Dear Paul Michael,
I am not a concession vendor YET, but I have been trying with my limited income to become one. I have spent 2 years creating a themed gypsy trailer that I borrowed 5 grand to buy off ebay. Then, It cost me $500.00 to get it and bring it home from LA. Then, It cost me another $500 to install a hitch, break light connection and buy necessary part for it so I could tow it properly. And after the State building department was done with me it will cost me an additional $6000.00 to put in the a hood for a 12 inch grill I wanted to use in addition to all the other strange rules I have to abide by that make no sense and now need to buy $ 800.00 worth of water tanks that are 100 bucks each AND... before I can get a permit from the health dept. I have to get a building dept. INSIGNIA, which cost me $300.00, and then I have to pass inspection which no one passes the first time, and is an additional $237.00 each inspection thereafter, and the best part, the building dept. can't even answer the questions that will pass or not pass me. THEN if I am lukcy after another $300.00 fee the health department will give me a permit for the year, and then whatever unspoken violations I commit I will be charged accordingly. Then there is the product I have to buy AND NO COFFEE IS NOT CHEAP TO BUY. Then my trailer is 12 feet, which is very very small by concession standards, but I am charged for a double space because it is 2 feet over the 10 foot cheaper booth, so I have to pay$700.00 for booth rent plus a 40$ outlet fee. OH, AND did I mention that the SUPER QUIET inverter generator required at some events is $4 grand ? Not to mention, all the other food items and containers. Did anyone tell you that if you don't sell all the food you buy it pretty much goes to waste? The local fair here takes $700.00 plus 30 percent of profit? So, I am lucky if I make $100 bucks when it's said and done. So $20,000.00 and I have not made a dime and have not quit my day job AND I WILL charge more than starbucks for a double mocha because it COST ME more to provide the convienence to you of a MOBILE FOOD FACILITY, it is and honor to serve the public, but EVERYTHING costs, if it did not THEN EVERYONE WOULD OWN THEIR OWN BUSINESS AND NOT WORK for someone else, like you most likely do... Simple point, your cell phone cost more than your land line phone because it is so much more expensive to offer mobile phone service, get my point? If you think that concession vendors rip the public off then why are they all spending their weekends in hot concession trailers or booths for 12 plus hours when they should be tanning on the yacht your assuming they all own?
Just finished dinner, outstanding roast, great au jus. I think that the extra step I took, removing the roast at around 6 hrs and slicing it, then placing it back in the crock pot for another 3 hrs really paid off. Very very tender and awesome taste.
I live in a small city (population 28,000) and for some reason four different publishers put out directories to my city (combined white and yellow pages). Two are fairly useless, but two are actually very good, with lists in the front of schools, parks, elected officials, even local clubs and organizations. One of them even has menus from local restaurants in the yellow pages, a feature I used just today, when I was stuck at my desk at lunchtime. And there's a fold-out map of my city in the back. I always keep one of these directories in my car.
Also, sometimes it is quicker to look up a number in a paper book than on the internet.
But the four-inch-thick, extremely generic yellow pages for the greater metropolitan area? That goes directly into the recycling bin.
Couldn't have said it better myself. My writing has landed me jobs, saved me money, allows me to best express myself ... the list goes on ... Any good speech is first written.
Why don't they just use 100% recycled paper, ink, etc... for those products? And deliver them with electric, hybrid or flex-fuel vehicles. These books are also helpful to those without internet access, the elderly, the poor, and technology aversive people. But I agree there should be a way to opt out for those who don't want one. It makes no sense to see these wasted when it costs so much to produce them. I personally find them useful even though the internet is around. It's also cheaper on the world to use a book rather than a powered internet appliance to look up mundane information like telephone numbers and addresses. You save electricity in that sense. Further, you get exercise while moving to find the telephone directory that you know you stored somewhere in the kitchen.
It would be also rather cool if these could be sent out in electronic form via email say in PDF format... for those who'd prefer an electronic version.
Great post, Xin! There is almost no skill more valuable in the modern world except perhaps fluency in multiple languages. Good writing is good communication. If you can write well, you can speak well. These skills are the only way to persuade anybody of anything. And, here's something that not everybody knows. Improving writing also improves your thinking. Our minds cannot fully grasp a thing or concept unless there is a word for it! The more words there are for it with slightly different nuances, the better we can discuss it and, thus, understand it. Native Americans in Alaska supposedly have 20 different words for "snow" but there are only a few variants in the English language and usually only skiers and snowboarders know all of those. Why? Because we need to discuss the various skiing/snowboarding conditions as accurately as possible. : )
2. Good writing skills make you more desirable to employers - In many instances, the first impression you make on a potential employer is in a cover letter or resume. An interesting and well written cover letter could potentially lead to an interview and eventually a job. Even when you do not have a formal cover letter, there are often many email exchanges during an interview process. Emails that are clearly written generally makes you seem more intelligent and responsible to a potential employer. Personally, I know that my ability to write coherent emails has given me an edge in finding software engineering jobs because most software engineers are not taught to write properly.
