The Hot Dog Vendor

Once upon a time in a town not unlike this one, there was a hot dog vendor. He had a good cart, and every day, he bought the freshest hot dog buns and only the very best hot dogs. The hot dog vendor was up early and worked until after dark making sure everything would be spic and span for the next day. Once the cart was loaded with all the essentials, he would make his way down the intersection that had good traffic, there, he would display his wares for sale, he even had a small sign that read “The Very Best Hot Dogs”.

As time went on, his customers told friends and neighbors about his hot dogs, and every month, he sold more and more. Eventually, he found that his cart was no longer big enough to handle the volume of business that he was doing, so he made a deal with the land owner at the intersection and built a hot dog stand. The day before the stand opened, he cleaned his cart, wrapped it tightly in plastic, and put it into storage.

The stand was a hit, business kept growing, and the stand got bigger too. The hot dog vendor decided to put up bigger signs, one to the west of his stand about a 1/4 mile, and one to the east of his stand the same distance, and once again, business grew. He increased his bun and hot dog orders, hired some help, and was quite prosperous.

While all of this was going on, his son was away at the University, studying economics. When his son returned home, he was distraught with his father, “Father” he said “Don’t you know that the economy is a mess, the dollar is weak, our country is in great debt, you’re risking everything you worked for with this silly expansion!” His father responded, “Son you must be right, after all, you’ve studied at the University”!!

The hot dog vendor proceeded to take down the big signs, and soon he realized that business was slowing down, he cut his bun and hot dog orders, laid off the extra help, and sold half of his stand. Over the next few months business got even slower, so he sold the other half of the stand and dusted off the old hot dog cart. When his son visited some time later, he said ...“You were right my son, the economy is a mess, thank you for setting me straight”.