ATHENS, Greece

Anastasia Mouzakiti Dept: ATHENS, Greece - A sign taped to a wall in an Athens hospital appealed for civility from patients. "The doctors on duty have been unpaid since May," it read, "Please respect their work.", according to Winnipeg Free Press. To the casual observer, all might appear well in Athens. Traffic still hums by, restaurants and bars are open, people sip iced coffees at sunny sidewalk cafes. But scratch the surface and you find a society in free-fall, ripped apart by the most vicious financial crisis the country has seen in half a century and fILE - In this Sept. 27, 2012, file photo, Anastasia Mouzakiti, center, a paraplegic, came to the demonstration from the northern city of Thessaloniki with her husband, to protest outside the Greek parliament. To the casual visitor, all might appear well in Athens, but scratch the surface and you find a society in freefall, ripped apart by the most vicious financial crisis the country has seen in half a century. AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris Patients and their relatives glanced up briefly and moved on, hardened to such messages of gloom. In a country where about 1,000 people lose their jobs each day, legions more are still employed but haven't seen a paycheque in months. What used to be an anomaly has become commonplace, and those who have jobs that pay on time consider themselves the exception to the rule. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.