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Depends on the kind of job you're applying for and whether you possess the primary qualifications for the job. Nobody has faulted my writing skills but those skills are of no use in menial jobs, and are insufficient to deliver a good job for which I am otherwise unqualified.
Cohosh, I wish you were in my area. I represent buyers every day and am only looking out for them. I can't tell you the number of times I've given up portions of my commission (into the $1000s) to help seal the deal between buyer and seller so my buyer could get the house and price they wanted.
There are great buyer's agents out there. You've just been dealing with some bad apples apparently. I hate to hear that but don't think we're all like that.
Tpbrenn
Don't forget that it's way easier to woo people (if you are into online dating) if you know the difference between their, there, and they're. I guess that doesn't save you money, but it might help to find you a smart significant other!
I'm signing up today. We also get several copies per year that go straight into the recycle. Once in a while we'll switch out an old copy on the shelf for a new one - we have some non-computer-oriented folks who visit and insist on using our phone book, so we have to keep one copy.
Around here the phonebook delivery drivers are often too lazy to even drop them on each doorstep. They just leave a stack near each bank of mailboxes where they sit and rot because nobody wants to take them home.
You're right on Xin, but I have to say that the cultural battle is lost for America...at least for the time being. Our culture has softened to the point of complacency and entitled dependence. Our government structure merely reflects this, and as a quasi-democracy, there is little chance to reverse course. You cannot dole out a welfare benefit and then ask the recipients to vote to rescind it.
Politics has devolved to the lowest common denominator where the victor is determined by who promises most to voters; it's a roundabout way of buying votes with taxpayer money - odd how politicians are so generous with funds that are not their own!
It's sad to say but America is "over the hill" in regards to the lifecycle of civilizations.
China never planned on a long term export trade scenario. It has always been about improving there infrastructure so as to best take care of their own. That is powerful; now if our corporate brothers would start concidering the same ideals we Americans would benifit greatly and ultimatly so would the corporations. The question now becomes, are we going to start making our own goods after foriegn interests no longer need us and will we do it soon enough.
OK, I did live in Chicago. Now I live in Oak Park. And yeah, I walked to many things around my neighborhood. And yeah, I almost always take the El or Metra to go downtown because parking and congestion are too difficult down there.
But for neighborhood to neighborhood trips? Sorry, but most people just can't or don't want to ALWAYS take the El. Or should I say, the %&@! El? Are you aware that most El stations have no elevators? Which is really fun if you happen to be pregnant and trying to transport toddlers at the same time. SOMETIMES people offer to help a pregnant woman with kids haul a stroller down the stairs.
I signed up for this the other day, but honestly, do you think the people who deliver the phonebooks actually have a list of addresses to not drop them? I seriously doubt it. Just like the irritating local advertising papers that get tossed in the driveway every week, that most people don't bother to pick up for weeks, if ever.
Seriously, when was the last time you needed a dry cleaner and went to the phone book instead of the web? I suppose they're handy for gas stations and other public places, but privately, I suspect most people don't need them anymore. Even goog411 can help you find services, and that's free from your phone.
Thanks, Paul! I always just throw mine straight into recycling. I didn't know you could opt out. I get a new one every few months, and I never use it, ever.
My husband used to cut our kids' hair, until my youngest got half a haircut and refused to let hubby near him for the second half (his electric shaver sometimes made an awful noise); so we opted to get the second half trimmed at a chain haircut store (my oldest's terminology). Buzz cuts for boys are easy and cheap but right now my stylist offers kids' cuts (aka quick but reduced pricing).
Hmm...should I have asked for a discount at the chain store? After all, they only cut half the hair.
I agreed your opinion on this. A good writing is one of most desireable skills employers are looking for.
