Last Saturday, after the incident below, I went to the library to work. I'm writing a zine about a bunch of thoughts on creative work from the things I've done over the last 33 years. I took a break, and grabbed the local entertainment weekly, called Style. Flipping pages, I saw a little write-up for an event that was happening that day. There was an art festival, at a place called 43rd Street Gallery, and, among other things, they were going to raise money for an organization that helps the homeless. I thought, "Shit, that's the synchronicity trifecta for me right now. I'm an artist, 43 is my lucky number (and the lucky number for the whole sport of BMX, that I come from), and I'm currently homeless." So I knew I had to make it to that event. That's just too much of a coincidence to ignore.
So I looked up the location, then figured out what bus route would get me there, then picked up my stuff and headed out. With Hurricane Florence wreaking havoc one state below us, I knew there was a good chance of rain. But it was sporadic, and I figured I could dodge it.
It took the bus forever to get to the stop I waited at, it happened to be a route that ran every hour on the weekends. As I got off at the stop at about 45th street, it was starting to rain. I pulled the hidden hood out of my jacket, and headed up the sidewalk. I walked under a magnolia tree about 50 feet from the front door of the gallery, and the rain just let loose. With lots of those big leaves above me, I didn't get very wet, but I watched a few people dash in and out of their cars through it. I also noticed that the street wasn't closed off, and there were no artist or vendor canopies.
The rain slowed down, and I headed in to a small, but very crowded gallery. I asked one of the women if I could put my bags out of the way (I have to carry everything I have, everywhere I go, for the time being), and she led me into the pottery studio. After that, I looked around at the art. There were maybe 10 to 12 artists represented, and everyone's work was really high quality. There were several different types of pottery, some paintings, and many other things. After browsing it all, I waited for the line at the register to finish, and then I talked to two of the women from from the gallery. Robin Cage, owner and the primary potter, was one, and I didn't catch the name of the other. I told them about reading about the festival, and being an artist, 43 influenced, and homeless.
As it turned out, after Style wrote the promo piece, Hurricane Florence came along, and was headed straight for this area, before she decided to make that left turn and destroy South Carolina instead. So the festival had been cancelled, but they were still having a "no hurricane" sale, and a raffle for the homeless-helping group. So I got to talk to a couple professional, established artists, showed Robin my Sharpie work, and got some kind words, and a bit of help to continue on my weird, artistic journey. So even though it wasn't the full festival, it was definitely worth going. If you're here in the Richmond area, I definitely say you should check out 43rd Street Gallery. It's small, but packed with great, local made, creative works. Functional pieces of handmade pottery make really good gifts. Just sayin'.
I'm Hatin' It
As a wandering artist/blogger guy in a new city, I've been spending a lot of time in McDonald's. They have drink refills, dollar drinks, dollar-ish food items, and wifi. It's funny, most actual McDonald's managers now don't realize that McDonald's made a brilliant move by going into the cheap side of the trendy coffee drinks, upscaling their restaurants, and adding wifi. The whole point to doing that was to basically become a less expensive version of Starbuck's. Another reason was to distance Mickey D's from Carl's Jr./Hardee's, Burger King, and the rest of the old school,"fast food" burger joints.
If you've ever been in a McD's in the morning, you know that they sell a ton of coffee drinks. Sure, you don't have the too-cool-for-school hipster vibe, and $17 scones like a Starbucks or a trendy local coffee place, but it serves the same purpose for a lot of working class people, and a lot of small business people use Micky D's as a part time office. That's what I've been doing.
I know the whole McDonald's coffee/wifi strategy because I had a regional manager explain it to me in Huntington Beach, CA many years ago. I just happened to be eating breakfast there when they were measuring the place for the re-model, and he was explaining the concept to the store manager. I know that having people hang out and work in McDonald's, and doing away with the babysitting aspect of the kiddie lands, was the whole point. So I've been making good use of that idea, drawing and working on my laptop to promote my artwork.
But I happened to start hanging out in what is- honestly- the worst run McDonald's I've ever seen in my life. On top of that, it was at a location where a bunch of homeless people congregated. So they had the "30 minutes then leave" signs that some restaurants have. I, of course, ignored those signs, as did everyone else, and made the best us of my wifi time that I could.
But since I was obviously homeless, the incredibly incompetent staff often gave me some attitude for sitting there morning and evening. Unlike many of the bums hanging out there, I always bought something, I didn't bring used cups in for refills, I didn't trash the bathroom, I didn't complain that it took 10 to 15 minutes to get my order taken when there were only three people in line, and I didn't complain that the biscuits were always hard. They didn't even taste like the amazing biscuits I love at McDonald's.
But some guy I didn't recognize walked into the back section last Saturday morning, where I was eating and another homeless couple was hanging out after buying drinks. He yelled at us both and said we were staying to long, and we had to leave. They weren't going to put up with our crap anymore. The funny thing was, I looked at my receipt, I had my order taken 14 minutes earlier, and I had just got my food and sat down. I had 16 minutes left. The guy turned around and I said, "Fuck you." He didn't hear me, I guess, and went back into the kitchen.
Another woman kicked the couple near me out a few minutes later, but not me. But the point had been made. In the time I sat there, I figured out that I had spent $200 to $225 in that McDonald's in that last five weeks, and I had been in the hospital one of those weeks. So after getting yelled at by that asshole, I decided, "You know what, I will GLADLY take my $200 a month in business from your store, and go to another one. Fuck you idiots. Oh, and if anyone from McDonald's corporate wants to make a video of how NOT to run a McDonald's, store #21,666 in Richmond is your place. There's a somewhat effeminate, dark skinned guy who works evenings as a assistant manager, I think, He kicks ass. He's really good at his job. Everyone else at that store, including the owner, who I have talked to, should be fired on the spot.
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