Grow Up and Get Down

the internet told me recently that there is a dolores park trio selling homemade cookies from the second floor of their edwardian apartment. and i think i said out loud, "i love san francisco."

in fact, i dare say this is exactly the kind of behavior that makes tourists love our city. the transamerica pyramid is great, and the golden gate bridge is pretty neat even though it's not gold or record-breakingly long-- but when it's never been those things that tourists truly enjoy. as a tour guide, i watched where the cameras were aimed and it was the naked cyclists with uncomfortable penises and frigid nipples; it was the bushman, frank chu, and the brown twins; tourists wanted to see protests, they wanted to see a man dressed as spider-man scale the side of a high-rise condominium. that want strange, but cute.

it's that "only in san francisco" thang they've always been drawn to.

and i absolutely love the fat cookies idea.


but after reading the short article over at foodbeast, i realized not everyone is as willing to have fun. there were great debates about laws regarding permits to sell food, health codes, and a gentle amount of smack-talking.

a commenter named OregonTrail had a lot to say. and his comments are about as fun and uplifting as the game his online handle is named after.

What about the *real* entrepreneur up the road, that actually worked hard and saved to open his own establishment, and actually went through the hassle and expense to get proper permits/licenses? I would understand if these were little kids, but they are grown adults, and just because they win some liberal popularity contest shouldn't allow them to bypass the "hassle", expense, and responsibility necessary to start a food business, cutting in front of the *real* entrepreneurs who are dedicated enough not to play naive and actually follow procedures to protect public interest.

Believe it or not, there is a reason that people trying to sell prepared food to the public need to follow a bare minimum inspection and permit procedure. There's nothing entrepreneurial about what they are doing, they just want to be held to the same standard as a child with a lemonade stand, and they should grow up a little. Just my .02 -.

firstly, i would pay two cents to never have to hear OregonTrail's thoughts on unorthodox cookie-sales again-- and that's twice the going rate of a good thought. usually, it's just a penny for your thoughts. so think about that.

amongst many sentences, i'm having a little trouble with the part where he writes, "There's nothing entrepreneurial about what they are doing, they just want to be held to the same standard as a child with a lemonade stand, and they should grow up a little." because if there truly is nothing entrepreneurial about their tactics, there should be no problem with what they're doing for the same reason there is nothing wrong with a child doing it. but, more importantly, i think what san francisco needs is for people to "grow up a little" less.

honestly, if you were walking around in a neighborhood and stumbled across a dangling sign that read, "$1 for a fresh baked cookie!" would you cross your arms and grow angry? would you pull the string to yell, "WHAT ABOUT THE REAL ENTREPRENEURS?!" and turn the bakers in to the health police?

shit, you don't even deserve a cookie if that's how you roll.

i'm going to make a trip out to fat cookies and hopefully they're still running. i'd like to thank them for remaining rad and lighthearted in a city where unemployment rates is the only thing growing up. we could use more of this: it's why i love san francisco, and it's why visitors end up moving here permanently.

also, i hope OregonTrail dies of dysentery.