Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 24, 2010

7

Food & Drink

RICH Johnson

For How Much the ‘Bell’ Tolls

 
Mountain Views News Saturday, July 24, 2010

 What we have witnessed 
in the recent debacle 
in Bell, California 
should teach us a very 
important lesson. 

 If you are unfamiliar 
with what took place, 
starting a few years back, 
the Bell City Council voted salaries for their 
city officials that now eclipse the salaries of 
people such as, oh, President Obama down to 
the Los Angeles County Sheriff and the Los 
Angeles Police Department Police Chief.

 And those sneaky part-time city council 
members (save one latecomer) voted 
themselves salaries of nearly $100,000 a year 
each (compare that to the $3,000 or so our 
Sierra Madre Council Members earn per 
annum.)

 The City Manager was making nearly 
$800,000 a year which is higher than anyone 
in the country including oh, the mayors of 
Chicago-$170,000, New York-$190,000, and 
Los Angeles-$207,000. The Bell Police Chief 
made $457,000 annually which is 50% higher 
than the Police Chief of that little village 
known as Los Angeles. Even the assistant 
city manager makes $376,000 annually, more 
than most city managers (not assistants.) And 
these people have unbelieveable pensions 
coming to them when they retire or resign. 
All, apparently, untouchable at first glance. 

 What happened? Well, in November, 2005 a 
special municipal election was held to change 
the city to a charter city, which took it off the 
scope of those state agencies that monitor 
obscene city officials income. Out of 38,000 
or so citizens of Bell, 400 showed up to vote 
in this “special” election.

 The lesson for is to stay very involved with 
what goes on in the town we call home. 

 Bearing that in mind, I feel better about 
having publicly commended a local blog 
a few weeks ago. Hard to feel good about it 
because he repaid my public endorsement 
the next day with yet another out-of-line and 
mean-spirited personal attack on my editor. 

 And though I would like to tell you to 
not read “The Rattler,” in light of the Bell, 
California controversy, maybe it is more 
important that you stay informed of all the 
opinions pertaining to our fair city. That 
suggestion comes with a warning, however. 
Do your own verifications of the facts. 

 I just wonder why the majority of people 
who comment in “The Rattler” won’t give out 
their real names?   

TABLE FOR TWO 

By Peter Dills

Service with a Smile....

 Have you noticed a friendlier attitude at your favorite restaurant 
lately? I sure have!!

 Recently, I was dining at one my favorite restaurants in La Cañada and, being my 
typically demanding self, I wanted to make a substitution for one of the items that was 
coupled with my meal. I know this restaurant is not in the habit of granting such a request, 
but without hesitation, I was told, “Yes”. I clearly remember in the past feeling like I was 
back in high school when I came here, because “No” was always their answer. It seems 
to me that servers need to have some power of authority to make the simplest decisions 
and please their customers. I mean, if they have the chicken available for a Caesar Salad, 
shouldn’t a substitution request be answered with a, “Yes we Can!!!”? Here I go again, but 
the times are tough and it seems I finally have them where I want them. Oh, the sweet taste 
of victory!

 Owner Robin Salzar, from the restaurant that 
bears his name, used to have all the servers wear 
a button that said, “Yes!!!” Many restaurants are 
now waiving or, should I say, not enforcing the 
split or sharing policy. It’s usually a ($4) split fee. 
If the server brings out an extra plate, who cares? I 
recently asked that my hamburger be cut in half at 
The Yard House, but they brought the burger out 
whole. I asked, “What gives?” The server said, “It 
was policy for all food to come out of the kitchen 
whole, something about presentation.” So, we had 
to do it ourselves, I am very fond of the Yard House, 
better then average Pub Grub, but I think they are 
wrong in not dividing a burger upon request. 

 What do you think?

 Rumors and Ramblings.... I see that there is a For 
Lease sign right smack on the side of the El Chollo 
building on Fair Oaks, I hear they are looking at 
the old Twin Palms space. Very interesting! 

 Please listen every Sunday Night to Dining with Dills on KABC Talk Radio 790 AM.

 E-mail me at thechefknows@yahoo.com


Ask jai……

Ask jai is a weekly column that will strive to honestly answer your job search 
questions relating to job searching techniques, networking skills, resume 
writing and interviewing. The employment situation is getting better, however, 
it is still a challenge finding were the jobs are located and how to get pass the 
“gate-keepers”. As an Executive Recruiter I was privy to working directly 
with Corporate Recruiters and understanding their process in selecting which 
candidates to interview and hire. I will candidly answer your questions, 
possibly bluntly answering you questions, but I will be totally honest. My 
objective is to help you achieve your employment goal. 

Q: I have over 15 years experience in marketing 
and worked for 3 employers. I do not feel that a 
one page resume tells my story. What is the right 
number of pages for a resume? Perplexed.

 A: Dear Perplexed,

 The appropriate number of pages for a resume 
depends on your work history and experience. 
Rule of thumb is no more than two pages. I would 
suggest one page if you have less than five years 
experience and two pages if you have more than 
five years experience. Be sure that you include all 
the necessary information to get the employer’s 
attention to respond to your interest in their 
position: Summary of Experience, Work History 
with accomplishment statements, Computer and 
Software skills, Industry skills and Education.

 Q: I received a call from an employer who said she 
was reviewing resumes and wanted to ask me only 
one question: “What type of salary did I want?” I 
wasn’t sure what to say. I was afraid that I would 
give her an answer that would be too high or low 
and not be considered for the job. The answer I 
finally gave her was the salary that I made at my 
last position. I was really underpaid at my last job. 
What should I have said? Underpaid.

