potato pan cakes

potato pan cakes

fiction
edward w pritchard

After he got laid off from the last remaining company making tires in our town, Akron Ohio, once rubber capital of the world, Harry took a year off and collected unemployment and weighted his options.

Harry's financial requirements were modest. He lived alone and drove an old truck and his house fit him and he seldom felt the urge to upgrade his house, his vehicle or his life style.

Toward the end of the unemployment Harry began to look for another job and found like others over fifty years old that the world is indifferent to whether or not we can make a financial go of it anymore.

Harry decided to work as a short order cook just to get busy and to get used to being out of the house again. He had done that job in college and had enjoyed it. He had been good at it and people came from all over town to get his hamburgers and especially his chili.

The diner where Harry got his job was open 24 hours and strived to keep prices modest and low, sometimes unsuccessfully, and Harry had freedom to cook what he wanted as long it was exactly like it was described in words and pictures on the menu. In a short time Harry became known locally as a good cook again and people began to line up to get his food when he worked.

After a few months Harry got bored with cooking the same things all the time. He began to experiment with potato pancakes, the only item not pictured in color on the menu. In fact there was no picture of the potato pan cakes on the five page menu only a brief description. "crispy fried potatoes, in a patty french style, hot and delicious.

Harry expanded on that description and began to make thin Chinese style potato pancakes and eventually began to roll up in the potato pancakes diced chicken, steak meat or for vegetarians a concoction of thinly sliced vegetables. Harry's pancakes were delicious and sold very well. Customers lined up to get them and the owner was very happy with Harry and began to pay him top wage, nearly $9.50 an hour.

Harry enjoyed the new job and took a lot of satisfaction in being the finest potato pancake chef in our home town. Sometimes however he did miss his old pay as a tire builder, nearly $22.59 an hour.

Money isn't everything, and that's good because Harry is pretty much capped out as a cook at the small diner. He could start his own diner but that would involve a bank loan and finding a building and a lot of upfront costs.

For now Harry is satisfied being the finest potato pancake cook in Akron, Ohio; and Akron is adjusting to not making tires anymore. Akron does have a lot of growth in telemarketing jobs. The telemarketing jobs don't pay well but the workers at the call center are kind of rushed at lunch and like to stop after work and have potato pancakes as long as the prices stay reasonable at the diner where Harry works. The diner's owner knows that his customers now are watching their budgets like never before and that's why Harry's pay is capped at $9.50 and hour.

The market determines these things. It balances out wages and profits and costs. Meanwhile Harry continues to make excellent tasting potato pancakes. Out of town companies like to move jobs like telemarketing into places like Akron, Ohio because wages are low. The City's economic development people like to proclaim all the new job growth. Sometimes it is hard for the new telemarketing employed people to afford houses and the aggregate property tax that pays for the school system keeps falling
causing cuts in the number of schools in the City of Akron and the quality of the education that students get. Of course there our other factors involved in determining the quality of education the students receive. Eventually prices for houses will fall and eventually the telemarketers will be able to afford houses. People who do the telemarketing jobs contribute to the local economy, have children and still send them to local schools even if they sometimes can't afford houses and therefore don't pay property taxes. Also the telemarketing employees enjoy potatoes pancakes after work and that's good for the economy and Harry's boss can afford to pay him top wage.

The market determines these things.