The Generous Mr. Chen: written about a month ago.

I bought the New York Times today. $2.50, only 50 cents more than the USA Today, and triple the reading material. Every day is hit and miss. Today was a hit.

There was an article that had me riveted. Very well written. I read it out loud and laughed numerous times.

It took place in New York City. A Chinese multi billionaire named Chen, who in his homeland is considered a publicity hound, had placed an ad in the papers announcing he would be giving away a free meal as well as $300 to every homeless person attending his affair at the "Boathouse Restaurant".

Instead of going out and finding his own homeless people, or sending his own minions to round them up, he went instead to the Rescue Mission and met with their leaders who offered him 200 of their homeless in exchange for promising to rescind his offer of $300 to each homeless person, because they might "use it on alcohol or drugs".

The Rescue Mission people got a check for $90,000 from Chen for setting up the deal. They sent 200 homeless people to the boathouse restaurant where they were lead to large banquet tables draped in white tablecloths where they were greeted by tuxedoed waiters who served them their first course of the meal - "sesame-crusted tuna with asian vegetable slaw and lemon grass."

Chen then appeared on the dais as tapes of him speaking played behind him. "I will give $300, as promised, for every participant today", he said as the homeless shot to their feet, whooping and applauding. Chen then launched into a version of "We Are the World". As he sang, word began spreading around the room that there would be no payment. Tension was building.

Chen grabbed a microphone and announced he would keep his promise. But Mr. Mayes, who heads the Rescue Mission and had supplied Chen his own personal homeless people, appeared by Chen's side at the microphone and said, "Oh no you will not do that - giving them money is a direct violation of our contract."

The crowd was getting ugly. The charismatic Chen stall-calmed them with promises.

The story was a hoot and fun to read. Interviewed later, with some of the homeless still hanging around, Chen attributed the dissatisfaction of the homeless to a misunderstanding caused by the difference in culture between East and West. "In fact", he said, "next year I am going to continue my philanthropy in Africa."

I have to give the guy credit. Intended or not he exposed our system's underbelly, and his reference to Africa was particularly funny because, from the pics I saw, most of the homeless who showed up were of African descent. Funny article. You have the web, look it up.

TJ

On Sunday, July 20, 2014 9:23:15 PM UTC-5, Tommy Joe wrote:
> The Generous Mr. Chen: written about a month ago.
>
>
>
> I bought the New York Times today. $2.50, only 50 cents more than the USA Today, and triple the reading material. Every day is hit and miss. Today was a hit.
>
>
>
> There was an article that had me riveted. Very well written. I read it out loud and laughed numerous times.
>
>
>
> It took place in New York City. A Chinese multi billionaire named Chen, who in his homeland is considered a publicity hound, had placed an ad in the papers announcing he would be giving away a free meal as well as $300 to every homeless person attending his affair at the "Boathouse Restaurant".
>
>
>
> Instead of going out and finding his own homeless people, or sending his own minions to round them up, he went instead to the Rescue Mission and met with their leaders who offered him 200 of their homeless in exchange for promising to rescind his offer of $300 to each homeless person, because they might "use it on alcohol or drugs".
>
>
>
> The Rescue Mission people got a check for $90,000 from Chen for setting up the deal. They sent 200 homeless people to the boathouse restaurant where they were lead to large banquet tables draped in white tablecloths where they were greeted by tuxedoed waiters who served them their first course of the meal - "sesame-crusted tuna with asian vegetable slaw and lemon grass."
>
>
>
> Chen then appeared on the dais as tapes of him speaking played behind him.. "I will give $300, as promised, for every participant today", he said as the homeless shot to their feet, whooping and applauding. Chen then launched into a version of "We Are the World". As he sang, word began spreading around the room that there would be no payment. Tension was building.
>
>
>
> Chen grabbed a microphone and announced he would keep his promise. But Mr. Mayes, who heads the Rescue Mission and had supplied Chen his own personal homeless people, appeared by Chen's side at the microphone and said, "Oh no you will not do that - giving them money is a direct violation of our contract."
>
The Rescue Mission cannot stand "alcohol or drugs" because they compete with
the religious delusion they brainwash the losers with. There's a big old man
in the sky who loves them. If there were a god, these dudes are his whipping
boys, getting juked in the ass with a holy broomstick handle.
>
>
> TJ

--Bryan

Bryan-TGWWW wrote:

> The Rescue Mission cannot stand "alcohol or drugs" because they compete with the religious delusion they brainwash the losers with. There's a big old man in the sky who loves them. If there were a god, these dudes are his whipping boys, getting juked in the ass with a holy broomstick handle.


I have eaten at soup kitchens hundreds of times. Stayed in a mission only once, back in my 40s. I have eaten in soup kitchens in L.A. and Allentown PA. Some were pretty good. My very first ever soup kitchen meal was at the "Downtown Jimmy Hale Mission" in Birmingham Alabama when I was hitch hiking through on my way north.

Of course we had to say a prayer. Maybe even listen to a sermon. That is the price we pay for soup kitchen food. The funny thing about the Chen episode is that the meal itself was the price. They had to eat the meal if they wanted the cash. In the end, all they got was a meal many probably had to force down. I can imagine their hostility.

