After Hours

Each weekend it seems I spend most of my Saturdays running various errands that I never seem to get to during the week.   For some reason, last weekend I wound up visiting small businesses which wound up being rather fun to me.

Friday night, my wife asked me to go to a small Arabic store she had found to pick up some meat pies she had made for a dinner we were hosting. The store was in a small shopping center near our house, I had passed it many times but had never stopped before.

I went to the store at about 6:30 and it was deserted, I walked and said "Hello" loudly and a thin dark skinned man came out and said "Yezzir, what kin I do four YOU" I replied that I had come to pick up some pastries for my wife. "NAME!?" the man asked in a loud clear voice. I gave him my wifes name and immediately his face broke into a grin and he said "Ohhhh, [Ms SP]! She is zuch a nize ladee! I haff your order in the bak!" He then yelled into the back "Ah ka lacka lacka lacka" and a pretty young future heart breaker of about 12 came out carrying a white box. Obviously the
young girl was the mans daughter as he face broke out into a smile of joy when she came out.

He walked her to the cashier and spoke to her in a small tone as she began ringing up my purchase. With a firm yet tenative voice the young girl told me the total and as I gave her my debit card she expertly processed my card as her dad looked on with warm eyes.  

As I left I could not help wonder how people complain about working in the US when obviously this man managed to open a store and start a business even though he is probably having to learn our language. As I snuck one of the meat pies out I could see why my wife bought them, I think I found a new vice as those things are DELICIOUS! They almost didn't make it back to the party!

On Saturday I needed a haircut, I am fortunate to have a full head of hair at my age but it always has a mind of it's own and sticks out all over the place. But as long as my hair stays on my head I am happy. I went to my regular stylists place but he was closed which was unusual as it was a few hours before his normal closing time. My wife was bound and determined that my hair was going to be cut so when I informed her I was going to wait another week she made a few calls and told me
there was a small barber shop nearby with someone waiting to cut my hair.

I was intriqued, I had not set foot inside of a 'barber shop' in YEARS. I followed the instructions and wound up at a small barber shop. I walked into the shop and there was a man who appeared to be in his sixties with great hair who was dressed in jeans, cowboy boots, and a nice short sleeve shirt. "Yes sir?" he asked me. I told him I was the guy whose wife was sending him to get a hair cut. He laughed and said "Well lets see what we can do!" as he began chattering away about football and womens tennis. I was envious as he told me about his life, he is a retired widower who only works Thursday - Saturday in order to  pay for his 'partying' and he spends the rest of his time at the beach in a beach house he purchased back in the 70's. The downturn in the economy has not affected him as he has always lived within meager means in order to stay at the beach.

I envy his lifestyle.

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I have been madder than a wet hornet ocer the auto mfg's having their hands out due to poor planning. This really steams me, these guys have been making SUV's for years in order to make quick profits and suddenly find themselves unable to sell ANY cars. In spite of this, the foreign 
car makers, even though business is down, are somehow able to sell more cars than the American auto mfg's. 

Now how could this be?  

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Could it be that perhaps they are making RELIABLE cars that get good gas mileage? What a novel concept!  
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What is astounding is that this is a REPEAT of the 1970's when we were in a 'oil crisis' and people began buying VW's, Datsuns (now Nissan), Toyota's and Honda's while GM and Ford were trying to push full sized vehicles like the Monte Carlo and LTD.

GM then began offering the pitiful Vega and Ford unveiled the fiery Pinto.

Why can't American auto makers make a reliable car that lasts for more than 5 years?

This morning I passed THREE American cars on the side of the road with their hoods up and drivers pacing around the car. I kid you not, every one of these cars was a GM Vehicle!

A few of the businesses I support have already been affected by the loss of sales from the American car companies.

One of the businesses makes electronic components for one of the American auto mfg's truck line. Since that companies business has lowered it's forecast for truck sales, the company was forced to tell it's employees they will close on Friday for one month instead of the normal two weeks they do each year.

They are doing this in hopes they will not have to layoff employees and hopefully it will work.

IMO - Bailing out the american auto mfg's is like trying to bail out companies that still make typewriters.   The company CEO's should have been prepared because after all they make MILLIONS of dollars for 'brilliant' leadership.

What the heck are these CEO's being paid for now?   Begging?  

Good grief!   Hey GM!  Pay me a million bucks and I will go to Washington and cry my eyes out for you! 

When Honda's CEO declared a few years ago that his company would not make an engine with more than six cylinders, he was laughed at. Honda's not at the trough asking for money.

When Toyota began selling it's Prius, it was called a 'novelty'. Toyota isn't asking for money.

Meanwhile, American auto makers pushed big bulky SUV's onto the markets and did not have a plan for when gas went over $3 a gallon. But they want us to bail them
out for lack of planning.

Realistically, I know we MUST bailout the car companies because if they were allowed to fail we would suddenly have hundreds of thousands of workers out of work on top of our already staggering umemployement numbers. To me this is like a doctor telling me I need to have a colonic in order
to get better. You don't want to do it, you're going to get it in the end, but maybe it will help.

Here's hoping next year will be better for us all...