I forgot a couple of examples in the "how not to run a business" installment. In the City I live in there are some ancient little strip malls still standing. These were built with poor planning and have bad access to them. One is built in a gully basically, you can't see anything from the road at all and getting in and out of one of the driveways is like rolling the dice that there is going to be a head on collision or not. Bad planning. A new pizza place opened up called Sir Pizza....well that was the original name anyway. Apparently there is a Sir Pizza that has been opened already for years in another nearby City as is quite crowded most of the time. We thought that this was either another location or they were closing that one and moving to our City. Well as a name change within the first week of this place being opened proved, they had nothing to do with the other place. The name changed to Sir Pizzaria.....like that is any different.... It was never crowded, from what I heard the food sucked, then tried to reopen under new management and it is now closed. This was a record....six months I believe. Here's the problem: Don't try and steal a name or pretend you are someone else.....the original place will find out and you will be ratted out as the schmucks you are. If you are going to open a restaurant like that, be freaking original!!!! Don't steal a name or style, just do your own thing. Jeez, use the freaking creative mind you were given. I can tell you of two successful Pizza restaurants back home that do their own thing: North Beach Pizza (with about 4 locations) and Mountain Mike's Pizza (with a few of their own). These guys do delivery and sit down service, and they do it well. The food's good too. Mountain Mike's is a "go to the counter and order" type of place...it's very well stated when you walk through the door. No guessing, no being seated then being told to go order at the counter. You order at the counter then go sit where you want. If they aren't busy they will sometimes bring your food out to you or call you to come get it. North Beach Pizza is a wait to be seated, order taken at the table, food brought to you kind of place. Both have great pizza and great service. So why can't someone around here do the same? It's not that hard. The problem is that the wrong people tend to open businesses around here. I should say independent, non-chain businesses. All the chains are great, except O'Charley's but that's corporation wide issue because every single one I've been to so far sucks, but the majority of the independents opening up fail miserably. They go the cheap route. Buy the cheapest supplies possible and crank out a crappy product....then they wonder why they fail. Another one is Big Bad Wolf eatery...apparently they do BBQ or whatever. The Real Estate Office the Wife worked at had them cater lunch one day. Wifey said the food sucked. That would explain the lack of people in their restaurant every night. Seriously, I have not seen a single person sitting in there eating, yet they are still open. Why? These folks probably have found the cheapest cut of meat they can find to cook, thus the crappy food. When will folks learn? You can't cut corners, especially if you are selling food for folks to consume. If I had the cash I'd open an Deli. Other than a Subway and a Quizno's there are no other Deli's around. Oh sure, Kroger's has one, but good luck trying to have them make you a sandwich. I tried to get one once and got the lamest excuse ever. It was like the little bitty behind the counter didn't want to. They have several condiment bins on a prep area but yet there's nothing in them. The lady literally told me it would take 15-20 minutes to make a sandwich and then stalked over to the produce section to find tomatoes, etc to put on the sandwich. I looked at her and the whole process with my chin on the floor. It was surreal. Like some kind of Twilight Zone episode. I was thinking to myself, it's just a damn sandwich for christsake!!!! I walked away. We told the manager and he was pissed he said "we will get you a sandwich made sir". I told him that it was okay, that I really didn't want it anymore and I was afraid the lady would be pissed enough to spit in it or something. Even though the bitty was told, their policy still hasn't changed. The only Deli sandwiches you can get at the Kroger Deli are the one's made up already and packaged. Jeez I remember going to the Safeway Deli and getting a fresh, hand made sandwich in about 5 minutes with no hemming or hawing or looks like I was asking the person to cure cancer or fly to the moon or something! I'd make a mint with a Deli especially if I played up the "Italian Deli" part. Have the big ol' jars of vinegar with the layers of herbs and veggies in them, or the big collectors bottles of chianti (although with our stupid alcohol laws I probably couldn't sell that).
Now on to part 5. Health Care Reform.
