Back when Las Vegas was seriously shut down because of The Pandemic, there was a prevailing theory on the Vegas chat boards I sometimes read. It held that when the time came to reopen, the hotels and the airlines and everyone in the tourist business would offer all sorts of discounts and cut-rates and deals to lure visitors back.
Well, Reopening Time is now and the prediction couldn't have been more wrong. Those visitors appear so desperate to get back to the city and the gaming tables and the slot machines and the Elvis impersonators that the folks who run the businesses seem to be saying, "Quick! Raise the price of everything! They'll pay whatever it is!"
And if someone complains? Blame in on The Pandemic.
It's today's all-purpose excuse and it probably will be for a long time. Your business is delivering lousy service? "Sorry but because of The Pandemic, we're still understaffed!"
The price of something you buy just went way up? "Sorry but because of The Pandemic, we're having a lot of trouble getting things from our suppliers."
You haven't paid some bills that are now way past due? "Sorry but because of The Pandemic, my accountant is not in his office and I need to confer with him."
Real simple. And it's going to be this way for a long time. Five years after the last coronavirus germ is gone — which will probably never happen but let's assume it does — people will be saying, "Sorry, I was late for my appointment because of The Pandemic."
I have more examples but I have to go finish a script that was due weeks ago. And I have to figure out how I'm going to blame its lateness on The Pandemic rather than admit I spent all last week playing Sudoku instead of writing. (I usually win but when I lose, I blame it on…well, you know.)