How About “Valid” Flow of Information for a bona fide Food, Wine and Hospitality “Industry” in North America in 2014?

And Wednesday is here. My days are no longer days or nights. It is dark now and I have been up for several hours, commuted over 30 miles and early for work. I crashed here where I can type a note quickly. Since my new routine allows me to do more than I did which is more than what an average person does, I now have more time to dig into wine. And? I was riding the train and since I am very used to following technology news, I not only have blogs of value that are well-established and efficient hence easy to follow and be informed but also I can use more novel means of acquiring information such as video and audio. I have a Youtube account dedicated to such technology broadcasts which are also part marketing by established news agencies BUT do provide accurate and timely information. I was curious today and tried to add wine into this Youtube just to see the effects. Nothing. The Sommelier affiliations I have? Major wine publications? They barely led anywhere. Even local popular magazines which can have timely info barely have any leads. What does all this mean? They are so primitive or backward?

I like to think they refuse to divulge information unless is being sold. Marketing is a low priority. Local news of value to the wine trade is available in the resources that sell them! The same can be said of others. This is not an article about criticizing such venues but to ask where is one to receive information of value besides Decanter emails? I like to think we are so advanced in 2014 that I can dedicate one of my tablets to technology activities AND acquire a second tablet which may be used daily once or two or three times weekly for the purposes of gathering all incoming leads, news and so on BUT do these sources exist? If I were to take a simple step of acquiring a tablet and installing a RSS reader would I be able to receive whole and valuable (garbage is endless in this business) industry and trade information by adding say 8 to 12 blogs? Logically, I should be able to click my RSS Reader app icon daily as I have done for technology forever on my tablet and flip through the articles of recent that have value and bother to stop and read as much of what gets my attention before moving on! Shouldn’t I? I don’t think so. I think one reason is those who gather and provide news and information as third party are interested in “selling” them and have no interest in “informing” the trade or individuals in trade. I also think the organizations and institutions which are in the relevant businesses are only fronts for powerful people and money in the business until go out of business hence information is not their business nor is “industry.” I like to think that it is a responsibility of major publications to have at least one solid blog that pushes the most needed news AND skips the masses of garbage (that probably are created by them also) from this flow. I also think the bodies that operate in the field “assuming” an industry exists in some form beyond the facade and the businesses pretending ought to have some way of timely publishing their angle of the top or valuable news. Court of Master Sommelier? Wine and Spirit Trust? That is a random throw of the many bodies in business. If there is an industry also in existence there has to be a routine publication including “industry” needed information and news. Decanter is not IT. An entire industry cannot be run by tidbits thrown at us by one magazine. I like to think it is a duty in 2014 for those organizations and institutions which get so much out of this business to run a daily “original” blog of news and information no matter how brief or infrequent as long as is informative and valuable so if there is an “industry” out there and individuals whom are not wrongfully an “industry” structure is in place, what is worth knowing will be available. Two conditions must be met in this pursuit. If information is to be sold which may be necessary, a free version MUST exist or this is not beneficial for an industry and benefits the buyers and sellers only. Secondly, the format is very important or these contents are worthless. Many blogs, publications and sources provide the information but the format and the packaging of information together with all the garbage included in this flow of information make it impossible to make any use of the info. In a way, it would be disturbing to have a solid, clear and collective flow of valuable, accurate and mildly biased information and news of the industry in one place as say a RSS Reader. One step further would be video clips when worthy hence enhancing the value.

