SMELL THE ROSES
I am writing in regard to your article on "The Most Useless Jobs In The World" (Cover Story, Nov. 9-15). I would like to add one more: Critics, in all categories: food, music, movies, etc. This job is based on only one criteria, that is, their opinions. Many times over my years in the Tampa Bay area I have listened to your own critics and gone to see movies, concerts and to eat at your favorite restaurant picks only to be terribly disappointed and felt that I had wasted my money. I have since learned not to rely on your critics to help me make up my mind on any leisure activities I might indulge in. It seems we are hardly ever in the same opinion on anything except that we all have one. You know what they say about opinions, they are like ass*****. But, in the end they all perform the same function, to excrete bile. That's what I think of your critics.
By the way, I am listed as one of your eight other top useless jobs. I am a "Rose Lady" and proud of it. There is definitely a need for someone to play Cupid for some of these shy guys and gals out in the nightclubs and restaurants who just can't seem to make that long walk across a room to make a connection with someone they are attracted to. I and my roses are the icebreaker. How about the wife who has been at home all week taking care of the kids, the house, the pets and in most cases another job, who relishes that night out with her husband on the weekend, alone, to try to rekindle that romantic flame that is burning out with all the daily drudgery of their lives. I and my roses (with a couple of margaritas) help to stoke that fire that needs rekindling. I still believe in romance and romantic acts such as buying a rose for someone you love and believe me in my 16 years of selling roses I have been told many times how much I meant to a couple for my part in their romance. I've been invited to weddings and engagement parties and very rarely met with the cynicism that you projected toward my job. I think the way that you project yourself in any job affects the way you are perceived. I have always maintained a professional attitude and do not pressure or use the "sad-eyed" or guilt complex to make a sale. I have customers that are actually impatient for me to arrive so that they can make their "move." I guess that is why I have been a successful "Rose Lady" for 16 years. It's all in the way you carry yourself and the professionalism that you bring to your job. Don't put down a job well done. Whether it is picking up garbage or helping some drunk in a nightclub bathroom clean the vomit off himself, somebody has to do it!
Becky Lawrence,
The Brandon "Rose Lady"
DONKEY DIS
How about Democratic congressmen? After all Congress is increasingly yielding its constitutional authority to an "imperial" presidency (one example is war powers). Since a Republican majority exists, for the most part it matters not if Democratic congressmen vote either for or against a measure. Lastly, and perhaps more particularly, Democratic congressmen cannot challenge the status quo because they feed from the same troughs as Republicans.
Dave Sams
Dunedin
HOT AIR
I think a useless job that should be added to your list is the guy that runs around with a blower on his back, blowing grass he just finished cutting back where he cut it.
Lugene Blancher
St. Petersburg
CORRECTION:
The cover story last week "S.O.S. Big Easy Cuisine" included a sidebar on where to find New Orleans cuisine in the Bay area. Two of the restaurants on that list — Copeland's of New Orleans and J. Mallory's — have closed.
