Peter Baida neatly nips the nostalgia for once-upon-a-time amenities in his comment on the changing department store. An additional point is that the one-time slathering of service that ranged from “silence” rooms to plentiful personal attention was possible because of low wages and high markups. Decent pay for those who provide the services means the consumer has to decide, as Baida points out, if the cost is worth it. Someone does pay for free lunches.

A woman I know returned from a stay in India. When asked how difficult life must be in so poor a country, she replied that there was no problem because everyone has servants.