There are those who argue no “industry” exists and a bunch of traders with the most money hold everyone from employees to public hostage by their activities and provide “fake” versions of what may be needed from products, organizations, marketing to what you may name so it appears this Special Interest is really a solid, organized and healthy industry of many trained and qualified men, women and organizations doing what a healthy industry does. I agree and disagree but probably is the best description of Food, Wine and Hospitality in United States during the first two decades of 21st century. How about violating this standard? There are enough independent organizations and bodies and persons whom can initiate or clean up what is already available hence making the flow of information practical and useful and we have a new level of organization for what we have in place. It may be a fake “industry” and a solid coalition of businesses with no interest in an “industry” but in financial transactions short and long terms but we can operate another level on top of this by having many “valid” flows of information for the sake of information. An “industry” man or woman would be able to participate and be in tune with the “industry” that fights to exist beyond the controls of “profiteers” and we would in time have some level of organization that functions for more objectives than money changing hands or bank accounts. I think a multi-billion dollar industry needs such a basic level of activities to be flexible through times. People who are on the same page of what is going on in the industry form a group that has effect on the industry. Today, this is only insider experts or those who can “buy” information. A system of “valid” and “current” resources of flowing information would put the majority or large portions of those in the “industry” that is suppressed on the same page hence they have more effect and hopefully the common cause of a healthy “industry” will stand better chance of success against its own troubles.

How about that?

22 Jan 2014 7:30 am Downtown San Francisco, California

How Shall We Write So We Are Professional Sommelier Writers?

What is the solution? I like my material to be presentation quality which is easy. I just have to proofread before publishing and minor changes. The trouble is I have so little time. I have too little time. I can barely type up something of value while I eat breakfast or ride the train and proofreading delays the entire process to indefinite. I have always agreed with the feedback that I am a “vicious writer” and try to avoid that. A vicious writer knows too much about audience and how people read, think and follow thought. He can write so knocks the reader off one’s seat everytime. All it takes is reading first draft slowly and fixing a little so there are no breaks in the vicious line of thought. Sometimes leaving draft for later makes for a better entire rewrite that is vicious rather than ambiguous. And what is the benefit of writing for audience whom need to try extremely hard to come up with something that creates an exchange? Writing at the level of the reader achieves such an exchange and that is best achieved by first drafts in my case. They are more humane! And now once again I have another objective. My blogs also represent professional level work. After a week I finally was able to grasp the idea presented by Wine Advice that some sommeliers write and achieve professional contribution rather than traditional duties of the trade! And it was added to that later how about doing more of that while doing the traditional stuff? How do I do that? Same way I did my photography. A Flickr handpick of under 200 from some 3000 uploaded says more about my signature style than all the blog posts I wrote on photography. I think I do what I did with an older blog. I write and post what I write but change some posts to private later. In time, what is left are posts that meet selection criteria. I won’t censor old posts beyond what is now. In time, I hope my wine writing parallel my photography in saying a great deal about us and our philosophy rather than a river of blog posts that may have good content but…. We see if this works. 4 Jan 2014 9:06 am Lake Merritt, California

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Jan 3rd 2013

Friday ended. Fruitless day. Lots of activity. I worked my ass off. That is what college is for. I also got the word people who haven’t got to college don’t like college graduates. Lousy shitty school I went to never got me a good job and becomes trouble too. Governor thinks I am a California education success story! Please….. And then run into a bunch of people who don’t like you because have college education. Is that why my fried chicken was late yesterday? I worked seven hours non-stop and handled what is referred to as hundreds of wine boxes. First the official word is I am too scary. And nobody believes me when I say my body makes its own decisions. It decided no lunch and we just keep going and nobody believes me that my body won’t listen to me and keeps going. Then expert word is I have a trick system for moving boxes hence I can do a million and not get tired. They finally learned how stuff get moved. Little by little. Break the motion up to as many pieces as possible and heck is safe and non-stop. I don’t know but if history is a lesson, don’t copy my stuff. If you don’t get killed or maimed for life, I will be hearing forever how was my fault and what I said. Ignore Uncle Cush. He went to California college. Aha. You cannot do what he does says Sacramento. Don’t you wish you were educated in California too! Anyway that is the praise I get from the fine folks far away in high rises who get overpaid by US Treasury to whine I have a trick system? F… all of them. I learned a lot about wine today by keeping close to them boxes. They don’t have a poetic presence but are coming to life slowly as I remember their stories. I have to learn a little French again. I want to learn functional French. They made me study grammar and all kinds of French stuff. I like it American style. Learn enough to fake it. I am glad I shall return. I don’t know where. For now to my normal life. And something good did happen. Vegas says I can go work there now. They say if I can handle sixty million bottles of wine and climb three stories high holding them like I do I am good enough for Vegas. Yesterday, I got word a friend who is a General commented that I handle boxes of wine like they are boxes of Ammo and can explode. That is not far from the truth. Wine has a story. That is a decent or above. If you can understand it, you can handle it. The trains have these ads that say 40% of all food in America gets tossed and people hunger. That is how wine gets treated. Ever been to a big event tasting? The quantities of wine wasted by the reps as they pour to impress you! A few drunks appreciate it but the rest toss them. 40% of food in America gets tossed! That is still food. Boxes of wine are like boxes of ammo if we knew what the story of the wine inside was. It is not just taste. French are right getting mad that memorizing names of wines won’t do and I have to understand French culture and people. There is a lot of that culture and people inside them better bottles. Trick system my ass! Losers work foe government except for our governor who bas been nice because they couldn’t do anything right and think the other guy bas a trick system hence can do. One day I tell you the tale of Chateau Obama reds. The joke is Obama owns the winery and I am the wine maker and believe or not I can mix so joke says people pay a lot to get a bottle of Chateau Obama so they drink when mad. They hate both of us! Corny joke. Nobody knows Uncle Cush outside his circles. Try again. 3 Jan 2013 5:51 pm Montgomery Station, California

