Sept 29 and 30th

After class today I teamed up with my buddy Alex Schafer and expanded my meat business to milk, eggs, and produce of all varieties. Schafe and I pranced around and knocked door to door like a bunch of little girl scouts taking orders for Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, and Do-si-dos... Too bad we were ordering raw ground beef, chicken, bananas, and potatoes instead!

Meat orders:

Cottage 1: 2lbs minced beef, 10 chicken fillets

Cottage 2: 4lbs. of minced beef, 11 chicken fillets

Cottage 3: 5lbs minced meat, 6 chicken fillets

Cottage 4: 5lbs of minced meat, 6 chicken fillets

Cottage 5: No Meat… Their loss

Cottage 6: Not Meat… Sounds like a personal problem

Cottage 7: 2 chicken fillets

Totals: 35 chicken fillets and 16 lbs minced meat

Delivery: Tomorrow Evening

We marched into Spiddal and talked business the whole 25min walk. Alex bragged about his grandpa who started a butcher shop as a young man and expanded to 2 grocery stores and a handful of gas stations. I bragged about grandpa’s hard work and achievements too. We both agreed that business ran deep in our family roots. I gloated about my family’s business and mentioned Jinette’s family's business too. Our world views seemed to be one of the same. We wore our pride on our shoulders and made our way to the produce shop.

The owner of the produce store looked glum as we approached her. She sadly informed us her shop was going out of business and she couldn’t be of any help. I asked her if she knew anyone else we could get produce through. She smiled and pointed out the entrance way to a big black truck across the road with the words "Clada Fruits and Veggies" branded on the doors. Mike, of Clada Fruits and Veggies, who apparently supplied to her store, all the restaurants in the area, and the grocery stores around town was magically making his rounds. Alex and I had just gotten a hell of a break. If we pulled this off we’d be getting grocers rates, delivered direct, and better quality produce.

Mike was inside a local restaurant in Spiddal discussing business with a client. Alex waited outside while I walked to the end of the block and met with Sean the butcher. I asked his assistant for the price sheet I requested last week. The guy handed me the bulk rate prices and current sales. I shook my head and explained that Sean and I had arranged a better price because of the large quantities of meat I’ve been ordering. The assistant walked to the back room and discussed with Sean and informed me he’d be at the counter in a couple minutes with the revised price sheet. Sean slowly waddled to the counter and on the normal bulk rate sheet scribbled my rate next to the bulk rate.

I placed my order, paid up, arranged a delivery time, and ran out the door to meet Schafer.

Schafer was still waiting for Mike to close a deal with the restaurateur. After a good amount of time Mike finished his transaction and we intercepted him on his way back to the truck. Schafer and I pigeonholed him before he jumped in his truck. We explained our situation, but he didn’t respond, but instead looked confused. The look painted on his face and the lack of speaking helped us to recognize that he didn’t speak a lick of English. We slowed down our foreign tongue and spoke his language: fruit, vegetables, and money. The confused look left his face and we finally broke through to him that we wanted to make a deal. In a thick, thick Gaelic accent he agreed to deliver us a wide variety of produce at the wholesale prices every Monday.

I just completed another international business deal and the first with a language barrier. I’m considering expanding the meat portion to the U.S., so let Mr. Rick Bartusch know I’m not letting anything get in my way…

Schafe and I walked away with a deal, a smile, and a dangerous amount of pride for a couple of 20-year-olds.

Fast forward one day, Sean dropped the meat off at 6p.m. at my back door. I pulled a Joe Lais and created an Excel spread sheet to total the orders for each cabin automatically. Here’s an example:



I added a 5 cent fee to each lb./unit of meat. My total earnings for this week were €8.9 with a €1 tip. I turned a profit, provided a useful service, and saved my customers money.

I told Sean yesterday that I'd push to expand the meat to more products in his butcher shop, like eggs, milk, and basic condiments and dressings. I told him, "I'm gonna make you rich this semester..." Sean put an extra 5lbs. of ground beef and 11 extra chicken fillets in my order for this week as a heck of a thank you...

So I did alright today...

Not only that, but I recieved a mound of mail, a phone call from Kelli, a phone call from Jinette, and a SJU Homecoming T-Shirt from Jinette in these last two days!

Sometimes everything seems to be going too right and that puts a smirk on my face... I better stop bragging and start reading and taking notes on my history book so I can watch the Twins rock the Sox. The game starts at 1a.m. Ireland time, so it's gonna be a long night. We've been catching the last few games via MLB TV the internet. The guy who purchased the subscription is actually from Chicago and a Sox fan, so that makes it interesting. Once the regular season is over the subscription expires, so I'm gonna organize a collection from a bunch of us to get the Post Season...

GO TWINS!