Their Own Franchise

Dan was new at "Pro Touch" . He had to stick close to George to keep his job. This meant putting up with his cheap talk, his sarcasm, and his sick sense of humor. He could imagine times that were more difficult for people, and he appreciated being hired as a manager. "Think about it", he smiled as he thought," an associate's degree in business from "Gateway" and I get to manage my own stall at a car wash." He would be classified as "underemployed" on most national statistic surveys, but, truthfully, he considered himself well off compared to many of his classmates that had not been hired yet at all.

George came back and threw a wrapped sandwich at him. "What's this?". "A bonus. You did a good job on the Chevy."  George was already eating his own sandwich. Tuna fish, lettuce and tomato, on rye with little packets of mayonnaise and mustard would work for lunch. One dollar ninety nine cents and you got a little sticker that told you everything that was on it as well as the date you should eat it by. "You want some potato chips?" George came over and handed him a little bag of "cheddar chips".

Dan wondered about the change in "hard hearted" George. Maybe he needed a loan. Maybe he wanted to rob the place. "Thanks George, I didn't think you cared." George looked at him and laughed. "You're alright Dan. You work hard and you do a good job. You mind your own business and you're trying to get ahead and you haven't got the slightest idea of how to do it." George laughed and Dan Smiled at the truth of it. He'd been over this with his dad a hundred times. "I can understand supply and demand - that's easy. I can even understand the Lucas critque of economic models and Cambell's Law and all that. Changing economies and changing methods to measure economic strengths and weaknesses are not that difficult to see. But, what I can't understand is why something as important as the right way to make a lot of money is such a big secret. You'd expect a business college to know that, wouldn't you? His dad always come back with the same thing. "Hard work, that's all it is Dan. You have to work hard. Ask anybody. I sure did." Well he already knew the importance of hard work. Most people did. Most people worked about as hard as they could anyway. But not so many actually became very wealthy. Some did. Most didn't.

George went on. "You know where Harvey got the money to buy this franchise? His father in law signed for the loan. Two hundred thousand dollars! That's a lot of potato chips! For what? For rags and water? No. For rotating brushes that clean a car really good and don't scratch even after a hundred washes. For the right wash mix. For the dryers. For the pumps. For a million years of experience on how not to get sued. The right insurance and good safe operation. Remember when I showed you "Tire Magic"? You know how long it took me to learn that? All that stuff is worth a mint. It makes the job. Twenty cars an hour through the wash. Ten hours a day. Seven days a week. A million dollars a year". And here it came. Just what Dan expected. "Me and you Dan. We can do the same thing!"  "Yeah, Dan smiled. All we need is a rich co-signer. Maybe the blonde in the Lexus that you chased away." They both laughed.

Filthy Rich cont'd

He'd been detailing the front interior of an NX 300h Lexus. "Sweet", he thought as he wiped the center console down, "dry raggin" they called it. The car was brand new anyhow. All he could do was clean off the smudges and pull the lint off the carpets. 
He watched a girl come in. She drove through the wash herself and pulled into his stall. "She must come here often", he thought. He couldn't stop thinking about her walking away to the Dunkin Donuts. She'd paid for "Full" and asked where she could get coffee. She knew how to walk. She was probably just as  good at sliding down into the plush of that Lexus front seat.
He was looking across the street thinking about where she lived when George came up behind him. "Move it Dan, and forget the blonde. We're just pieces of furniture to her". George had a way with words. He could make "good morning" sound like an obituary. Still, there was enough truth in what he said to sting.  

A New Story - "Filthy Rich"

An aged metaphor perhaps, but there's a reason for this title and story. Basically, it's to restore values to a somewhat "tired" economy. I'm sure we all can recall spending a modest amount of change for a candy bar or an ice cream cone and having the time of our lives with it. A cool lemonade after a hard day working in the sun is a good example of where this story is trying to go, You work hard you get an appropriate reward. Life is good. It doesn't have to be psychological conditioning or capitalistic indoctrination. It can be simply fun and proper for a given occasion or activity. It can even be a heartfelt gift for things we might otherwise take for granted. The point is, the best things in life are free, if only we could properly appreciate them. It's an old story, very very old.

