OT: The Thread About Nothing CCVII: The sNOwstorm

[Oneiro]

Good Barry Ritholz thread on this:

He links to a good counter-argument at the end (why we might want Amazon in the city): Why NYC leaders are so thirsty for Amazon (and maybe you should be)

There will be more Amazon-type stories in our lives. Any time there's an asymmetric outcome, you get more billionaires because they're offering an irresistible combination - better (or no) prices with less time and effort. I admire those who take stands and make the effort to purchase things elsewhere, but you're basically railing against human nature.

Also: NYC doesn't need Amazon to bring tech jobs. There's already overwhelming demand. It's the 2nd biggest tech hub in the country, which is a fact that gets weirdly downplayed by even New Yorkers. Apple and Google quietly expanded here, by the way, with the only distinction being that they did not need or seek out incentives.

 

[Ripshot 43]

I still try and find, and go to, arcades. I love them so much.

At one point in my life, I had the high score on the Galaga machine at three different bars in NYC.

Unfortunately arcades don’t exist where I live unless I go to a Dave and Busters an hour and 1/2 away or a place called Livingston’s 30 minutes away that only has 30’year old games and skeeball.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I still try and find, and go to, arcades. I love them so much.

At one point in my life, I had the high score on the Galaga machine at three different bars in NYC.

Barcade® | Newark, New Jersey | The Original Arcade Bar — 494 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey

 

[None Shall Pass]

Barcade® | Newark, New Jersey | The Original Arcade Bar — 494 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey

There's a few Barcades in NYC, too. They've franchised out from Brooklyn.

Their Galaga scores are way too high for me to be competitive; like Galaga-savant levels. Also their beer is more expensive.

This is my favorite arcade in NYC, for what it's worth: CHINATOWN FAIR | New York, NY 10013

It used to be a dingy, dirty hole in the wall in Chinatown. It looks like they've cleaned it up.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Galaga is my favorite of all the arcade games.

There's a place just outside Flemington that has all the old games and you can go play them all. He also restores them and sells them too.

Anyone remember the sit down coffee table games? Those are worth a premium because they didnt make many at all compared with the stand up units. I recall Pac Man, Space Invaders, and asteroids were made in sit down units. I'm sure there were others, but I cant remember, but not every game had a sitdown version.

 

[BenedictGomez]

As for livestock prizes, there's an FIS event each year in Finland where the winner gets a reindeer. I'm pretty sure the winner never actually took the reindeer, it was just sort of a silly technical thing, but Lindsey Vonn won their twice and took the reindeer. I think she bought a farm somewhere in Europe and they live there.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Galaga is my favorite of all the arcade games.

There's a place just outside Flemington that has all the old games and you can go play them all. He also restores them and sells them too.

Anyone remember the sit down coffee table games? Those are worth a premium because they didnt make many at all compared with the stand up units. I recall Pac Man, Space Invaders, and asteroids were made in sit down units. I'm sure there were others, but I cant remember, but not every game had a sitdown version.

Galaga is part of some of them.

Say whatever you want about hipster Williamsburg, but I know of at least three bars (Off the top of my head) that have those sitdown cabinets.

My future mancave will have the Pacman / Galaga combo, even if I have to restore it myself.

 

[NJDevs26]

Puh-leeze.

First of all, Kuchar didnt "stiff" him, they had a prearranged agreemen for how much the caddy was going to be paid to carry the bag those those 4 days. What place he came in is irrelevant to the story, entirely.

Only once Kuchar WON the event (his first win in years) did the caddy say it wasnt enough, as if he should be entitled to one extra cent (he shouldnt). Do you think if Kuchar missed the cut the caddy would have said, no problem, you dont have to pay me since you're losing money on this week? Yeah, I think not.

All this is it yet another example of either entitlement mentality and/or blackmail, or both, take your pick. And sadly, it worked, because Kuchar is now going to pay this jackazz the $50,000 ransom he's demanding.

The guy was a local caddy who likely didn't know how much caddies actually got paid on the PGA tour, usually on a higher scale the higher the finish and obviously a lot more base money than the initial payment. The lowball offer probably did sound good to him at the time since he didn't know any better.

Sure they had a handshake agreement but Kuchar took advantage of him initially with that agreement since he clearly knows how much normal caddies get paid, and his response after he got called on it was tone-deaf to the nth degree.

 

[BenedictGomez]

A deal is a deal.

Your mental gymnastics that follows is really just, "rich people are evil" twist. Kuchar did nothing wrong.

 

[BenedictGomez]

My future mancave will have the Pacman / Galaga combo, even if I have to restore it myself.

I say buy it now. Those things are going to increase in value I bet. I'd love to have an upright Galaga in the future man cave as well. A pinball machine too. Mars Attacks or something.

 

[devilsblood]

A deal is a deal.

Your mental gymnastics that follows is really just, "rich people are evil" twist. Kuchar did nothing wrong.

Sure a deal is a deal, but throwing a guy a tip when you win a million plus dollars is probably the right thing to do.

Especially if that guy was working at a discount to begin with(I don't know if that's true or not).

 

[devilsblood]

Aight so looked into it a bit.

Let's break down Matt Kuchar's response to his caddie controversy and see how it's not helping - Golf Digest

3 points which put me pretty firmly with Ortiz.

"Ortiz received about $125,000 LESS than what a regular caddie would have received for that week's work."

