to door.

I needed a plumber as I had a small leak under the kitchen sink, he said he'd come at 8.45am, he came at 8.35.  

The job took him less than 15 minutes and he asked if there was anything else I needed doing.  There was a bulb in the kitchen and landing which needed changing which I kept putting off as the cellings were high and I don't have a ladder.  He changed both bulbs, put a new socket in the kitchen one and all for €40. 

This was all done by 9am, so I sat and watched telly for 40 minutes and told my boss he didn't come until 9.15.


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## enoxy (6 Mar 2011)

Got laid off, then started working for myself and earning more now with less hours being worked than previously. Recession gave me the kick up the behind that I needed to take the plunge. 

I also enjoyed the time with my kids which I had when I was off on jobseekers.


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## Ancutza (6 Mar 2011)

> Got laid off, then started working for myself and earning more now with  less hours being worked than previously. Recession gave me the kick up  the behind that I needed to take the plunge.
> 
> I also enjoyed the time with my kids which I had when I was off on jobseekers.



Word for word what happened to me. Life in this recession-thingey is flippin' brilliant!!!


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## WicklowMan (6 Mar 2011)

Ancutza said:


> Word for word what happened to me. Life in this recession-thingey is flippin' brilliant!!!



Well done both!

These are the kind of stories we should be hearing instead of *constant* doom and gloom. I don't even watch the news anymore ... it makes me depressed!


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## JP1234 (6 Mar 2011)

enoxy & ancutza - just out of curiousity, what kind of business did you go into?

As I am facing unemployment again in 2 weeks it's hard to find anything good in the recession right now but I would say it's nice to be able to get a parking space fairly easily, and yes, some shop assistants or waiting staff do appear to be more pleasant. Having said that I still refuse to frequent certain places where we were given appalling service ( or none at all) in the past.


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## enoxy (6 Mar 2011)

Worked for a business advisory/consulting firm, now I have gone out on my own as a contractor - doing roughly the same stuff. 

I have availed of the Back to work enterprise allowance to set up the business and this funds my wife to look after the kids so all in all things could be a lot worse. 

Unfortunately my house is worth what I paid for it in the year 2000 but everyone else in the same boat...or worse.


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## Ancutza (6 Mar 2011)

I managed a medium-sized furniture factory in Romania on behalf of an irish investor until it went splat in the face of chinese competition in summer 2009.

Since August 2009 I wholesale costume jewelry throughout Romania.  Couldn't even begin really to explain how I got into this line of business but it was as the result of a phone call from a livelong friend in Ireland.  It's TOTALLY outside my ken.  I love it to bits. I'm freer than I ever was.  My kids now jump up and down in the window when I pull into the driveway in my nearly 10 year-old van whereas before they used to hide behind their moms skirt when I stepped out of my brand-new 4x4.

I work 30 -39 hours per week out of season depending on how I can be asked and in-season probably 50 -60 hours per week.  We also supply souvenirs to shops on the Black Sea coast from May til September so last year we rented an apartment down there in the summer holidays and I worked between Bucharest and there whilst the family went to the beach every day.

In the last 3 months I've got back to a little better than the wage I used to have and can honestly say I wish the factory went tits up a couple of years earlier.


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## truthseeker (7 Mar 2011)

As a result of both deregulation and the recession there are huge amounts of taxi drivers on the roads now. Gone are the days of a night out in Dublin City Centre followed by a painful hobble (in the high heels) to Rathgar or Terenure if you were very unlucky - hoping to get an empty taxi on his way back into town. Overall taxi drivers have better manners now as well.


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## fobs (7 Mar 2011)

THe pressure of off to spend money on new clothes for every occasion. Now it is better to say "Have that dress for ages" and actually not be lying 

Rediscovering all the things we can do for free. Our local park has a new tarmac walk all around it and yesterday it was packed with people walking,kids on bikes etc..

My son (who is six) remarked after free-wheeling down a nice hill there on his bike  "It really makes me feel alive!" At six he thought me a good lesson on priorities!


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## liaconn (8 Mar 2011)

Fewer restaurants charging silly prices or telling you that they want the table back at 8.30.

Less stupid boasting about how much handbags/holidays/houses cost.

More children and teenagers being occasionally told 'no, we can't afford it'.


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## Firefly (8 Mar 2011)

Forgetting about the price paid for them:
The motorway network linking the major cities to Dublin. 
The Luas. 
Lots (too many?) of good 4* hotels that are, in fairness, excellent value at the moment. 
Trafic is way down. 
People are, on average, better dressed and drive better cars. 
Our homes are better kitted out
We have more guards and nurses
FF are out
We have had the experience of generating real wealth in this coutry prior to the housing boom - we built up a strong Foreign Direct Investment model. We have a young, educated work force and births are rising again.