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More on Wine Tastings!

am getting me knowledge back and not even drunk yet. Ran into a list of some 2000+ good quality wines we sell and viola here is challenge how much can I remember by reading through it once? I am rusty but gets your brain started! Wine advice said I am back in my sommelier mind after a few days only. I was wondering is it because I am pissed off that I complained about Fried Chicken fast food not doing proper wine tastings! A few criticized me but the smart ones loved it. Yes, I am right and they agreed. It is SO hard to taste regularly for most as was to get an order of Fried Chicken out of these people within all these limits and barriers. That is an industry problem and only some have the “privilige” of easy regular tasting. Plenty of garbage for tasting always however but routine evaluative tastings! Ha Ha. Not in a country proud to make a fake version of everything and ban the real version so can sell fake with higher profits. Fake tastings everywhere and if real tastings abundant the fakes die. That is un-American. Selling genuine and tossing fakes! Oh my God!

French gave me wine advice because of my tasting problem. They warned if I say one word they clam up and won’t talk to me so they got away. They claim visiting wine at the source is the only way. That is the vineyard etc and taste there and see and talk. They say a lot but basically that French make great wine because they go to each others vineyards and taste and talk and so on. They say bottle business is British invention and British never cared about wine. They traveled the world and stole or bought to sell. French say British had lots of bottles to show and taste so can sell what bought. They didn’t care about wine. They just were into selling them and that is what this bottle tasting system is and for people who want to buy and sell and don’t give a shit about wine or quality. French say my problem does not exist. I have a problem because bottle tasting system was not designed to appreciate wine or quality. It aims to sales. I have to do the minimum which is see the wine where wine is made and get all the info there is. And more not said here. I like that. Bottle tasting has advantages but is bullshit too. Once past a number there is a bunch of drunks socializing and tasting as business is over. Tastings have their own culture and we don’t cover here but I am working on my problems differently now thanks to French (bastards some may say but not me. I am nice now). I listened and did not say nothing as they demanded. Others are rude in parenthesis this time. Such is life. Blame the British and I agree. No problem. They are rude. 3 Jan 2014 7:10 am Hayward, California

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January 2nd 2014

Thursday. I am tired. I am sleepy. My body has been adjusting to changes and is running well. I cannot complain except that I am confused. Who cares.

