First, you must realize that there is no spoon — or recession.

Wow, this recession is hitting restaurants hard. Because in some places its legal to pay servers less than minimum wage (on the assumption that tips make up the difference, some restaurants are laying off minimum-wage-earning busboys so they can keep on cheaper servers to clear tables.

Or, so says the Wall Street Journal.

However, the story goes on to note that the current economic downtown may have a shiny side — at least for cutlery manufacturers. The WSJ’s story implies that lazy or rebellious servers are throwing out spoons, leading to restaurant-wide shortages:

With the busboys gone, Ms. Baker noticed something odd: Spoons started disappearing. So many were missing that the restaurant sometimes ran out of clean ones during peak times.

Mr. Harris asked managers at other Bob Evanses and learned it was happening at their locations too. “Was this an act of rebellion because we have to do this now?” he asked. One manager suggested putting magnets inside trash-can lids to capture any spoons.

At Bob Evans Farms Inc. headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, management had to increase the number of new spoons it bought companywide during the first three months after bussers were cut. Mr. Hicks says Bob Evans restaurants historically have gone through more spoons than other utensils, though it isn’t clear why so many vanished with the change. The most likely explanation, employees said, is that servers and dish washers were simply throwing out silverware in their haste to scrape dishes clean; spoons get thrown away more easily than forks or knives because, the theory goes, they are lighter.

Talk about a ridiculous economic indicator. “ZOMG! We’re out of spoons! How will The Tick save us now??!?!”

I do have some sympathy for overworked servers, though. Hey, you try being a waitress!