Taking a Stand for the Hotdog Man

As I’ve previously stated in another blog I am a loyal Superstore fan. TO THE BONE. I refuse to shop at Costco or Safeway which is another story for a rainy day but the point is I love to shop at Superstore. After all, it’s what I know. And what do people gravitate towards?

What they already know.

Doesn’t always work in our favour because sometimes what we don’t know truly is what we need to know. Like the fact that most detergents are filled with a ton of formaldehydes which are absorbed into our skin from our clothing. Ya, like that sort of stuff. And I’m suddenly realizing that this tangent has nothing to do with me shopping at Superstore but at any rate. We continue to return to Tide and Snuggles, because its what we know and we don’t know wouldn’t hurt us right? I was going to try to go somewhere amusing on that tangent but it just didn’t happen. Not to scare you or anything.

Moving on.

My love for Superstore started in university. I started cooking on my own in 4th year when I lived in a cozy little apartment with two other lovely individuals. We split the grocery bill and decided that shopping at the most economical place possible would help lessen the load of worry about student loans and dwindling savings.

The local Superstore in Langley has this monumental individual that sort of became a landmark in my mind. His name is Miguel and he runs a hotdog stand in front of the shopping Mecca. Each time I shopped, he stood there like a beacon in my memory; tanned skin, crazy wild hair, beanie hat and hobo gloves. Dark framed glasses dwindle his big eyes and his 1,000 watt smile is hard to miss at the back of the monstrous parking lot that you think—that man’s face is all teeth.

His smile makes your day. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll buy a hotdog, but you feel like you’re at home when you step inside that store. Like, I’m here. They know me here, because I know them. But really, you’re there because you need the barebone necessities out of life. The store is there to suck your money and Miguel just wants you to buy a hotdog. Plus, You’re out of toilet paper and in reality, you just want to avoid the circumstance of running out.

The pleasantry of an illusion is that it seems so real sometimes, remaining predictable. At any rate, Miguel became a friend that I had never met.

One day our life group gave us $20 each to go spend on the community. To give back, listen and share with others. To connect on our understanding of what Christ has done in our lives.

Alexa my roommate and I were shopping one day at the Superstore and she turned and asked me what I had done with my 20$. I had gone for quantity over quality. I had given my 20 dollars to the foodbank down the street from our house.
I reciprocated the question and she just stopped. “Do you know what the hotdog guy’s name is?”She asked me.

Suddenly the illusion came crashing in on me. I had created a friendship with an imaginary individual. “No. I don’t.”

“Well I think that’s what I’m going to do with my 20 bucks.”

“You’re going to change his name?”

She looked at me with that undisturbed maturity that she always carried like a graceful goose. I knew what she meant.

So after much planning we picked out a card and a huge starbucks coffee and approached the hotdog man. I fished into my hole ridden pocket for some spare change for a hotdog for us to share. It only seemed appropriate seeing as we couldn’t just go up to him and not buy a hotdog.

So there we were. We heard about his life in South America. We had to put our sunglasses on when he saw the coffee. He radiated with astonishment. As much as he is all teeth, he is also all voice. He yelled his thanks across the expansive parking lot as it echoed through the Valley.

It was there and then that the point behind of the 20$ clicked with me. Quality over quantity is all that we can achieve as a grassroot individual in friendship and connection. What do you choose? Everyone or one?

This came to mind this morning. A while back I got a Facebook invite to a group to Save Miguel the Hotdog Man. My first thought was that he had had a gas explosion from his gasoline tank and was requiring skin grafts. I clicked on it because I actually had a personal connection to the cause through a cup of coffee. It turned out that Superstores out East were getting rid of their hotdog stands. With the conglomerate Subway inside starving for business, external vendors were pushed out.
I joined the group in a furious rage and send Galen Westen, the president to the monumental President Choice brand a rant the length of my forearm explaining that they could not get rid of Miguel because it wasn’t going to solve the solution to the problem of finding food tenants for the inside spaces at the Langley location. As one of the 5,000 individuals from Langley that spoke up, I can safely say that I stood up and spoke. And as a result, Miguel has kept his job.

It takes a lot to provoke me and to get me to the point where I feel that my response is needed means that I actually care. Which a lot of times, I don't feel that it is warranted. From a purely good business perspective, getting rid of Miguel just didn't make sense. So I wasn't just wasting air.

Perhaps it was all a wild and crazy rumour but I was willing to take a stand to keep what keeps the Langley community unique. Who knows if his job was ever in jeopardy.

Galen Westen responded to my lengthy diatribe the other day. I had to re-read my email to him. I doubt it was truly the President of President’s Choice but who knows. I’m sure he has an assistant paid full time to respond to the amount of fan/hate mail he receives. Maybe it was Galen. It’s been 4 months since this whole thing happened. But the point is that Goliath responded to David. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for PR.

But the point is that Miguel and I are actually now on a first name basis, I feel like I somehow made a difference in his life through joining in the collective choir and I have renewed assurance that Superstore is truly Super.