And I had my first wine tasting today. Lunch time was late lunch. I walked to the local store where fried chicken is popular. They serve with Sprite. It was good and yes no wine! It was a wine tasting however. Tastings are exactly the same. One needs a break and has a destination that needs calculating the time to get there. If and when one arrives the chances that things go wrong at the tastings are always good. The same here. My chicken wrap order took longer than expect. The Cajun rice was good but so small and I wonder what chemicals are added by US government to make us do what. This dude who was a Marine told me how government put stuff in their food so they feel neutered hence when off ship they would behave. He said the best looking girl would walk by on shore leave and they would look but felt neutered. It is more widespread now. Burritos are Mexican and the racist Fed are said not to like whomever eats food those foreigners like and adds chemicals that mess with eaters! I have been told this and my sources are dead so cannot prove true or false. Fried chicken is same. Supporters of Zero eat fried chicken in quantities and we need to watch for them racist government people. It can happen if not already. My order took too long as in the tastings when things go wrong. I was thinking if that was the tasting and I wa able to get and leave and taste in thirty minutes how many wines would I taste? And how would I get past the reps and to the wines I was curios about in that little time? As obvious my first tasting did not go well. It sucked. Chicken was good and I cannot complain about Sprite but service took too long and that rice definitely has government added chemicals. I am getting back into the swing of things however. I was expecting my clusters of wine knowledge and memories to travel from back of my head to the front (I can be very scientific) and they did. I abandoned the wine book I was reading! F that. I am not same crap for 10000th time. My wine mindset and memories are definitely back. Then again I will be doing more action stuff now. I feel like I am writing encyclopedia Wikipedia pages on wine (and while on topic how come I don’t have my own page on Wikipedia yet? Third rate collections….) by documenting my events. Today was not much. 2 Jan 2013 5:38 pm McArthur, California

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January 1st 2014

I am going to concentrate on a backward approach. Wine Advice (that means the person who advised me and talks to others who discuss blah blah) says I write plenty to get back in. They do have a valid point. I learned about wine through specific wine bottles then ended up in studies which are hard and general in nature. The next step is same again and I need to make friends with many wine bottles to cover the whole spectrum. That is a difficult approach but necessary and what is meant by wine writing first. Wine experts are now identified differently. As one progresses through this field one comes across many. They all speak the same language and more or less same things but careful systems make us deal with them properly. It is like living in a community. We come across many people and all of them pass as “people” but we know by cultural learning who is who and what is what. We avoid. We approach and so on. Culture teaches us how to choose. Wine people are similar. Everyone talks of wine and has their angle on wine. Most need to be banned from discussing wine. Culture teaches us that. Dealing with them leads to losses. Many sell wine. Many write on wine. Most drink or serve wine. They need care in handling. Their angles on wine and industry are very incomplete if not destructive. Avoiding them is the rule. A few and a very few of those few know what they talk about. They naturally avoid you and all the rest. That is not a bad thing. The time has come once again to go through the field and one comes across so many “people” who are known collectively as “wine people” and most have this introductory line of “I have been in wine business for X number of years and….” and “I have been in restaurant business for X number of years and ….” These are the people to avoid the most. They think they are authorities. They have the worst and most biased and possibly most erroneous ideas of the field and don’t you dare have an alternate view as they told X number of years right in their opinions. We need avoid them. And personally, I have to deal with another group in my quest. The so-called knowledge people who have some education or a lot, have some name or drag a celebrity of the field as being part in their work and are equally a problem. The higher folks have a good name for them. They are called “professional wine drinkers.” These folks have had enough background to be in the field at a higher than casual or tenure point and cannot be pushed off their step but their primary knowledge and ability lies in “drinking” a lot of wines and throwing labels, names, vintages, tastes and stories out at audience as their “knowledge” you cannot argue with unless you also drink their same and then can battle them. It sounds like there are not many left in the field. I guess that is why most “wine people” fit the nickname “doushbags” so aptly. We don’t have an industry in spite of what we are told. I have told people and I have been told by higher folks what the hell I am talking about. Experience will prove they are right. Food, wine, liquor, hospitality and the rest at least on the West Coast are just businesses. They market themselves and persons as many things but all in all are just that. They don’t have a deeper foundation of common principles and organization making them an industry. That means some level of regulation which fights easy dollars and let’s face it at least the restaurant part of this great “industry” (don’t forget great! That is a needed adjective in wine and food writing or upset some) many illegal activities are housed inside “restaurant biz” fronts and the existence of an industry structure would create serious conflicts with their “business” activities hence we promote “industry” but lack one. That is still the state of a lot of things on the West Coast. Who cares? We do so we avoid them. We need to look for and spend time with “good” parts of the food, wine, liquor and hospitality industry. That does not mean promoting them blindly but there are many “good” and “notable” things out there. The bads outnumber the “goods” by too many hence waste of time unless we are criminologists. The future needs more of “good” of this whatever we call “the industry.” Let’s stick to that in our path of visits, exploration and findings. 1 Jan 2013 12:05 pm San Leandro, California