A: Dear Underpaid,

 Employers typically conduct a “candidate 
screening call”. It sounds like this was a screening 
call and not a telephone interview. In this scenario 
there is only one person who does not know what 
the salary is. That is you. You should always 
prepare yourself to answer this question during 
a screening call, telephone interview or office 
interview. 

 If you have no idea what the salary for the 
position is you have all the right in the world to 
ask the employer. Knowing the salary should 
also become part of your employment screening 
process. A possible response could have been “I 
did not notice a listing for the salary. Could you 
tell me what the range is?” 

 At this point you should be prepared to respond 
if you are or not comfortable with the range. If 
the employer does not give you a salary range and 
pushes you for a response, again, be prepared with 
a salary response. I would suggest that you give 
the employer a $5,000 - $10,000 range around the 
salary you actually want. Be very careful with 
your response because an employer will usually 
hold you to what ever salary or salary range you 
give. Research salaries in your area by checking 
out the following websites: www.PayScale.com or 
www.Salary.com. 

Jai Johnson has over 20 years experience as a 
national and local Executive Recruiter, Job Search 
Advisor and Career Coach. She has assisted 
thousands of job seekers to find and secure 
employment in their chosen field of education and 
experience. Ms. Johnson is a member of NRWA 
and CPRW. Send your job search questions to her 
at: j.johnson@mtnviewsnews.com


From New York City to Sierra Madre

Real Technology, Real Problems

 Sierra Madre’s Savor the Flavor has 
returned from the NY Fancy Food Show 
and in our 12 years of business, this 
was by far the best one - lots of new and 
innovative products! We brought back 
the list of award winners that we

will be carrying in our shop. The products 
are listed below: 

Spices of India Seasoning

Porta Mangiare Biscotti Mix

Peach, Pecan and Amaretto 

 Preserves

King's Cupboard Bittersweet 

 Chocolate Sauce

Fig Pear with Orange Fruit 

 Compote

Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate 

 Cookies

Sweet Potato Butter

Goodnight Kiss Tea

Three Chilis Chocolate Chunk Hot 
Cocoa Mix

Masala Marinara Pasta Sauce

Walnut Champagne Vinegar

 We can't wait to share these wonderful 
gourmet goodies with all our foodie 
friends! Karen and Maddie

Savor the Flavor

11 Kersting Court - Sierra Madre

www.savortheflavor.net

 
In Superman 
III, Richard Pryor played the role of a slightly 
warped computer programmer with a certain 
prowess at using computers to develop financial 
programming schemes. His morally-compromised 
employer plotted to use this ability to develop a 
computer system, whose ultimate function would 
be the control of financial markets world-wide. 
Fast-forward to 1987, and the very real stock 
market crash now known as “Black Monday” 
can be traced to the stock trading computers and 
software in use at the time, all beginning to dump 
assets in unison in response to a unusual set of 
input data. By the time the closing bell rang, the 
Dow had lost almost 23 percent of its value in just 
one trading day. 

 Fast-forward to today, and the massively 
powerful computer software and hardware used 
to run our modern stock markets are far more 
advanced than any machines imagined in either 
of the two previously mentioned scenarios. On 
the modern financial battlefield, cutting-edge 
computer systems running complex mathematical 
formulae trawl through mountains of data looking 
for patterns indicative of movement in areas of 
interest so that one system can gain a millisecond 
jump on other similar systems in placing buy 
or sell orders. Other machines engage in semi-
secret data-gathering and still other systems 
poll each other for pricing information about 
various commodities and financial derivatives 
and complete the transactions in fractions of 
a second. The profit on these deals is often only 
cents or fractions of a cent per trade, but multiply 
those razor-thin gains against the thousands of 
transactions completed daily and these small 
numbers add up to big numbers in little to no 
time. 

 No small amount of time, effort and often 
pure genius goes into the development of the 
computer systems that control the financial fates 
of world markets, but the real question remains as 
to what have we 
might be missing when we look at the big picture. 
Often the technology we see may be masking a 
flawed system of conducting business. After the 
most recent stock market troubles, there was no 
shortage of factors that could be assigned blame 
for the various meltdowns, but even as the dust 
still settles it has become quite evident that many 
of the processes and methodologies in use made 
it very difficult for those who had the most to be 
concerned about to get a clear view as to what was 
really happening before their very eyes. 

 In the very best of circumstances, our use of 
technology advances knowledge of ourselves and 
the world around us beyond what was thought 
possible just a few short years ago. In the worst 
cases, it enables us to do bad things or stupid 
things faster and on a larger scale than ever before 
possible. With the exception of movie plots, people 
rarely set out to do evil using advanced technology. 
More often than not, where real harm has been 
done, it has often been the result of unintended 
consequences or unattended operation. Those 
charged with monitoring the system were either 
not doing so or paying attention to the wrong 
things. With any system sufficiently advanced, 
most external analysis quickly devolves into 
guesstimation and post-mortem commentary 
because there may be simply too many variables 
to account for in the equation. 

 Technology remains first and foremost a tool to 
be used with a definite purpose in mind and in the 
pursuit of a definite goal. In the best cases this tool 
can make existing systems more efficient, but there 
is always the chance that the pursuit of efficiency 
can cause us to miss the fact that sometimes the 
underlying processes of a system may be in need of 
drastic repair and reform before the application of 
layers of complex technology that would in effect 
enable us to make bad business models bigger and 
big mistakes faster.


SIERRA MADRE’S FARMERS MARKET

Wednesdays - 4-7pm

 

Fresh vegetables and seasonal fruits from California family farms. 

Specialty foods, vegetarian and vegan dishes, ethnic foods and hot food - 
Everything you’ll find at the farmers market has been made or picked fresh, is 
pesticide-free and preservative-free. Free public parking on Mariposa.