Now that $125 is what a full time caddy would get, and Ortiz was not a full time caddy but,

"While most people agree with Ortiz that he didn't merit the normal 10 percent, keep in mind the caddie's intake was less than half of ONE percent."

and

"Matt Kuchar isn't a typical golfer. He's a walking ATM Machine who has made more than $46 million in PGA Tour earnings and possibly more than that off the course through endorsements and appearances."

I mean why do people put a "rich people are evil" twist on things? it's cause of stuff like this.

 

[Satans Hockey]

 

[Davegarri]

More snow tomorrow?

 

[devilsblood]

More snow tomorrow?

Before it switches to rain, again.

 

[MartyOwns]

it looks like the commute home tomorrow will be a bitch

 

[BenedictGomez]

I mean why do people put a "rich people are evil" twist on things? it's cause of stuff like this.

I'd say only people who are envious of others or jealous of people who have more than they do would think that way.

For starters, the reason PGA caddies get 10% is because they are SKILLED professionals who do a TON of work all week long for the golfer, not to mention uproot their entire life & travel away from their family for 10 months of the year, and literally play an instrumental part in the sport, from marking off hundreds of distances each week, to studying every green and creating a "book" of the course, logging long hours on the practice facility recording the average distance his pro hits every club etc....(and this is just a start, not worth typing all a pro caddies does). By comparison, all this guy did was carry a bag. Literally. The $5,000 agreement was a lot of money for 4 days "work" in that context, and was literally what he agreed to.

DEAL

Kuchar says it was a layered structure beginning with $1,000 for a missed cut, $2,000 for a made cut, $3,000 for a top 20 and $4,000 for a top 10. What the caddie would receive for a win was not discussed. "The extra $1,000 was, 'Thank you — it was a great week.' Those were the terms. He was in agreement with those terms," Kuchar said.

 

[Billdo]

I mean Kuchar didn't HAVE to but that's not what he should've done in a lot of peoples eyes.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I mean Kuchar didn't HAVE to but that's not what he should've done in a lot of peoples eyes.

Another way to look at it is the fact that $5,000 is about 4 months average pay in Mexico, which is what this guy "agreed" to to carry Kuchar's bag for 4 days.

No wonder he "agreed" to that deal to make in 4 days what would likely take 120 days. Who wouldn't?

This local caddie is not a "victim", far from it, he got a sweet financial opportunity that he happily agreed to - only once the player won the event did he go on a, "woe is me, I am but a poor Mexican" social media campaign to try and blackmail Kuchar in the court of public opinion.

 

[Billdo]

Another way to look at it is the fact that $5,000 is about 4 months average pay in Mexico, which is what this guy "agreed" to to carry Kuchar's bag for 4 days.

No wonder he "agreed" to that deal to make in 4 days what would likely take 120 days. Who wouldn't?

This local caddie is not a "victim", far from it, he got a sweet financial opportunity that he happily agreed to - only once the player won the event did he go on a, "woe is me, I am but a poor Mexican" social media campaign to try and blackmail Kuchar in the court of public opinion.

I think the issue is that everyday caddy's get 10%. So that should've been like $120k but because this wasn't Kuchars everyday caddy they brokered a deal. It makes him look like a cheapskate.

 

[None Shall Pass]

You can tell a lot about a person by how they tip.

Signed,

Someone who waited tables for years.

 

[None Shall Pass]

When did the term "snow event" start?

 

[devilsblood]

Another way to look at it is the fact that $5,000 is about 4 months average pay in Mexico, which is what this guy "agreed" to to carry Kuchar's bag for 4 days.

No wonder he "agreed" to that deal to make in 4 days what would likely take 120 days. Who wouldn't?

This local caddie is not a "victim", far from it, he got a sweet financial opportunity that he happily agreed to - only once the player won the event did he go on a, "woe is me, I am but a poor Mexican" social media campaign to try and blackmail Kuchar in the court of public opinion.

If we are going that route then what is $1.3 mil in terms of average pay for US citizens?

 

[devilsblood]

I'd say only people who are envious of others or jealous of people who have more than they do would think that way.

For starters, the reason PGA caddies get 10% is because they are SKILLED professionals who do a TON of work all week long for the golfer, not to mention uproot their entire life & travel away from their family for 10 months of the year, and literally play an instrumental part in the sport, from marking off hundreds of distances each week, to studying every green and creating a "book" of the course, logging long hours on the practice facility recording the average distance his pro hits every club etc....(and this is just a start, not worth typing all a pro caddies does). By comparison, all this guy did was carry a bag. Literally. The $5,000 agreement was a lot of money for 4 days "work" in that context, and was literally what he agreed to.

DEAL

Full time PGA caddies also get paid for this work before the winnings are considered.

Not sure how well Ortiz knew the course, but I assume a PGA player would not pick a caddie who was not familiar with it. So a lot of that homework that a typical caddie does is likely baked in with Ortiz.


19th hole: What's a caddie’s work worth? Matt Kuchar’s debacle leaves us plenty to ponder

"Not many guys on Tour are eager to talk about the issue since Kuchar issued a statement saying that he will finally pay Ortiz what he asked for (which was $50,000). Ask around and you won’t find many who believe Ortiz deserved the standard 10 percent a professional Tour caddie would expect, but even fewer who think five grand was acceptable."

 

[BenedictGomez]

If we are going that route then what is $1.3 mil in terms of average pay for US citizens?

So you're saying professional athletes are overpaid? Perhaps you should contact CNN or The New York Times with that breaking news.