Dan Haddon wanted one thing. Ever since he was a young boy he dreamed of being "filthy rich". It was a phrase he'd learned from his father. It wasn't that his father's ideas impressed him to any great degree. It was that the words struck a chord and brought to mind everything Dan considered important and out of reach, forbidden for that matter.

Another "Rather Cold This Evening" blog

Here we go again! NOAA has it going down to minus twelve degrees overnight! OK - not really unusual for this time of year. A soft snow has been accumulating all day. It's pretty and it seems to insulate the garage some. I keep the dog in the garage at night and there are some things I don't want to freeze in there, so I heat it up with a propane heater before I come in for the night. It was up to about forty six degrees when I came in tonight. That should hold till morning. I spent a lot of time insulating the garage, but this year I've been lax on checking for heat leaks. Minus twelve is no joke. The wind chill advisories are posted for our area up here as well as northern New York. It seems the jet stream is still looped down and pushing the warm air stream from the south over to the east before it gets up here. It's usually till March when that reverses.
I like the cool nights and the quiet the snow brings for sleeping. There are certain advantages to living further north. You need to properly dress and prepare for it. The same thing is true about very hot climates. Cool drinks in the shade can be a real pleasure. I love the beach and the ocean when it's warm, but there's such a thing as "too hot". In Israel, we'd stay inside between noon and two o'clock in the summer. The evenings were great!
Well, "stay warm" and "pleasant dreams".

Gosh It's Cold!

A girl putting groceries into the trunk of her car shouted out "I'm freezing!", the other day in the parking lot of the supermarket across the  from where I was loading my own groceries into my pick up. I asked her if she was OK and if she needed any help and she politely declined. "You have your hands full there", or something like came from between her chattering teeth.
I really understood her. The wind was blowing fairly hard and so, even for up here in the North Country of Vermont where you'd expect people to be more or less used to it already, she was close to calling for help.
Last night was something else again. Minus twenty three was what the NOAA weather station was reporting for the low and I read minus fifteen when I went to let the dog out and feed him. I watched him pulling his hind legs up one at a time off the icy ground as if it was red hot. It was the first time I'd seen him do that. I let him in the house for a minute to warm up. "It wasn't the cold or the wind",  I thought. "There was something trying to kill us!" I took it as a challenge and assumed an attitude that the dog picked up immediately and started to bark at it. And here we were, the both of us, each in our own way barking back at the cold. It made me laugh and the dog jumped all up and down like he does when we play. "Not us, we're not afraid of the cold - are you kidding!"

Life Is What You Make It

Thoughts for the New Year

"A place to go worth going to and a way to get there - that's all you need", smiled the old sailor. He puffed on his long curved pipe and added; "steer clear of places where they prohibit smoking."

What this really means is that you can have a rewarding year if you want and if you can draw up a practical plan for it. It's neither that difficult nor that simple a task really. Is there anything you'd like to be, do or have that you aren't, aren't doing or don't have now? Do you have a way to get there? Can you handle obstacles?
Many people put off doing any of that. They limit their goals and activities to TV and cruises and "jobs".  They "watch" life. Sometimes they see someone actually living it. More often they read about it. Cultures can and have moved forward. Today most are  not doing so well. People join cultural movements to have more participation in life. There's nothing really wrong with any of that - unless things are just not moving along the way you'd like it.
Life itself provides previews and motivation to most everyone on most every subject. You can be exhilarated. Skiing down a mountain for example, sky diving, driving fast can all be exhilarating. Many people do these things. More people watch them or watch videos of them.
It doesn't have to be that dramatic or risky for that matter. Just going outside to play when you're young can be pure exhilaration. New games every day! Things to do worth doing! You can even see animals playing and having all kinds of fun. It doesn't take all that much imagination.
There's a time when being young and impulsive is most proper and there's a time when being older and wiser is more fitting for making the most of life.

Make your own choices of course, but have a really great 2015!