“For some of those businesses, they can’t make up sales that didn’t happen yesterday tomorrow,” he said. “There are consequences and they cascade over time the longer this continues.”
Holiday Risk
At Labyrinth Games & Puzzles in Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, owner Kathleen Donohue, 43, said sales last week were about a third less than she expected, and she’s concerned that a lingering fiscal crisis could hurt holiday shopping.
“People just don’t want to spend any money,” she said. “We were hoping that when they said that federal workers would get repaid it would get better. But there are still tons of contractors who aren’t getting paid at all.”
Despite the shutdown, DiTroia, the Florida air-traffic controller, took off a day this week to be with his son when he received chemotherapy. He’s not sure he’ll get back pay for that -- or for the two hours he took off another day to take the boy to the hospital.
“I’m just upset I had to make the decision,” he said. “That should not be happening. I should be able to use my sick leave or my annual leave and be there with my son.”