Tags: employment | laziness | productivity

There is just a point where you get too busy to maintain normal social human relations in Prague and that point is... having a job.

It appears the Czechs have set an all time low in collective productivity this summer. If the GDP of the Czech Republic were measured in parties we would be experiencing record growth. If sightings of celebrities were indicators of economic health, we'd be running the EU by now. As it is we are producing a whole lot of nothing.

Everyone wants to throw a party! Funny thing is that generally those who throw the party are usually having the least fun at the event. The money without sponsorship is simply accidental if it happens, and since everyone by now knows someone promoting something, 40 percent of the people are counting to see how many people showed up.

Recently I've been keeping my ear to the underground a little bit more, before there was this war between the cigarette brands (Having parties on the same night, what's that about???). The amount of second hand smoke gets everyone who happens by the Roxy into a nicotine addict one way or another.

The upshot is we get to see alot of big names, the downside is that the DJ's on the way up are the real ones to catch. And it goes, with a significant amount of partyers trying to keep credibility by saturating themselves in one valid genre or another, alas trying to find some identity for themselves. It the birth of the post communist left, and it comes with a price tag as usual. Elitism, narrow-mindedness, missing some great shows that are unfortunately over-publicized are just a few.

The big losers of course are the generally open minded types who try to cross over and find all these hopeless little ghettos to greet them. It's funny to talk about the good old days in Prague, even when they were just three or so years ago, but that's how fast things move in this town.

Or do they?

Trying to get residence of business licenses is obscene at the moment, but the amount of new shops and restaurants opening is at an all time high. Obviously there is going to be a huge inventory of space if this "going out all the time" loses in favor of staying in and mastering Tai-chi.

I think the population is also getting older and retiring from whatever inefficiency they've dedicated their life to. If you want to check out the speed of life in a place, try noticing how many more destitute, homeless people are roaming the streets, furrowing in garbage cans, these days. Not enough for bananas and beer??

Marx was never in the communist curriculum, or so I hear.