Dear Paul Michael,
I am not a concession vendor YET, but I have been trying with my limited income to become one. I have spent 2 years creating a themed gypsy trailer that I borrowed 5 grand to buy off ebay. Then, It cost me $500.00 to get it and bring it home from LA. Then, It cost me another $500 to install a hitch, break light connection and buy necessary part for it so I could tow it properly. And after the State building department was done with me it will cost me an additional $6000.00 to put in the a hood for a 12 inch grill I wanted to use in addition to all the other strange rules I have to abide by that make no sense and now need to buy $ 800.00 worth of water tanks that are 100 bucks each AND... before I can get a permit from the health dept. I have to get a building dept. INSIGNIA, which cost me $300.00, and then I have to pass inspection which no one passes the first time, and is an additional $237.00 each inspection thereafter, and the best part, the building dept. can't even answer the questions that will pass or not pass me. THEN if I am lukcy after another $300.00 fee the health department will give me a permit for the year, and then whatever unspoken violations I commit I will be charged accordingly. Then there is the product I have to buy AND NO COFFEE IS NOT CHEAP TO BUY. Then my trailer is 12 feet, which is very very small by concession standards, but I am charged for a double space because it is 2 feet over the 10 foot cheaper booth, so I have to pay$700.00 for booth rent plus a 40$ outlet fee. OH, AND did I mention that the SUPER QUIET inverter generator required at some events is $4 grand ? Not to mention, all the other food items and containers. Did anyone tell you that if you don't sell all the food you buy it pretty much goes to waste? The local fair here takes $700.00 plus 30 percent of profit? So, I am lucky if I make $100 bucks when it's said and done. So $20,000.00 and I have not made a dime and have not quit my day job AND I WILL charge more than starbucks for a double mocha because it COST ME more to provide the convienence to you of a MOBILE FOOD FACILITY, it is and honor to serve the public, but EVERYTHING costs, if it did not THEN EVERYONE WOULD OWN THEIR OWN BUSINESS AND NOT WORK for someone else, like you most likely do... Simple point, your cell phone cost more than your land line phone because it is so much more expensive to offer mobile phone service, get my point? If you think that concession vendors rip the public off then why are they all spending their weekends in hot concession trailers or booths for 12 plus hours when they should be tanning on the yacht your assuming they all own?
The Coffee Gypsy
Just finished dinner, outstanding roast, great au jus. I think that the extra step I took, removing the roast at around 6 hrs and slicing it, then placing it back in the crock pot for another 3 hrs really paid off. Very very tender and awesome taste.
Thanks again...Stan
I live in a small city (population 28,000) and for some reason four different publishers put out directories to my city (combined white and yellow pages). Two are fairly useless, but two are actually very good, with lists in the front of schools, parks, elected officials, even local clubs and organizations. One of them even has menus from local restaurants in the yellow pages, a feature I used just today, when I was stuck at my desk at lunchtime. And there's a fold-out map of my city in the back. I always keep one of these directories in my car.
Also, sometimes it is quicker to look up a number in a paper book than on the internet.
But the four-inch-thick, extremely generic yellow pages for the greater metropolitan area? That goes directly into the recycling bin.
Couldn't have said it better myself. My writing has landed me jobs, saved me money, allows me to best express myself ... the list goes on ... Any good speech is first written.
Why don't they just use 100% recycled paper, ink, etc... for those products? And deliver them with electric, hybrid or flex-fuel vehicles. These books are also helpful to those without internet access, the elderly, the poor, and technology aversive people. But I agree there should be a way to opt out for those who don't want one. It makes no sense to see these wasted when it costs so much to produce them. I personally find them useful even though the internet is around. It's also cheaper on the world to use a book rather than a powered internet appliance to look up mundane information like telephone numbers and addresses. You save electricity in that sense. Further, you get exercise while moving to find the telephone directory that you know you stored somewhere in the kitchen.
It would be also rather cool if these could be sent out in electronic form via email say in PDF format... for those who'd prefer an electronic version.
Great post, Xin! There is almost no skill more valuable in the modern world except perhaps fluency in multiple languages. Good writing is good communication. If you can write well, you can speak well. These skills are the only way to persuade anybody of anything. And, here's something that not everybody knows. Improving writing also improves your thinking. Our minds cannot fully grasp a thing or concept unless there is a word for it! The more words there are for it with slightly different nuances, the better we can discuss it and, thus, understand it. Native Americans in Alaska supposedly have 20 different words for "snow" but there are only a few variants in the English language and usually only skiers and snowboarders know all of those. Why? Because we need to discuss the various skiing/snowboarding conditions as accurately as possible. : )
2. Good writing skills make you more desirable to employers - In many instances, the first impression you make on a potential employer is in a cover letter or resume. An interesting and well written cover letter could potentially lead to an interview and eventually a job. Even when you do not have a formal cover letter, there are often many email exchanges during an interview process. Emails that are clearly written generally makes you seem more intelligent and responsible to a potential employer. Personally, I know that my ability to write coherent emails has given me an edge in finding software engineering jobs because most software engineers are not taught to write properly.
