{"id":172306,"date":"2023-04-16T09:38:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-16T13:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=172306"},"modified":"2023-04-16T09:38:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-16T13:38:46","slug":"lets-be-blunt-legal-weed-is-turning-new-york-workers-into-zombies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/lets-be-blunt-legal-weed-is-turning-new-york-workers-into-zombies\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s be blunt \u2014 legal weed is turning New York workers into zombies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>

The Big Apple is now the Big Blunt.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Not just because\u00a0decriminalized marijuana led to proliferating mayhem<\/a>\u00a0in the five boroughs.<\/p>\n

Not just because\u00a0stinky smoke hangs everywhere<\/a>, seeping into subway cars and even Broadway theaters \u2014 the acrid odor I detected in the crowded men\u2019s room of the Majestic Theatre a few weeks ago was not from \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera\u201d smoke machine.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

It\u2019s also because of a forbidden-to-utter truth, in an age where\u00a0raising the minimum wage ever higher<\/a>\u00a0has become mantra \u2014 namely, a license to get high has turned service employees into zombies.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve lived in the city nearly all my life. I never had to repeat my\u00a0highly complex Starbucks order<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a \u201ctall\u201d coffee \u2014 three times to get a response from the bummed-out barista, the way I do now.<\/p>\n

Bob Dylan\u2019s lyric, \u201cEverybody must get stoned,\u201d is now apparently in the employees\u2019 handbook at most every place requiring customer interaction.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

My friend Shelley Clark, a restaurant consultant, observed, \u201cToo often, any question or request is met with a vacant look and a very much by-rote \u2018no problem.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n