When life gives you lemons...

a reply to: TheRedneck

Cave Johnson said it best:

www.youtube.com...

Sadly, the problem isn't the kids with the lemonade stands. No, a much larger and more sinister issue lurks just beneath the surface. The problem comes when authorities are unable to enforce health and permitting laws against the real law breakers, the ones who make people sick or the ones who use lemonade stands as a guise for selling something else. We can thank scumbag lawyers for enjoining these innocent kids into this ugly world. Why? Because attorneys use lemonade stands as an extreme example for a defense..."If the kid on the street selling lemonade doesn't need a permit, then how can you say my client does???" OR..."The kid on the street selling lemonade could be selling pure Typhoid, but he doesn't have to have insurance, so how dare you say my client needs liability insurance???" And believe you me, they do EXACTLY this (because they have no soul, among other things). And even more sadly, it doesn't end there.

You and I drive by a lemonade stand, stop and get some lemonade, and think to ourselves what a wonderful and innocent thing this is, but not all people think this way. Many others drive by a lemonade stand and think to themselves ..."Hmmmmmm...what can I get away with when I use a lemonade stand as my guise, my cover?" Then all of a sudden lemonade stands start popping up, but they're not manned by a couple 7 year olds. No, they're manned by a couple 15-18 year olds, and they're not selling lemonade either. Oh sure, they might have a jug of hose water from the gas station and a stolen can of lemonade dumped in it, but what they're really selling is drugs or some other illicit item. The lemonade stand is just a cover, but because they don't have permits authorities don't have their names or identities. And those very same scumbag lawyers will defend them using the kids lemonade stand defense when they're busted. Plus, how many dope dealers are going to go down to City Hall for a permit (where someone is going to ask for ID)?? So to keep these douchebags off the street they also have to keep little Billy and Mary's lemonade stand off the street. And, the second they make an exception people will point at them and say..."Hey, what about those guys???"

We've all seen it, it's called taking advantage of something, taking advantage of a legal grey area to exploit some illegal practice. And sadly, it happens all too frequently. So, unless authorities enforce the rules all the way down the line, even down to little Billy and Mary's lemonade stand, some ambulance chasing douchebag attorney will use them as an excuse to get a real criminal off the hook.

And to me, the really, really, sad part is, it seems there are a whole lot more folks out there trying to 'get over' on the system than there are ones just trying to be reasonable.

Lastly, and this just pisses me off to no end, you have the people who just can't leave a good thing alone. The SJW's. They're not content until they make everyone's life miserable...just like their own miserable life. They see a kids lemonade stand on the street and will go out of their way to call the authorities on them because they're pissed off their own SJW T-shirt selling operation got shut down last week. And, if they can't be happy then no one can.

I wish CT good luck with their initiative, but sadly it's going to be an uphill battle, and one a lot steeper than many imagine.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Time to drain the swamp ,one glass of lemonade at a time .

a reply to: TheRedneck

I'm curious how many of those shady taco trucks get shut down. Or is that too racist?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Country Time apparently thought of this already. Their offer only applies to age 14 and younger.

It's also retroactive for a year, so if someone got and paid a ticket for operating an illegal stand, Country Time will reimburse.

TheRedneck

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

a-heh-heh-heh...

Good question. I've never seen one shut down. Of course, I haven't been looking either.

TheRedneck

I have no problem with kids running lemonade stands. Like some people have said, I can't pass one without stopping. I was reading about Country Time and like what they are doing. What I didn't like is one of the examples that the local media used for their article about this. There was a festival a while back to raise money for a charity. Vendors had to pay for their spaces. That was how some of the money was raised. Right out side of the festival area a stand was selling soda, bottled water, candy bars and other items. They didn't pay for a space at the festival, but they were close enough that people thought that they were part of it. There were two adults working the stand, with their children standing around. When some of the festival vendors complained the police told them that they had to shut their stand down. One of the adults called a local television station and told them that the mean police were making their kids close their stand. Of course they didn't show the adults just the kids. I know for a fact that they made over $500 from that stand. That I have a problem with.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Country Time is officially awesome!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Then find someone whose life has given them vodka... ~ Ron White

a reply to: JIMC5499

That is absolutely horrible, and in my opinion no better than child abuse. It's people like that who cause the problems in the first place. I hope they choke on that $500 they sold their soul for.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

You find someone whose life gave them vodka.

Good job by countrytime.

a reply to: JIMC5499

And that's just another example.