------------------------------------------------------------
Depends on the kind of job you're applying for and whether you possess the primary qualifications for the job. Nobody has faulted my writing skills but those skills are of no use in menial jobs, and are insufficient to deliver a good job for which I am otherwise unqualified.
Cohosh, I wish you were in my area. I represent buyers every day and am only looking out for them. I can't tell you the number of times I've given up portions of my commission (into the $1000s) to help seal the deal between buyer and seller so my buyer could get the house and price they wanted.
There are great buyer's agents out there. You've just been dealing with some bad apples apparently. I hate to hear that but don't think we're all like that.
Tpbrenn
Don't forget that it's way easier to woo people (if you are into online dating) if you know the difference between their, there, and they're. I guess that doesn't save you money, but it might help to find you a smart significant other!
(says the perpetually single woman of Wise Bread)
...I didn't even mention the gas it must take to get all of these books delivered. One more nail in that coffin.
I'm signing up today. We also get several copies per year that go straight into the recycle. Once in a while we'll switch out an old copy on the shelf for a new one - we have some non-computer-oriented folks who visit and insist on using our phone book, so we have to keep one copy.
Around here the phonebook delivery drivers are often too lazy to even drop them on each doorstep. They just leave a stack near each bank of mailboxes where they sit and rot because nobody wants to take them home.
Excellent! I hope you find some letterboxes right in your own backyard! Let me know...
I sure wish these were recycled. A number of them are simply thrown into the trash.
You're right on Xin, but I have to say that the cultural battle is lost for America...at least for the time being. Our culture has softened to the point of complacency and entitled dependence. Our government structure merely reflects this, and as a quasi-democracy, there is little chance to reverse course. You cannot dole out a welfare benefit and then ask the recipients to vote to rescind it.
Politics has devolved to the lowest common denominator where the victor is determined by who promises most to voters; it's a roundabout way of buying votes with taxpayer money - odd how politicians are so generous with funds that are not their own!
It's sad to say but America is "over the hill" in regards to the lifecycle of civilizations.
is a wonderful thing. At the very least, they website will have one huge list of names for a petition.
China never planned on a long term export trade scenario. It has always been about improving there infrastructure so as to best take care of their own. That is powerful; now if our corporate brothers would start concidering the same ideals we Americans would benifit greatly and ultimatly so would the corporations. The question now becomes, are we going to start making our own goods after foriegn interests no longer need us and will we do it soon enough.
OK, I did live in Chicago. Now I live in Oak Park. And yeah, I walked to many things around my neighborhood. And yeah, I almost always take the El or Metra to go downtown because parking and congestion are too difficult down there.
But for neighborhood to neighborhood trips? Sorry, but most people just can't or don't want to ALWAYS take the El. Or should I say, the %&@! El? Are you aware that most El stations have no elevators? Which is really fun if you happen to be pregnant and trying to transport toddlers at the same time. SOMETIMES people offer to help a pregnant woman with kids haul a stroller down the stairs.
I blog at www.shopliftingwithpermission.com.
I signed up for this the other day, but honestly, do you think the people who deliver the phonebooks actually have a list of addresses to not drop them? I seriously doubt it. Just like the irritating local advertising papers that get tossed in the driveway every week, that most people don't bother to pick up for weeks, if ever.
Seriously, when was the last time you needed a dry cleaner and went to the phone book instead of the web? I suppose they're handy for gas stations and other public places, but privately, I suspect most people don't need them anymore. Even goog411 can help you find services, and that's free from your phone.
Thanks, Paul! I always just throw mine straight into recycling. I didn't know you could opt out. I get a new one every few months, and I never use it, ever.
What is up with the folks who can't keep track of how many they've sent you and keep sending more? Geeze . . .
My husband used to cut our kids' hair, until my youngest got half a haircut and refused to let hubby near him for the second half (his electric shaver sometimes made an awful noise); so we opted to get the second half trimmed at a chain haircut store (my oldest's terminology). Buzz cuts for boys are easy and cheap but right now my stylist offers kids' cuts (aka quick but reduced pricing).
Hmm...should I have asked for a discount at the chain store? After all, they only cut half the hair.
Nothing beats good old fashioned family fun like this
I agree! What a fun, frugal family thing to do!!