Is it just me, or does it seem like the most vocal opponents of Health Care Reform are all conservatives who hate change and are opposed to the idea because President Obama wants this to succeed? Seriously, I don't understand the anger from the most average of citizens to the whole idea of Government Health Care? These old geezers scream Socialism but benefit from the biggest piece of socialistic process called Medicare. Yeah we the People pay for your health care old fart....yet you don't want me to have any. No it's okay for you to suck off the Government Teat but if I want to I can't. I also don't understand why the average citizen is vocally defending greedy corporations? Seriously folks, even those with health insurance are finding it harder and harder to get that insurance company to pay for anything!!! Yet they will keep upping your premiums....basically taking more of your money but giving you less for it. Yeah those folks are so worth defending. I don't get it. I see too many drinkers of the sour grape wine on the right. They don't want to cooperate, or even offer another solution. They come up with some kind of scare tactic...."Death Panels" comes to mind....completely false by the way.....and harp on it. Apparently the uneducated, easily swayed voter on the right loves simple statements they can chant over and over again....remember "Drill Baby Drill" yeah that was such a great solution to the problem..... You don't want the government involved, yet you're okay with getting bent over and rapped by Insurance Companies while you grow fatter and fatter and dumber and dumber and die earlier than you should. Yeah the "Free Market" is sooooo great. I think not. The problem I see is that the Free Market jettisoned all form of ethics and honor and emotions a long time ago in favor of PROFIT!!! Profit at whatever means possible. If that means killing people with an inferior product but not fixing the issue and covering it up because "its only 1 out of 100" then hey let's just keep making that shitty widget. The Ford Pinto comes to mind. It was determined, and this was put in writing which is a stupid idea to begin with, that it was cheaper in the long run to pay the wrongful death suits for people dying because the gas tank in the Pinto exploded than it was to fix the issue. The issue was a bolt placed in a bad place that in the event of a rear end collision would cause the gas tank to scrap against it, causing sparks and rupturing the gas tank in the process which lead to an explosion. So instead of moving the bolt or whatever they would just let people die and pay the grieving families. But hey, let's keep defending the Corporations okay. They have our best interest in mind right???? Right???? The more care the Insurance Companies deny you, they less they have to pay out to the Doctors and the more of your money they get to keep. They make money off of you being sick. Don't tell me there is competition either.....try shopping for individual/Family insurance online sometime. I have. There's no difference in price for similar policies at all. They all cost around the same. There's no competition. Hell there's more competition to get a freaking shirt and a pair of pants than there is to go get your blood pressure taken. It's no secret either, the costs of health care is one of the biggest causes of companies going bankrupt but yet these monkies show up screaming and yelling to Town Hall meetings energized by the Beck's and Hannity's of the world to cause havoc basically. These people aren't disgruntled Americans exercising their First Amendment Rights, no these people are easily swayed, uniformed Assholes who think the President wasn't born in this Country and that he's going to "Take yer guns" and he's going to turn American into a Communist Country. Oh and they're pissed because he's Black......actually these folks love to point out how "he's only half Black....so actually he's White too...." It just pisses me off. It really does. These folks don't care about the truth or the facts, they just want to yell and scream and be bullies. Plain and simple. It's a mob mentality that is ruining our Country. If you don't agree with the Bill before the Senate and House because you think it's going to cost too much money or disagree with some portion of it, that's fine. Please call your Congressmen/Senator and tell them. But discuss it in a civilized fashion. Yelling bullshit and acting like an uncivilized Asshole isn't going to do any good. It's just going to lose your side another election. Honestly it is. The Senators and Congress Folks are worse. They bitch and moan about everything the Pres wants, but yet won't offer any alternate solutions of their own. Seriously, these jokers just bitch because it's a knee jerk reaction (Jerk is the operative word here) to a Democratic President. Enough of this shit. Seriously folks, let's sit down and have a civilized discussion without the bullshit and frothing at the mouth. If not then the Corporations are going to win and they are just going to keep screwing us over until we beg for it because we know nothing better. Wake up America! Stop thinking with your politics and start using your freaking head!
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