Resurrected Finally…..

It is 2014 and Wine by Cush is definitely resurrected. It was not dead but was returned from being under lock and key of passworded blogs that get filed just in case. The trouble that followed was how hard it is for one to write stuff and post while on the move most of the time. Months passed until I tried one day and what do you know Windows Mobile WordPress App does allow multiple log ins. That was a victory for wine writing right there! A non-diluted app unlike Android and think iOS (was so long ago) enabled me to dump content in here as I pleased. I regret my most recent posts express the lack of appreciation by professional writers or artists in general with editors or censors in general. They are not the enemy but get on your nerves hence if somebody shoots one of them, it may be much less of a loss than generally believed. That is a joke and I am glad we are all on good terms. I shall have editors and am sure in exchange for not paying my editor or editors they will run a tight and rigid blog that will be hard to breath in for any non-paying and rebellious writer. The result may be good. Content that has value but lacks deliberate typos and insistence on insulting the reader. That is the state of this blog. Editor or not, it will keep publishing and publishing in 2014 or as long as Windows Mobile shall live on. I will be very busy but between here and my My Week in Wine blog I shall do my damage and will be praised as done contributing to the industry! This is a tough year. I have to blog write on wine which requires physical events. That means I have to be places which is not my favorite thing to do. Writing is the less troublesome part. I have a full proof system to avoid a few things not appreciated hence making the prediction “You will make many enemies this year” not come true. I don’t have bad things to say or I mix them up real good with other stuff and good luck getting me on them. I deny I did it and you get it. I shall mark good not bad. Too many bads out there and San Francisco Chronicle writers will whitewash them or be on the run for pointing them out. Independent writers need not worry about anything but good. I read 13% into a generic wine book and feel like vomiting already. I cannot read any more. This happens everytime and the trouble is I know these contents so well I want to cry and say SO WHAT? I know all this shit and why do I have to hear it again and again. Wine writing seems to be stuck in a foundation loop majority can never rise above. Same stupid questions and same stupid answers and they call it wine writing. I cannot do that. I have a huge load of writing ahead and after hearing the command to blah blah write first blah blah kick everyones ass blah blah then wine business again I felt like I am in graduate school. Comprehensive and fair writing to cover enough of an industry to actually matter is a lot of activity and writing. One cannot get anything valuable out of incidental writing done to record events and experiences in time and space unless rarely or if a huge quantity is made available. I am called to do that. So be it. I am confused and lost and can care less. That is 2014 for now. I rip anything wine related apart limb by limb and detail the events in writing making the folks at top of wine education field very happy while a new format of writing will shield me from accusation that I have said bad things about somebody or somebody’s wine! Uncle Cush does not do that. We tried to return to wine business and sort of worked out. Wine industry cares little for another employee even us. They have business standards. Wine power folk are not that easy. I have been gone for a while when they had to hold fort against doushbags that roam and rob and destroy as industry folk. They demand I match their workload likewise before we are all on good terms and everyone say them, them and oh there is that asshole Cush again and he is one of them for sure. I shall write again. Everyone better be nice to me or my editor may be in danger. You just behave out there so nothing bad happens. 1 January 2013 11:34 am San Leandro, California

