how do you spell recession? b.s.

I needed to buy a book as a birthday gift, so yesterday I went to the Barnes & Noble in Framingham near my office. If you’re unfamiliar with F’ham, it’s a world of chain-store retail and restaurants, especially lining Route 9. And that means, if you go out at noon to run errands or find some lunch, you’re likely to get stuck in traffic or waiting in lines.

So, I purposely headed to B&N at 11:15. I had called ahead to have the book waiting for me at the front counter. The parking lot was crowded -- nearly as bad as Christmas-time. As I walked into the store, I got at the end of a long line waiting for the registers (I counted 15 people ahead of me), and 6 cashiers taking money. As I waited, I noticed the café was jam-packed with coffee-sipping readers, and the store itself had dozens of people and children walking/running around.

If commerce is this good now, I’ll bet Framingham stores must be salivating at the prospect of the feds sending $300 out to everyone.