We're desperate down here.

America is now *actually* built around being toadies to the wealthy, because the rest of us ain't got shit.

What's that? "Bootstraps?" Eat my ass with that fantasy land bullshit.

Just what Bennington needs: more poverty-wage jobs. WooHoo!

Most of the quarries are no longer active. And granite is expensive no matter where is comes from.

Nah, not if you sand it and shape it properly. Then it just looks like high-quality wood laminate of some kind. Not quite butcher block, but it looks nice. (And it's pretty inexpensive if you can get it.)

I don't know where you are, but apparently they're tearing down the bowling alley in Bennington. That lane wood is usually super high-quality rock maple, and you might able to get some as salvage. (There are probably other sources, too, of course, so look around!)

I only know about this because a friend of mine used salvaged wood from a bowling alley when he built his house, and it's held up over the years far better than my expensive custom butcher block!

Yeah, pretty much.

'MURICA!

LET'S SHOOT A BALD EAGLE!

Well, some people need the studded snows, and some don't. It's icing, I don't fucking go out. Part of not having studded snows is knowing when not to go out.

I've driven in this state for almost 40 years, without. Cuz I'm either just that bad ass or that stupid.

But: I'm damned sure my wife has studded snows, because I want her to be as safe as possible.

Yo, this is Vermont, why the hell are we stirring shit about snow? Lol.

VSP just closed 279 and part of Rt 7 because of cars off the road.

Cars off the road? In Vermont? For 5-6 measly inches of snow? I CALL FLATLANDERS!

Down here in Bennington they're saying that it's due to staffing shortages", but I know 5 people, myself included, all with clean driving and police records, who got ghosted by them.

So they're utterly full of shit.

Gotta give you an up vote for that. That was spot on.

My dude, I know that. Restaurant work is hard as shit, exhausting, and rarely pays $50/hr.

Yes, but without customers, or buyers, there will no businesses. The wealthy can only by so many rolls of toilet paper.

*That's* what you take away from my post?

If I rolled my eyes any harder I'd break my own fucking neck.

All you people downvoting me have drunk the prosperity gospel koolaid. Seriously.

Dude. Have lost your mind? I believe you make $50/hr waiting and bring home 100k like I believe my grandpa has tits. You're literally just making shit up.

After taxes $20/hr is ~13/hr. Where the fuck are you going to live bringing home $26k a year? Bullshit.

If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation and cola, it would be $27/hr.

I was making more at age 12 in 1973 when the minimum wage was $2.75/hr than I was making at my last "good" job.

20 an hour is pretty much worthless anywhere.

If a company exists because it shafts its workers, CAPITALISM says it need to go out of business.

Yeah, Minimum wage should go back to $.25. That's what people get for not being born rich and adhering to prosperity gospel.

What the hell is wrong with you? Are you rich? Or a poor republican happy to lick your boss's boots for pennies? DO you not realize that the more money the working class has, the richer EVERYONE will be, including the richies? Do you remember the '50s?

Minimum wage was supposed to proved a dignified living, minimal, but dignified FOR ONE WORKING PERSON WITH A FAMILY; had it kept pace with COLA and inflation, it would be TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS AN HOUR, now. And the funny thing is, even THAT is marginal for a single-income household. Decent place to live, functional car, health care for a family? $27/hr doesn't cut it.

I was making more when I was 12 years old in 1973 when the minimum wage was $2.75, than I did at my last "good" job.

You. People. Are. Insane.

Unforch, no. And down here in SW VT, they *literally* think $20/hr is "the big bucks". Insanity.

I would think B&J would probably pay well, relatively speaking. I wish you luck!

Because they think it's 1954?

Pownal here, the power went out for about an hour, then came back on. Couldn't get the Genny to start before it came back on. Lol.

Apparently, there are a bunch of houses in the nabe without power. I can't imagine ours is going to stay on, either.

Um. Not just me, dickhead. Any number of other people--including my fiancé who has ATT--have said the same thing; Everyone up here knows where they can and CANNOT get cell service.

But, you know, fuck you for being presumptuous enough to think I was some kid who need "anecdotal" defined for me. 🙄

What were YOU doing in '79? I was having sex.

Here's something wrong with that map:

Here in Pownal, at the bottom of rt7 just before you cross into mass, is some of the best service in the town. By which I mean: calls and texts go through, and you have enough data throughput to surf the web or whatever. But the map shows yellow.

Whereas, up on Northside drive in Bennington, around Walmart, CVS, etc. You can neither send or recieve texts, nor nor reliably make calls. (And forget about internet anything.) But the map shows shades of green.

This map is Bullshit.

Came here to "say" this!