New York's marijuana free-for-all has done a number on the service industry.
Let’s be blunt — legal weed is turning New York workers into zombies
The Big Apple is now the Big Blunt.
Not just because decriminalized marijuana led to proliferating mayhem in the five boroughs.
Not just because stinky smoke hangs everywhere, seeping into subway cars and even Broadway theaters — the acrid odor I detected in the crowded men’s room of the Majestic Theatre a few weeks ago was not from “The Phantom of the Opera” smoke machine.
It’s also because of a forbidden-to-utter truth, in an age where raising the minimum wage ever higher has become mantra — namely, a license to get high has turned service employees into zombies.
I’ve lived in the city nearly all my life. I never had to repeat my highly complex Starbucks order — a “tall” coffee — three times to get a response from the bummed-out barista, the way I do now.