Indicator: Boss Buys Microwave

A listener writes from WBUR land:

My economic indicator: 12. That's the number of years it took running his own business before my boss gave in and bought a microwave for the office.

He's always resisted because he doesn't like the smell of warmed food in the office. [O]thers who've been at this architecture firm six years and longer have been eating cold soup and leftovers or eating out more than they'd care to for some time now. He's laid off 40% of the office in the last year (5 people), finally resorted to bringing his own lunch, and realized it would be nice to be able to heat it up.

The bolding is mine.