Tuesday the 31st

Happy New Year! I should call my readers idiots or morons as I do in my other blogs but I am a professional wine person so I CAN be polite. Just don’t forget the CAN part. It can change. I am upset. Everything is fine but I am getting pushed. My ostracized art adviser says I should begin by Googling finding an editor. I did. It was too easy. As Monk put it in Barton Fink restaurant scene all Fink had to do was throw a rock in the room and would hit another writer to help him with his problem. Apparently editors are in large supply and I even found out why! Half upfront and half after? Are they talking about money? I can get any question I have answered by the top of the top people in any industry locally and turn around and insult them in writing the next day AND they still insist to answer future questions! Pay? Uncle Cush does not like that! In better or worse feedback I am told to find a school teacher to correct my typos and grammar before posting AND they tell me the life of the teacher is not in danger regardless what I write about wine business. “Who would target a school teacher for correcting my grammar?” I get a lot of help. I ask Department of State to find me an editor and if gets hit will be remembered as lost in action while serving the country! They really like to help. I will find a brave soul to edit my wine blog and threats are real hence editorial help is a must. Some of us have all kinds of protection but is not fair to the injured party to have such a hard time getting back for their loss so editorial help is recruited. They fear nothing. Humble writers eat and drink and write obscene criticisms. That is not a balanced equation. When the editor goes down it becomes fair and square. I am just kidding but I am famous. I need a strong editor who can handle a famous person. 31 Dec 2013 5:09 pm Hayward, California

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Monday the 30th

I miss working in restaurants. About midnight tomorrow there would be a riot. Fireworks as part of work is another thing. I am glad I am Unavailable. New Year’s Eve expenditure? Zero! It is good to be Unavailable. I am officially too busy to care about life on this planet. I am back in wine business. What bothers me is everyone praising this field of wine and pumping me up how good I am too AND knocking the electronics and wireless field in being no good and not having a future. That is new and won’t stop. I believe in the idea of being in multiple fields and always thought high tech was good! I guess I agree I was in retail not high tech. That is another story but we are doing same old stuff again AND I get a lot of notices now when I am to do what! My business adviser will notify me of my decision regarding wireless on Tuesday! He has been saying for a few days. And I was to wait a week before wine advice will follow on my next big step! Apparently I am where I am to be and don’t have to wait. Before I continue with anything else in wine I ought to do as much wine writing as possible. I got confused over the talk about kicking everyone’s ass by writing about wine, etc. I think I get it now. I forgot we are in the realm of Master Sommeliers now AND we are back on the old topic that the industry does not need legions of new Master Sommeliers manufactured annually so restaurants and hotels look good. The top echelon like to be the keepers of standards for industry NOT issuers of certificates including Master Sommelier papers. That is where kicking ass part is from. Majority of people in this shady but very glamorous industry know shit about the industry. Their asses can be kicked if they come across the wrong person from the industry whom knows what he or she is doing. That is my destiny in wine business before I am in wine business again? I don’t know and I hate the part that we listen to what we are told by only a handful of people. I can do. The only problem is how? I am a nice guy now. I should have a PR person and an editor to fix my typos and deliberate abuses of language so I can be a legitimate writer not a destroyer of language on purpose! That I can find but having two mediums as my old Wine by Cush blog for informal stuff and a decent business blog is so difficult as I was told by third party. The wine advice was to please write all in Wine by Cush blog because wine people like that. I don’t mind and will probably serve right than having an honest blog and a censored one! The only problem is I have said a lot of bad things about a lot of people in that blog and some people read the past stuff and will get mad! I think the solution is to find some fool editor who thinks editing the Wine by Cush is a legitimate literary activity. I just forward all the hate emails for the blog to him or her. “It is for you!” That way we should have no trouble authoring wine stuff and kicking ass while any hostility coming our way we direct to the editor person who is a professional journalistic person. They get trained to handle this stuff like cops do crime. Gotta give editors credit for jobs none of us can do! If that becomes reality I can even do the better advice I was given which is to travel! I was told why just scare San Francisco businesses? I agree. As the cliche goes I can do more damage that way except Unavailable folks have travel limitations. We have begun. How far and where we go is in the works. 30 Dec 2013 5:52 pm Fruitvale, California

