Or unless some one has been force feeding him corn and i get to eat his bloated fois gras liver!!! hummmm

Just read that NYT times article, I am surprised, but not shocked about those bike shops. I can imagine those clientele loving the super personalized service. They measure you and discuss with you your needs in a luxury room etc etc blah blah blah...

I loved the journalistic license they take, quote:

"This time she bought a Cervelo, made of carbon fiber. It’s black. Carbon, according to many in the gearhead community, is even cooler than titanium."

*shudder*

Boutique shops where yuppies buy $8,000 TT bikes really aren't that different from boutique shops where hipsters buy $2,500 NJS bikes with rear Aerospoke and front HED3 custom painted with a bunch of trendy anodized components to match. Think about it.

I live out in the country, the nearest big city is Chico, California. I believe that such shops exist, but could you name one? I would like to check out some trendy components. I hope purple anodized comes back into fashion. I have only seen 2 hipster fixie riders in my whole life. I was very disappointed with my trip to Portland last summer.

You know, the rich do have money, and your job is to try to figure out how to get them to willingly give it to you. Sitting around complaining about how much others have and resenting them is a waste of time. We have something up here called the 'Sunshine List'. Every year, employees of public sector companies who make more than $100k/yr have their names published publicly on a list. Instead of people deciding that if so many others can do it, so can they, people moan and complain that because they're not on it, NOBODY should be. Bizarre.

Two of my very best friends have wives that make 6 figures. One works in publishing, the other for the County in child protective services. They are BS jobs and everbody knows they way overpaid. The guy running the lawnmower for the Parks department makes just shy of 40K a year, with benefits, and retirement. When I lived in San Francisco 20 years ago there were close to 80 people working for the city making over 100K, and a whole lot just below that. Something stinks here

Since those are mostly government jobs, there's no surprise. Once you're in you have a job for life if you want one, assuming you don't do something blatantly stupid like (get caught) steal(ing) on the job or show up drunk and punch your supervisor in the face, with all the benefits, quarterly raises, the works.

it's expensive to live in sf.

you think they are going to pay someone less because they're doing a service to the community?