Full disclosure, many years ago my wife decided to start up a little hotdog stand business for some extra cash. (and NO, we never called the federale's in on kids lemonade stands!!). The licensing and permitting and insurance was quite the bureaucratic empire, but we did it. It wasn't cheap, but we were legal. We did a lot of festivals and fairs where, as you note, you have to pay for a slot (and if you're lucky you can actually serve hotdogs...because that's what everyone wants to sell so they try to limit that). We would always see 'pirates' (they called them) showing up on the fringes of these festivals trying to look like they were part of the festival and selling their food or whatever, all unlicensed and uninsured. We pretty much just shrugged it off as scumbags being scumbags, but the thing is; they knew exactly what they were doing and why. Some people got really militant about it though because that's what they did to make a living (i.e. travel from fair/festival to fair/festival, all around the country). Their costs were huge compared to ours because we just operated in two counties, whereas they operated across the US. And some of these guys had BIG money tied up in their rigs (like $750k or more).

The reason I mention this is because, this is how the scammer people ruin it for the kids in the lemonade stands. The lemonade stand is what they use as their defense. They take advantage. They (the pirates) don't pay the money for the licenses and insurance, but they damn sure pay for the attorneys to get them out of the hot water. The Health Departments will usually shut these pirates down immediately WHEN they catch them, but they're elusive (and sadly, there's a little whisper "network" when the authorities do show up for inspections). For most it's just tweaking a few things like making sure everyone has gloves and hairnets, that sort of thing, but for others it's a big red flag to quickly shut down and move. The problem is the 'networkers' don't know who's legal and who isn't, so they just tell everyone. We always prided ourselves in obeying the big infractions like the 40/140 rule, having lots of ice and keeping hot food "hot". This is where the scammer dirtbags make people sick, because ice and fuel costs money. To us, the extra money was worth it, in comparison to a lawsuit from someone getting sick. But how do you sue someone with no license, no permit (so you don't know who they are)...and certainly no insurance (which is not cheap!)

In the concession world the scammers start by selling just lemonade, and they "use" kids as a front. Then they start selling other stuff like cooked food and this is where the problem starts from a health perspective. But honestly, not even water to make lemonade is safe...because where did it come from? The kids lemonade stand has about ZERO probability of serving someone contaminated water (because they probably get it from their tap), but the scammers don't care where they get their water, or ice, or anything else. They'll grab water from the local creek. Again, they're exploiting those kids in the lemonade stands. Afterall, it's MONEY!

On any given night we would make $5,000-$9,000 in CASH! Obviously this wasn't every night, but during summer a few nights like this makes for a pretty nice bonus. Ironically, most of our money we made on drinks (and we discounted our drinks more than all our competitors). Drinks are huge; it's hot and people are thirsty. Most vendors, even bricks and mortar concessions make most of their profits on drinks (many don't know this). Just look at what adding a large drink costs at McDouchebag's. (like $2+, and the soda costs $0.05 and the cup less than that, so what's that, about a 400+% profit right off the top?) These figures are not lost on the scammer types I'm talking about. If a person works hard and plays the game straight, there's actually a lot of money to be made! They want their cut without following the rules, and they leverage their deceit and theft by using the kids lemonade stands.

Like I said earlier; there's a much larger issue lurking just below the surface of the 'kids lemonade stand' issue.

I am going to open a lemonade stand tomorrow.
Jogging trail on
Shoal's Creek.
Nothing but lemons and honey in good sweet water.
I am feeling adventurous these days.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Yes, apparently they have, and I don't mean to be "Debbie Downer" here, but how long will it take for the scammer douchebags to make sure all their staff is below 14?

Think about it.

P.S. - Though "14" is an interesting number; anything 14 or below is subject to child labor laws. Anything above 14 is subject to federal labor laws.

So, how long will it be before the SJW's step in and start screaming "Child SLAVE Labor!!! Their parents made 'em do it!! FASCISTS!!"

Though I'm not a bettin' man, do we need to wager on this?

a reply to: TheRedneck

The adults were working the stand. The children were just playing. There was no abuse. I just didn't like the way that the TV reporter spun the story. I know that it hurt attendance the next day.

a reply to: JIMC5499

The abuse I spoke of was using the presence of the children as their excuse for running an adult business. All abuse does not have to be physical.

It has been my experience in life that a person who will use a child in that respect will physically and mentally abuse a child in other respects.

TheRedneck

"This far down South I have no self-control, but I keep screaming for my glass of lemonade."
Bless your soul Shannon.