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## Mpsox (9 Mar 2011)

certain muppet TDs like Mary Coughlin, John O'Donahue and Sean Power no longer have any say in how the country is run
Traffic is less and as well, there are far fewer lunatic van drivers on the roads
Far fewer property porn pages on the paper
There's now always a deal to be done
No newspaper reports of people flying to the US to do the shopping
More people have realised that they have to take responsibility for themselves and their own affairs, no point in relying on the Givt to do so
People who were living the flash lifestyle yet producing nothing of any benifit to society have taken a heck of a fall, far less of the "social" pages in the newspapers
People are being far more sensible which in the long term, will be a good thing


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## MrMan (9 Mar 2011)

Firefly said:


> Forgetting about the price paid for them:
> The motorway network linking the major cities to Dublin.
> The Luas.
> Lots (too many?) of good 4* hotels that are, in fairness, excellent value at the moment.
> ...


You say FF are out, but your list looks like the benefit of FF years.


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## Firefly (9 Mar 2011)

MrMan said:


> You say FF are out, but your list looks like the benefit of FF years.



The hint is in my first line


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## MrMan (9 Mar 2011)

Firefly said:


> The hint is in my first line



Sorry, my FF tinted glasses blurred my vision!


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## Kitten (30 Mar 2011)

I'm skinnier - can't afford to eat out and I walk every day. Only 6lbs to go to target and that's after 4 kids in 5 years! 
Ditched the city and the nanny, moved to the country and now take pride in my housework as opposed to giving out about what the cleaner didn't do.
Got a life.


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## Godfather (31 Mar 2011)

More discounts at supermarkets


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## BOXtheFOX (31 Mar 2011)

Everyone's in the same boat. We have all been screwed financially in some shape or form. Some more so than others, some quite badly. Realising now that keeping it simple is the way to go.


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## ali (31 Mar 2011)

The thing I notice most strongly is the lack of competition now. No need to go into a blind panic because your friend down the pub is telling you how they closed on investment house number 27 that afternoon while you only have the one house and the train is passing you by. Or that your peers have villas in portugal while you're still paying for your annual two weeks on a credit card and paying it back til Christmas!!

I am so glad that competitivenes is gone out of society. There is a feeling that we are all in the same boat whether once wealthy or not. Indeed the previously wealthy are frequently worse off now due to the silly spending. 
Everyone understands that everyone else is feeling the pinch and making do and no-one is looked down on for that anymore, whereas during the boom if you weren't doing well you were kind of quietly considered stupid or slow for not grabbing the "opportunities".

I don't think we will be fooled as quickly again by bright shiny things. Once bitten, twice shy.

A.


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## liaconn (31 Mar 2011)

ali said:


> The thing I notice most strongly is the lack of competition now. No need to go into a blind panic because your friend down the pub is telling you how they closed on investment house number 27 that afternoon while you only have the one house and the train is passing you by. Or that your peers have villas in portugal while you're still paying for your annual two weeks on a credit card and paying it back til Christmas!!
> 
> I am so glad that competitivenes is gone out of society. There is a feeling that we are all in the same boat whether once wealthy or not. Indeed the previously wealthy are frequently worse off now due to the silly spending.
> Everyone understands that everyone else is feeling the pinch and making do and no-one is looked down on for that anymore, whereas during the boom if you weren't doing well you were kind of quietly considered stupid or slow for not grabbing the "opportunities".
> ...


 

I really hope not. There was something horrible about all the nouveau riche carry on that seemed to take over for a few years. I know there will still be people around who will judge people by how old their car is or the label on their dress but hopefully most people will now see through all that crap. Already I've noticed that there are lots of older cars on the road and less skips around the place for people to put perfectly good stuff into that they've got 'bored' with.


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## Firefly (31 Mar 2011)

ali said:


> I don't think we will be fooled as quickly again by bright shiny things. Once bitten, twice shy.
> A.



I wish you were right but I have my doubts


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## liaconn (31 Mar 2011)

I have my doubts as well. I think there are lots of people out there who, given half a chance, would run out and spend spend spend all over again. The 'depths' of some people's shallowness really came out during the boom years.


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## SarahMc (1 Apr 2011)

Schools stopping ridiculously expensive 'educational' trips to wherever.
Great restaurant deals, especially early birds.
FF out of power
I imagine there will be a decrease in our shocking child obesity levels (due to more home cooked food, more trips to park, use of free or cheap after school activities like GAA coaching etc)


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