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All In Good Time (Short Piece)

It is Saturday morning and weather is nice. I tried playing tennis. It was half successful. I have found good location and realized I need tennis shoes. It is a minor problem and we are in business. The exercise part works. I noticed my arms have gotten bigger which is just water inflating the muscles. Nevertheless we are getting there. I just renewed subscription to a restaurant magazine and then flipping through the photos I remembered something. I have been around to feel I know everyone of them. Not personally but as scumbags they are! That is when one remembers what some who work in the industry have said about THEM and how more and more seek professional refuge in Wine Country jobs or even East Bay. San Francisco sucks. The SF ATTITUDE is so bad, the whole City goes under water a lot of people who have worked there wouldn’t care. A few weeks ago I hear the talk that as soon as the upheaval begins here, some locals want to hang this oldtime restaurateur and his wife from the poles in their restaurant as payback. Old people cross generations and once it was customary when workers complained, they would soon be found hung from the poles and the cops would take the body and bury. People still don’t have rights in this country. That was the era of mighty white of you and today is keep America safe era. It is the same shit. What really stayed with me after looking at the photos of all the phonies posing to sell something direct or indirect was I got it! I know why some hold so dearly to my error-laden blog posts with all the typos and insults. They are such a breath of fresh air compared to a culture dominated by these motherfuckers. Oh well. The future has arrived and many would have to make changes. Some won’t be allowed. They just would have to go. Go where? Ha. Ha. Ha. We will build quite a few monuments by the City waters with names of once local citizens who were murdered by local business for “complaining.” Their names will stay as a testament.

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The Making of A Great Retail Store: Will Discouraging Stealing Become Fashionable Someday? (Case Study Great Store or Restaurant – Part 14)

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle was good reading. The article I liked most was about shoplifting in Holiday season and it being a crime of “opportunity.” And why don’t we design our spaces around that? Corporate stores are the ones that do because they have resources. Hard core retail does as always and make up the losses back in higher markups. The problem is American society has taken a recent change not noticed until enough history is accumulated. The Generation Y are here. When I got my first retail store to manage about the year 2000, FBI tried to teach me the proper loss prevention was every single American coming in the door is a thief. This was not a rule to work by percentages and that is where we disagreed. They literally meant 100 of 100 people walking in the door were intended on stealing if they could. I disagreed but they NEVER backed down on their opinion. That was another generation. Were they right or wrong? Who cares? Today they are absolutely right. Generation Thief is here and intends to stay. Nike has released a retro Air Jordan and violence has flared up all over. Will this get better next year? I think worse and worse. The generation have-not is here and those who have really like it this way. I wrote once before and ask again why not redesign all sales floors? Why not assume every shopper is a thief (though wrong) since Generation Y is shopping and robbing? Why is it so hard in the case of where I work to line up glass displays as in a traditional retail store and keep valuables behind the counter and junk on the floor? Why is it so hard? Someone told me most retailers steal from their own stores in guise of secret shoppers testing the store and so on. And some use this as a means of revenue with proper book keeping. The idea makes sense in high fashion stores. One single item can be worth a fortune for an over-the-counter junk. Whatever the reason, violence is an indispensable part of the new retail trends of our era and has to be prevented. Even if open floors bring more sales in general, the likeliness of increased violence by encouraging theft as part of marketing should be a factor in designing better interiors. Since the business puts profit before safety, it is duty of authorities to ensure retail stores are designed to discourage theft, violence and what else many follow on a regular basis. Sad as it is, we have to take into account some retailers may want a sales floor that encourages stealing. 100 million Generation Y will descend upon and live in America eventually. Whether or not, that is 100 million dedicated thieves is a big argument but enough will be to justify workspaces designed with safety against unusual dangers in mind. There will be hundreds of millions of shoplifting attempts every year now and prevention is necessary. America will turn into a huge ghetto over a few years if something is not done.

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