Donuts, grits & me
US productivity and the great ’17 solar eclipse
I would
bet the odds aree long that the good folks over at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement giant, ever stepped foot into the Waffle House on Stoneridge Drive in Columbia, SC.
Or the Krispy Kreme on Sunset Boulevard in nearby Lexington, SC.
If they have visited either location — or, I presume, any one of thousands of otherr businesses along the 70-milewide, coast-to-coast band of totality leading up to the Aug.. 21 solar eclipse — they wouldd have witnessed, as I did, thee great American transference of productivity. The what? Let me explain. In the days leading up to Monday’s solar eclipse, Challenger got some publicity for estimating that US employers could take a $694 million hit as workers took time off to take in the 150-second eclipse.
Challenger even figured it would require about 20 minutes for everyone to gather up “viewing equipment” — I guess that means those funny cardboard glasses — before venturing out to see the heavenly event.
Cities in the zone of totality alone, like Columbia, where the eclipse was at 100 percent, would take a $200 million hit, the firm would have everyone believe.
The Challenger folks should have ventured out of the office to Waffle House for some smothered and covered hash browns, grits and waffles. There it would have learned that the morning shift was expanded to four waitresses from three and that everyone’s shift was extended.
And they still could have used more help as the breakfast rush extended well past 10 a.m.
There was no falloff in productivity at the cozy restaurant, where a family from London, a couple from Philadelphia, and others from the Northeast took up booths and counter space in the small dining room.
At the Krispy Kreme, workers were equally busy. During Monday’s pre-eclipse hours, there was a 90-minute wait for “eclipse donuts” — a first-ever chocolate glaze covering the company’s classic glazed donut just for the three-day weekend.
I came to Columbia not for its culinary delights — although they were tasty — but to be part of something big. I had missed Woodstock and I wasn’t going to be absent for the first total solar eclipse in the US in 99 years.
This beautiful and hospitable southern city was one of the places to be when the new moon’s shadow would completely cover the sun for approximately two minutes and 36 seconds starting at exactly 2:41 p.m.
Full darkness during the daytime — and you didn’t even have to pull down your bedroom’s blackout curtains.
The eclipse was an economic boom for places in the totality zone. The town of Hopkinsville, Ky., for instance, was said to have been expecting 500,000 viewers to join its 32,000 citizens for the day. It expected a $50 million eclipse boom.
We’re not talking the typical cash register Ka- of small-town commerce. This eclipse was big g business, baby.
The government said that 12 million people live right in the path of totality. But it was estimated that 2 million to 7 million of the 200 million people who were within a day of the ideal spots would drive to see the total eclipse — and those people were bringing credit cards with them.
New Yorkers got to see only a 71 percent eclipse, although I hear that clouds and tall buildings blocked even that.
In Columbia, every hotel room was said to have been booked. I would have settled for a strip of parking lot blacktop at a Target store, but friends and acquaintances in the area — the Gammon and
Bagwell and Glenn families — insisted I join their eclipse party. I drove to a beautiful house on Lake Murray with an excellent, unobstructed view of the sun. Hey, I even saw on social media that Sarah Jessica Parker and family were on a boat in South Carolina to view the eclipse — but I didn’t run into them.
In addition to providing everyone with a NASA-approved pair of eclipse glasses, the hosts planned a barbecue — including adult beverages. That economic benefit was not part of the Challenger productivity survey.
The moment of totality came and … the damned clouds moved in front of the big event. “Down in front,” I wanted to yell, but these were genteel Southerners I was with and I didn’t want them to think — not in this day and age — that I was one of those Yankee fools.
We got to see about 98 percent of the eclipse before the cumuli took over.
All in all, it was a pretty, ahem, productive trip — despite the 16 hours it took to make the usual 11-hour drive.
So, remember when Challenger or others bark about lost productivity because of this event or that event:
Americans love a party and will simply transfer productivity away from one area — to another.