The Weiner Boy
Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. The sky was a perfect blue. The air was warm and embracing. What a perfect day to give myself something to do!
So I realized that staying at home all day (which I did on Friday) makes me crazy, especially without my computer or my PS2, so I've decided that each day I'm here, I must go out for over three hours. It's just healthy.
So yesterday, I went to Pier 30 to take on Frances' "catering" job, which really involved being a vendor at a snack cart at the KFOG KaBoom concert. For you non-SF people, KFOG is a radio station for "World Class Rock." Their headliner was the Wallflowers, who, at some point, I enjoyed. However, instead of actaully being positioned in the midst of the concert, I was positioned about a 1/2 mile away from the concert grounds, on the broadwalk of the Embaracdero. This obviously made me upset because Frances had told me that the real money to be made came from the confusion the crowd and the extra little "tips" you can pick up with "margin overflow." Very complicated stuff. However, I had a lot of fun selling hot dogs without the huge crowd. I had a gorgeous view of the bay. If only I had my camera. It was so wonderful.
Highlights from selling hot dogs:
- Telling people that the hot dogs were $5 a pop, and seeing their reactions. I know, $5 for a hot dog... But they were pretty big. I got similar reactions all day.
- Pocketing $54 dollars in my shoe and leaving it there for seven hours. (What!? "Margin overflow," people!)
- Having flaming chafing dish fuel spill over my pants and shoe. My shoe was on fire for about ten seconds. I was scared, but afterward, when I wasn't hurt, I thought the experience was pretty cool.
- When business started picking up, and more people were generous with tips.
- Occasionally, we would run out of warm hot dogs and would have to wait 20-25mins for a new batch. Some people were dedicated enough to wait. Some people weren't. But I had fun yelling in a vendor kind of way, "Alright, folks. Once again, the hot dogs are going to take 15 mins to heat up. FYI: $5 a hot dog. We do have beverages and ice cream over here for you convenience."
- During one of the long waits, a man and a woman were standing in the front of the line. The man kept saying things, like "I want this boy to serve me his hot dogs" and "I would probably go to jail if he were to that". At first, I just laughed it off and looked away. I couldn't tell if this guy was gay or just being obnoxious and condesending. But his friend was obviously a lesbian. Anyways, when they got their dogs, I asked for it when I said "There you go. Thank you for your service." To which he ranted, as he took his sweet ass time putting on his condiments, "Thank you for your service. I'm so glad I was served by this weiner boy. Boy, do I really want one of his weiners in my mouth?" ... Am I supposed to have more than one "weiner"? (This story would actually be considered a lowlight.)
-The fireworks. Actually, I didn't really pay attention on the fireworks. I was too concerned with heating up another batch of dogs. But the end of the fireworks marked the beginning of my money making. You see, at a certain time, the boss tells us to lower the price. Whatever we don't sell gets wasted. So it's fair game to sell the remainder of the food and receive the profit as "tips." Well, that's what we did. $2 a hot dog, with the money going right into my pockets. However, because I was physically serving the hot dogs, the guy next to me was collecting all the money. And since he wasn't in on the scam, all my potential "tips" went out the window. That was a disappoitment. However, I looked at it this way. I'm essentially taking money that isn't mine, and though it is fair (in Frances' head) for me to take it, the money that wasn't going to me was going to the boss, who would eventually hire me again if I did a good job. Which means more scamming and moneymaking at a later time. Plus, I'm getting more money than I had before the day began, so it doesn't matter how much of that money I'm earning, as long as I am making some of it.
In the end, I received about $200 in "margin overflow," which is a big disappointment, since Frances promised $500-700, even $1000 if I was lucky. Maybe it's because we weren't selling churros or preztels. Those would have been money makers. However, I now have money to pay off a late phone bill and spending money for the next week or so. Plus, I'll be getting my flat fee of a $100 for a good 11 hours of work, so I really don't feel too bad about the whole thing. It was really fun. And getting to spend the day with immersed in a SF celebration of sorts was really great. Oh, SF! How I love you so!
