Before discussing the imploding condo market and how it could ultimately bring down the nation's regional banks, let me digress for a moment to a kinder, gentler story that began this evening with the hankering I had for a corned beef sandwich. My wife, Marilyn, had prepared the corned beef Irish-style on St. Paddy's Day, with the traditional side of cabbage, but I wanted the leftovers Jewish-style ' i.e., on rye bread with cole slaw and Russian dressing. Having none of these ingredients in the house, I drove to the Safeway, only to find the deli counter closed. There was a guy mopping the floor behind the cold cuts display, but he looked too busy to be bothered. With just minutes remaining before the evening shift ended, he was probably eager to finish his work and go home for the holiday weekend. At that point, the last thing in the world he wanted to hear was a request for some deli item that had been put in storage for the night. As I started toward the exit, resigned to having my sandwich on white bread with mustard, he called out, 'Sir, is there anything I can do to help you?' 'Sure,' I replied. 'Do you have any packaged cole slaw?' 'Yes, I'm sure we do,' he said helpfully. 'I'll show you where it is.' Mitch ' that was the name on his badge -- walked me over to a refrigerated display, where he searched high and low for the cole slaw. 'Must be sold out,' he said. 'But that's no problem.' He walked back behind the deli counter, opened the cold storage locker and returned with a vat of cole slaw. From this vessel he scooped a small amount into a half-pint container, then asked if there was anything else
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