Changing Demography and Your Future

Libby Gronbach

February 18, 2008

English 10. Composition

My Dad

If you want to know what my Dad does for a job I’ll explain it in a way I think you’ll understand. My Dad has four brothers whom he lived with for many years. They lived in a house in Haddam, CT with their Mom. Their mom used to cook big portions of food because she had to feed four growing boys. She used to make the food, walk to the table and place the food on the table like a referee does to a hockey puck at a hockey game. All the boys would dive for the food and they knew that if they didn’t get a lot first and in a short amount of time they wouldn’t get enough food because the other boys would get it first. Then there came a point when the oldest brother left home, but as mothers do she continued to cook the same portions. The boys still fought over it but realized they didn’t have to dive as fast to get the food because now that the older boy was gone there was still enough food for all of them. Next the second oldest brother left and still their mom cooked the same amount of food. Now with only two boys left they had tons of food to eat. Their Mom started saying things like, “Why does no one like my food anymore?” But the thing was that the food wasn’t bad, there just weren’t enough people to eat all that food. The supply was still there but the demand wasn’t. When the next brother left and it was just my dad, his mom continued to make the same amount of food and would give it all to my dad and to make his mom not feel bad he would eat the food. He then became a pudgy little kid. What his mom didn’t understand is what a lot of businesses don’t understand today. They don’t understand that if your product is supposed to be sold to a certain age group or a certain amount of people and then those people grow up and are not interested in your product and you haven’t adjusted your business to be able to survive after those changes then your business is going to fail. The supply will be there but the demand will be lacking, and that is a big problem. For a job, that is what my Dad tells people. He then comes up with ways that they can still survive in a shifting market. It’s an intriguing job and a job that really makes you think.