So I realized that staying at home all day (which I did on Friday) makes me crazy, especially without my computer or my PS2, so I've decided that each day I'm here, I must go out for over three hours. It's just healthy.
So yesterday, I went to Pier 30 to take on Frances' "catering" job, which really involved being a vendor at a snack cart at the KFOG KaBoom concert. For you non-SF people, KFOG is a radio station for "World Class Rock." Their headliner was the Wallflowers, who, at some point, I enjoyed. However, instead of actaully being positioned in the midst of the concert, I was positioned about a 1/2 mile away from the concert grounds, on the broadwalk of the Embaracdero. This obviously made me upset because Frances had told me that the real money to be made came from the confusion the crowd and the extra little "tips" you can pick up with "margin overflow." Very complicated stuff. However, I had a lot of fun selling hot dogs without the huge crowd. I had a gorgeous view of the bay. If only I had my camera. It was so wonderful.
Highlights from selling hot dogs:
- Telling people that the hot dogs were $5 a pop, and seeing their reactions. I know, $5 for a hot dog... But they were pretty big. I got similar reactions all day.
- Pocketing $54 dollars in my shoe and leaving it there for seven hours. (What!? "Margin overflow," people!)
- Having flaming chafing dish fuel spill over my pants and shoe. My shoe was on fire for about ten seconds. I was scared, but afterward, when I wasn't hurt, I thought the experience was pretty cool.
- When business started picking up, and more people were generous with tips.
- Occasionally, we would run out of warm hot dogs and would have to wait 20-25mins for a new batch. Some people were dedicated enough to wait. Some people weren't. But I had fun yelling in a vendor kind of way, "Alright, folks. Once again, the hot dogs are going to take 15 mins to heat up. FYI: $5 a hot dog. We do have beverages and ice cream over here for you convenience."
- During one of the long waits, a man and a woman were standing in the front of the line. The man kept saying things, like "I want this boy to serve me his hot dogs" and "I would probably go to jail if he were to that". At first, I just laughed it off and looked away. I couldn't tell if this guy was gay or just being obnoxious and condesending. But his friend was obviously a lesbian. Anyways, when they got their dogs, I asked for it when I said "There you go. Thank you for your service." To which he ranted, as he took his sweet ass time putting on his condiments, "Thank you for your service. I'm so glad I was served by this weiner boy. Boy, do I really want one of his weiners in my mouth?" ... Am I supposed to have more than one "weiner"? (This story would actually be considered a lowlight.)
-The fireworks. Actually, I didn't really pay attention on the fireworks. I was too concerned with heating up another batch of dogs. But the end of the fireworks marked the beginning of my money making. You see, at a certain time, the boss tells us to lower the price. Whatever we don't sell gets wasted. So it's fair game to sell the remainder of the food and receive the profit as "tips." Well, that's what we did. $2 a hot dog, with the money going right into my pockets. However, because I was physically serving the hot dogs, the guy next to me was collecting all the money. And since he wasn't in on the scam, all my potential "tips" went out the window. That was a disappoitment. However, I looked at it this way. I'm essentially taking money that isn't mine, and though it is fair (in Frances' head) for me to take it, the money that wasn't going to me was going to the boss, who would eventually hire me again if I did a good job. Which means more scamming and moneymaking at a later time. Plus, I'm getting more money than I had before the day began, so it doesn't matter how much of that money I'm earning, as long as I am making some of it.
In the end, I received about $200 in "margin overflow," which is a big disappointment, since Frances promised $500-700, even $1000 if I was lucky. Maybe it's because we weren't selling churros or preztels. Those would have been money makers. However, I now have money to pay off a late phone bill and spending money for the next week or so. Plus, I'll be getting my flat fee of a $100 for a good 11 hours of work, so I really don't feel too bad about the whole thing. It was really fun. And getting to spend the day with immersed in a SF celebration of sorts was really great. Oh, SF! How I love you so!