Monday · 31 August

It's been a long time since I've done a "Luncheonette" post. I suppose I just felt like today would be as good as any for one. Conflicted with the taste for something Asian, I figured my options were either Vietnamese from Pho Saigon or sushi take-out from The Fresh Market.

Given that I was in Cameron's Eos and that it's a beautiful outside, by the time I got to Pho Saigon I decided to skip combination vermicelli and spring rolls for continuing the top-down drive to Eastgate. Even as nerve-wrecking as navigating traffic through the "Poplar Horridor" can be, the sun-shiny break away from my desk was therapeutic.

The deli at The Fresh Market is a large rectangle surrounding a kitchen. One side is where shoppers will find a large, atypical selection of meats and cheeses sliced to order. Continuing to the next side, one will find a smorgasbord of ready-to-eat main courses and side dishes next to grab-and-go sandwiches and salads. The next side is where the small sushi station is located next to fresh pasta and prepared sauces to take home, heat and eat. The last side is a huge display of prepackaged cheeses, specialty meats and hors d'oeuvre type spreads such as Boursini and hummus.

As I approached the Japanese section of the deli where the two sweet, gracious girls who run it keep seaweed and fried calamari salads, spring rolls, assorted sushi rolls and Nigiri neatly on display, I found a dumpy, confrontational, disrespectful blonde occupying all of the space in front of the sushi with an inconsiderate big-ass-in-stretch pants/cart combination. She was shoving a sushi box up toward the faces of the girls asking "what type of fish is this? Because the box isn't marked." She reminded me of the clichés I usually see at this store. Let's let it suffice to say that money can't buy class, taste or respect for others.

With their answer, Dumpy Stretchpants dropped the box of assorted nigiri with tuna, salmon, eel and shrimp back into the display and moved away. The girls glanced toward her, then to me, quietly giggling at the idiot. I couldn't resist rolling my eyes in a half-assed show of support and gratitude for their grace.

My clearly marked boxes, like all of the others in the display, were filled with spicy, crunchy shrimp tempura roll and a vegetable roll were delicious as I enjoyed them at my desk.

We've Lost Our Minds

"Breaking News" from Yahoo this morning:



And according to a New York Times news alert, Citigroup will effectively halt dividend payments for the next three years and will also agree to certain executive compensation restrictions, which will be reviewed by regulators. It will also put in place the F.D.I.C.’s loan modification plan, which is similar to one it recently announced.

USAToday reports that last fall Charles Prince left Citi with a $10 million bonus, $28 million in stock and options and $1.5 million in other perks, according to the report.

An April 4, 2008 Times article by Claudia Deutsch (April 4, 2008) states:

"Shareholders and their advocates have increasingly viewed the escalation in executive compensation with concern and sometimes anger. In 2007 and 2008, numerous proxy resolutions were introduced to address the subject. Congress held several hearings on excessive pay and heard calls for action."

"The burgeoning ire has two roots. For one thing, toward the end of 2006 the Securities and Exchange Commission set tighter rules for corporate proxies requiring more information about the methods used to compile pay packages for top management. But by early 2008, as many proxies came in with a maximum of verbiage masking a minimum of information, some shareholders rebelled.

"The sinking economy also stoked shareholder discontent -- especially when executive pay rose even as share prices plummeted. It was hard to find a link between pay and performance; indeed, often the opposite was true. A study by Equilar, a compensation research firm, showed that even as the number and value of performance-based bonuses dropped in 2007, the value and prevalence of discretionary bonuses — ones not tied to performance at all — were up.

"And earned or not, paychecks remain high. The average overall compensation in 2007 for chief executives at 200 large companies that had filed proxies by the following March 28 approached $12 million."

It's no wonder our nation's corporations are bankrupt. I've lamented often on how former Northwest Airlines CEO Doug Steenland took millions in bonuses and stock by robbing the rank and file and the customers. When are we going to put these incompetents that continue to run their companies into bankruptcy at our expense on the firing line?