Category: Hot Dog Days

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drink funny Hot Dog Days My San Francisco Chronicles observation

Spare me an ice cube?

After work today, I just remembered an amusing incident from yesterday’s shift:

I was working my last hour at the hot dog stand with a co-worker, and a guy approached our cart, looking like he was going to order something. After a minute, he approached my co-worker and asked, “Can I just have an ice cube?”

Co-worker’s response: “Err, okay…”

Man: “I am so thirsty but I don’t have enough money to buy a drink..”

Co-worker: “Oh, okay, sure dude.”

Reaches into the soda cart, gets an ice cube, and hands it to the guy.

Man: “Thanks dude, I’ll just suck on this.”

He walks away.

After that little episode, I chuckled a little to my co-worker. He smiled, shrugged, and said “Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

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#foodie fast food Hot Dog Days

Selling Hot Dogs.

What is your initial reaction when someone says to you, “I sell hot dogs” ?

Would you laugh? Would you feel a bit of disbelief at this job? Would you pity the person?

Or would you think to yourself, “Wow, that sounds pretty cool!”

At first I thought, “Hmm, sounds interesting, but…”; but now I am thinking, “That is pretty awesome.”

You get to work outside (which has its pros and cons, depending on the weather), get to meet all kinds of people, and best of all, great tips (yes, money…). It all depends on where you are selling the hot dogs though–if you’re in an area where people have low income, then maybe the job won’t be as fun. But selling hot dogs to people with a lot of dispensable income (i.e., SF, NYC)….well, the job really isn’t so bad.

I wouldn’t make a profession out of it, but it’s a great (and unique) job than working at a restaurant. Plus, since most people don’t have high expectations for the service at a hot dog stand…well, that’s a great spot for a smart businessperson to aim his or her differentiation strategy at. Great service at a hot dog stand–it’s completely doable. It makes that $4.25 hot dog completely worth it when you have a generous vendor handing you the hot dog in a very sanitary way (using tongs, not hands!).

I guess now I can tell my children in the future “Hey, I worked at a hot dog stand when I was younger….”