NYC - THE LAND OF THE NOT SO FREE

It seems like everything in this city is just ridiculously priced for the sake of being expensive, even when it doesn't have to be. Movie tickets are $10.50 each. (And Hollywood is complaining that movie attendance is down!) Food, booze, rent, the cost of ANYTHING in NYC is through the yuppie roof deck. And if you think about it, it really doesn't make any logical sense. The idea of cities, originally, was that by congregating a lot of people into a small area, you could CUT the costs of everything, because there would be more people to hire services, pay for things, and all around utilize the city. But as we see today, this is simply not the way it is.

At 88 Orchard, a trendy spot near Lolita Bar in LES/Chinatown, you can buy a lame, shabby wilted-lettuce salad for $8. It's supposed to come with avocado, and it does - one half of a small sliver. COME ON, you yuppie garbage. Do you have to rip people off just for the sake of it? Would it hurt to actually put avocado in a salad that is supposed to come with avocado? Can you ask for more avocado? Who do you ask? The stoned out hipster behind the bar who thinks you're a dick for even expecting him to do his job, let alone provide decent customer service? If you complain, people think you're an asshole. We live in a society where it is considered wrong to speak up when you are treated like shit.

A friend saw some kids selling lemonade and brownies the other day on a side street in the 20s. Each tiny dixie cup of lemonade and ice cube sized brownie cost $2. Kids are taught from birth to be greedy, fat little assholes. That is why this city is, today, full of, and even run by greedy, fat big assholes.

The elevator in our building broke - two weeks ago! After slithering up six flights of stairs in sweltering 100 degree weather day after day for a week, I asked the super when it would be fixed. He said the elevator company said they'd come and they kept not coming. He actually even GAVE ME the elevator number so I could call and complain, which I joyfully did, but it was all for naught, I realized, as the operator hung up on me with glee when she learned I was just a lousy tenant in the building and no one of any importance.

Why is it so hard for New Yorkers to give? For some reason, most New Yorkers are trained, or taught to take, and give as little as possible.

It's not hard to be kind. It doesn't cost anything to be kind. It doesn't do you any favors to be a greedy, selfish asshole.

My boss, who is a very wealthy jewish man once told me the secret to being rich. He said, "You have to make a decision about money without using any conscience or emotion. You have to consider - which way will make me the most money?" The conversation was in regards to him buying a building in the West Village and kicking out all the tenants with one day notice to leave.
I do hope that someday New Yorkers will learn the value of kindness and conscience. However, I have a feeling that the only hope New York has is that it might be destroyed by an atomic bomb.

Here is a dare for anyone who reads this: Do something nice for a stranger today. Hold a door. Help an old lady across the street. Pet someone's poor dog that they left sitting on the sidewalk like an abandoned baby. It won't get you anything. It won't put money into your pocket. It won't get you a raise at work. It won't get you on The Apprentice. But it will put some humanity back into your cold, hardened heart, you turd. And if you're not a turd...well...then, keep on doing what you're doing. The world needs more non-turds.