Liberty Drip

In Florida, our preferred grocery store chain is Publix, "Where Shopping is a Pleasure." The stores have always been bright, clean, and well-stocked. The employees were always friendly and helpful. They smiled when you spoke to them. They cared... these people are a memory.  Publix was the last best hope for people like myself, who worked in customer contact positions all their lives and were trained to treat customers well, to underpromise and overdeliver. We were trained to be good to our customers, or we were shown the door. I miss those days. I miss walking into a place of business and not being treated like an inconvenience. I'm here to spend my money and help you keep your job so you can have money, too. Don't be so ungrateful about it. I was aware of a steady, subtle decline in the quality of not only Publix's service, but the quality of their products, too. I was prompted to sit down and write this because the half & half I bought from Publix not a wee...

  The voters of the state of Florida passed a law which will result in a $15 minimum wage by 2026. The bill passed with just over 60% of the vote. Some will say this is a victory for workers’ rights, and equality and fairness and all that blah blah blah. I am willing to bet it will be the opposite. Full disclosure: I am a business owner. I have hourly employees. All of them make more than the current minimum wage. Not all of them are at or above $15 per hour. I have a problem with the minimum wage that has nothing to do with how it may affect my business. See, I will treat payroll as I treat every other expense. I will pass on the additional cost to my customers. I hope they will benefit from the wage increase as well, because they’re going to pay more for everything they buy and every service they contract. Actually, I take that back. I hope they don’t benefit from the wage increase. I hope they don’t see themselves as minimum wage people. I hope they believe in themselves a littl...