Ingrams September 2023

BETWEEN THE LINES

Pointed Perspectives & Penetrating Punditry | by Jack Cashill

Service Is Better Than Ever … For Now

The Age of Tech may yet impose unseen costs for all of this convenience. Having driven across the eastern half of the country four times this summer, I am pleased to report that, despite all the caterwauling to the contrary, the American service economy has never worked better. That said, unless we are vigilant, this golden age of convenience could quickly flip into an Orwellian age of submission. I must add one major caveat about my trips: I have pione-ered a route that can take me from Kansas City to the Atlantic Ocean without driving a single mile on either I-70 or I-80. The America I experience does not have a St. Louis, an Indianapolis, or a Columbus, let alone a Chicago. Cashill’s Razor: the farther you are from the center of the city, the better the service.

My mother was convinced that the Seminole would rob and kill my father and feed his remains to the alligators. Happily, that was not part of the fellow’s game plan. About two hours later, my father came back via another hitch with fan belt in hand, and we were soon on our way. This stage of our national evolution may not last forever, but we still have some choice as to how we live our lives. To that end, I choose as a destination on each trip, east or west, Hannibal, Mo., a town lost in time, a town where gas seems happily to be stuck at 2019 prices and mask mandates never made an appearance. I eat at a joint appropriately named “Becky Thatcher

I am happy to leave the cities behind. On my most recent trip out, barely across the Kit Bond Bridge on I-35, a tractor trailer ran me off the road and broke my side-view mirror. I chased the driver down and got him to pull over. In this the age of convenience, smart phone in hand, I took photos of his truck, his license plate, and the broken mirror with the mug standing sheepishly next to it.

Unless we are vigilant, this golden age of conve nience could quickly flip into an Orwellian age of submission. Those who whine about the decline in our service economy have obviously never passed any time at a Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store.

Diner”—a name, alas, that has zero meaning to the cosseted “safe space” crowd, a collective that includes just about everyone under 50. Here, the waitresses (not servers) call you “darling,”eand they don’t list calories on the

Using that same phone, I found the number for his company and called his boss. The boss proved to be an uncooperative jerk, but it only took me minutes to find that out. No longer needing to play nice, I sent the photos to the Highway Patrol and filed a report, again all within minutes. With every call, I surrendered some little of bit anonymity. I get that, but sometimes, it’s worth it. At Cameron, I turn east on Missouri Highway 36. I’ve sung its praises before for the simple fact that driving on it is as effortless as riding a people mover at the new KCI— with the added advantage that the highway is never “shut down for service.” A cell phone and an AAA card, of course, take a whole lot of the stress out of driving. As a 12-year-old, I remember the car breaking down on a family trip across the Tamiami Trail, then a lonely, two-lane road through the Florida Everglades. People had to be more resourceful then. So my father opened the hood—I’m not even sure I know where the latch is on mine—diagnosed the problem and started hitching a ride back to the nearest town. In time, a Seminole Indian pulled over in an ancient pick-up and offered my father a ride.

menu. Nor do they take your credit card with hand-held gizmos that sug gest a (high) range of tipping. Doesn’t matter. I always pay in cash. What the diner does have is wifi. Since I read at lunch, this does matter. It still impresses me that my tablet remembers the password from my last trip and connects me unaided to the Becky Thatcher router. I know. Big Brother could be watching, but, you know. Those who whine about the dec line in our service economy have obviously never passed any time at a Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store.

Jack Cashill Ingram’s Senior Editor P | 816.842.9994 E | Editorial @ Ingrams.com

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Kansas City’s Business Media

September 2023