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Feel good purchases
Apr. 21st, 2006 10:37 pmToday I had a "feel good sandwich" for lunch today. These were being offered, for a donation, by a student group collecting money that goes toward getting poor people fed by teaching them sustainable farming methods (I think). I forget which charity it is.
They always have a selection of breads and fillings for these grilled cheese sandwiches. Usually there is a whole-grain bread available (with large slices). Then you get a choice of cheeses (American, pepper jack or swiss). And you can also have a tomato slice, tomato sauce, or ranch dressing (or any combination). I get the tomato and tomato sauce for added nutrition even though I never use these when I grill my own cheese sandwiches. It's still pretty good. Then they put it in one of those sandwich grills, without buttering the sides. They leave it there until it's all crispy and melted, even if several people are waiting in line. So it's fairly healthy and also delicious.
In the past I had trouble figuring out how much to donate. If I donate too much, I'll hardly ever go there. But if I don't donate enough, they might not cover their costs. It should at least be twice what they're paying for supplies (I heard this equation for what to charge in retail). I learned that Whole Foods donates all the food, so they have no costs. (So I need to pay at least $0 X 2; not helpful). This time, they actually listed a suggested donation of $2 to $3.
**
During the same lunch, I was reading a scene in City of Diamond where a man is returning to a brothel where he is always given the same woman. This time they said he came just in time; she was about to leave. Which he thought was odd, because in this world, women who work in brothels are tattooed as such and are not allowed to ever get married or get any other kind of work, so when they get too old, they end up in the "recycler." The man is also a character with problems, a "demon" who most people are afraid to associate with. He learned that ever since his first visit, no one else has conducted business with this now tainted woman; this man was her only customer, and he hadn't been there in a while, so she was just about to be let go.
The man says, "Nobody told me this was a death sentence when I first came." She replies, "Forget it. I'll think of something." The narrator continues (probably as the man's thoughts), "Of course she wanted him to forget it, to have his money's worth; experience had taught her that men who didn't have a good time didn't come back, and she needed this one to come back."
This was a horrifying scene, but I think our own economy works the same way because of specialization. If you're not doing your own work, you don't know how it's being done. All the relevant information, in our market economy, is tied to price. "Death sentence" sex should cost much more than regular sex, so you might get a hint. Unless these women are easily replaceable; then you're not paying the real cost.
Our current system is rampant with artificially low prices. I like low prices as much as the next guy (more, probably), but some of the things that go on behind the store window are just sickening. We all have heard about sweatshops, illegal cut-throat "competition," killer pesticides on grapes, where meat comes from, and other horror stories. But it's not easy to find out how we're getting our products and services unless that is part of the advertising. At least we do have laws against deceptive advertising; that helps. But most people don't want to know; we like having things magically appear in lovely display cases.
Nowadays, some companies brag about their good business practices. So it's easier to find, say, chocolate that has been grown sustainably and acquired at a fair price, rather than chocolate that is produced in such a way as to ruin rain forests and the people who live there. But this information is not easily available for most products and services. I remember an incident at one of those places with a pizza buffet where the wait staff just brought drinks and the check. My friend asked our waiter if we were supposed to tip. He said, "If you want to." Not helpful. She then asked him whether he made at least minimum wage or whether he made only $2 per hour. The answer was $2. So now we know we are supposed to tip.
There are so many, many things I love about living in my time and place. But this is not one of them.
They always have a selection of breads and fillings for these grilled cheese sandwiches. Usually there is a whole-grain bread available (with large slices). Then you get a choice of cheeses (American, pepper jack or swiss). And you can also have a tomato slice, tomato sauce, or ranch dressing (or any combination). I get the tomato and tomato sauce for added nutrition even though I never use these when I grill my own cheese sandwiches. It's still pretty good. Then they put it in one of those sandwich grills, without buttering the sides. They leave it there until it's all crispy and melted, even if several people are waiting in line. So it's fairly healthy and also delicious.
In the past I had trouble figuring out how much to donate. If I donate too much, I'll hardly ever go there. But if I don't donate enough, they might not cover their costs. It should at least be twice what they're paying for supplies (I heard this equation for what to charge in retail). I learned that Whole Foods donates all the food, so they have no costs. (So I need to pay at least $0 X 2; not helpful). This time, they actually listed a suggested donation of $2 to $3.
**
During the same lunch, I was reading a scene in City of Diamond where a man is returning to a brothel where he is always given the same woman. This time they said he came just in time; she was about to leave. Which he thought was odd, because in this world, women who work in brothels are tattooed as such and are not allowed to ever get married or get any other kind of work, so when they get too old, they end up in the "recycler." The man is also a character with problems, a "demon" who most people are afraid to associate with. He learned that ever since his first visit, no one else has conducted business with this now tainted woman; this man was her only customer, and he hadn't been there in a while, so she was just about to be let go.
The man says, "Nobody told me this was a death sentence when I first came." She replies, "Forget it. I'll think of something." The narrator continues (probably as the man's thoughts), "Of course she wanted him to forget it, to have his money's worth; experience had taught her that men who didn't have a good time didn't come back, and she needed this one to come back."
This was a horrifying scene, but I think our own economy works the same way because of specialization. If you're not doing your own work, you don't know how it's being done. All the relevant information, in our market economy, is tied to price. "Death sentence" sex should cost much more than regular sex, so you might get a hint. Unless these women are easily replaceable; then you're not paying the real cost.
Our current system is rampant with artificially low prices. I like low prices as much as the next guy (more, probably), but some of the things that go on behind the store window are just sickening. We all have heard about sweatshops, illegal cut-throat "competition," killer pesticides on grapes, where meat comes from, and other horror stories. But it's not easy to find out how we're getting our products and services unless that is part of the advertising. At least we do have laws against deceptive advertising; that helps. But most people don't want to know; we like having things magically appear in lovely display cases.
Nowadays, some companies brag about their good business practices. So it's easier to find, say, chocolate that has been grown sustainably and acquired at a fair price, rather than chocolate that is produced in such a way as to ruin rain forests and the people who live there. But this information is not easily available for most products and services. I remember an incident at one of those places with a pizza buffet where the wait staff just brought drinks and the check. My friend asked our waiter if we were supposed to tip. He said, "If you want to." Not helpful. She then asked him whether he made at least minimum wage or whether he made only $2 per hour. The answer was $2. So now we know we are supposed to tip.
There are so many, many things I love about living in my time and place. But this is not one of them.