I can also imagine that one or more of them could have borrowed money from a friend or acquaintance on the promise of paying them back once they got Chen's promised $300. All sorts of imagined episodes wrought by Chen's unfulfilled promise could have taken place - many tragic yet funny at the same time. I enjoyed reading the article - in bed, directly off the page, relaxed, ready to be entertained, reading an article about a meal as is it were dessert. Thanks for the response.

TJ

TJ

But the humor I saw in the Chen article

On 7/20/2014 4:23 PM, Tommy Joe wrote:
> The Generous Mr. Chen: written about a month ago.
>
> I bought the New York Times today. $2.50, only 50 cents more than the USA Today, and triple the reading material. Every day is hit and miss. Today was a hit.
>
> There was an article that had me riveted. Very well written. I read it out loud and laughed numerous times.
>
> It took place in New York City. A Chinese multi billionaire named Chen, who in his homeland is considered a publicity hound, had placed an ad in the papers announcing he would be giving away a free meal as well as $300 to every homeless person attending his affair at the "Boathouse Restaurant".
>
> Instead of going out and finding his own homeless people, or sending his own minions to round them up, he went instead to the Rescue Mission and met with their leaders who offered him 200 of their homeless in exchange for promising to rescind his offer of $300 to each homeless person, because they might "use it on alcohol or drugs".
>
> The Rescue Mission people got a check for $90,000 from Chen for setting up the deal. They sent 200 homeless people to the boathouse restaurant where they were lead to large banquet tables draped in white tablecloths where they were greeted by tuxedoed waiters who served them their first course of the meal - "sesame-crusted tuna with asian vegetable slaw and lemon grass."
>
> Chen then appeared on the dais as tapes of him speaking played behind him. "I will give $300, as promised, for every participant today", he said as the homeless shot to their feet, whooping and applauding. Chen then launched into a version of "We Are the World". As he sang, word began spreading around the room that there would be no payment. Tension was building.
>
> Chen grabbed a microphone and announced he would keep his promise. But Mr. Mayes, who heads the Rescue Mission and had supplied Chen his own personal homeless people, appeared by Chen's side at the microphone and said, "Oh no you will not do that - giving them money is a direct violation of our contract."
>
> The crowd was getting ugly. The charismatic Chen stall-calmed them with promises.
>
> The story was a hoot and fun to read. Interviewed later, with some of the homeless still hanging around, Chen attributed the dissatisfaction of the homeless to a misunderstanding caused by the difference in culture between East and West. "In fact", he said, "next year I am going to continue my philanthropy in Africa."
>
> I have to give the guy credit. Intended or not he exposed our system's underbelly, and his reference to Africa was particularly funny because, from the pics I saw, most of the homeless who showed up were of African descent. Funny article. You have the web, look it up.
>
> TJ
>

Poor Mr. Chen! He thought he was dealing with the benevolent benefactor
of the homeless. My guess is that he expected that the money would be
distributed out by Mr. Mayes with the rest going to his good works. Mr.
Mayes probably thought he was getting paid to furnish warm bodies. As it
goes, warm bodies go for cheap in this land and my guess is Mayes would
have been happy with $25 a head. And the homeless would have been happy
with a $5 jug of T-bird for each man. Cultural differences indeed!

On Monday, July 21, 2014 12:04:37 AM UTC-4, dsi1 wrote:
> On 7/20/2014 4:23 PM, Tommy Joe wrote:
>
> > The Generous Mr. Chen: written about a month ago.
>
> >
>
> > I bought the New York Times today. $2.50, only 50 cents more than the USA Today, and triple the reading material. Every day is hit and miss. Today was a hit.
>
> >
>
> > There was an article that had me riveted. Very well written. I read it out loud and laughed numerous times.
>
> >
>
> > It took place in New York City. A Chinese multi billionaire named Chen, who in his homeland is considered a publicity hound, had placed an ad in the papers announcing he would be giving away a free meal as well as $300 to every homeless person attending his affair at the "Boathouse Restaurant".
>
> >
>
> > Instead of going out and finding his own homeless people, or sending his own minions to round them up, he went instead to the Rescue Mission and met with their leaders who offered him 200 of their homeless in exchange for promising to rescind his offer of $300 to each homeless person, because they might "use it on alcohol or drugs".
>
> >
>
> > The Rescue Mission people got a check for $90,000 from Chen for setting up the deal. They sent 200 homeless people to the boathouse restaurant where they were lead to large banquet tables draped in white tablecloths where they were greeted by tuxedoed waiters who served them their first course of the meal - "sesame-crusted tuna with asian vegetable slaw and lemon grass."
>
> >
>
> > Chen then appeared on the dais as tapes of him speaking played behind him. "I will give $300, as promised, for every participant today", he said as the homeless shot to their feet, whooping and applauding. Chen then launched into a version of "We Are the World". As he sang, word began spreading around the room that there would be no payment. Tension was building.
>
> >
>
> > Chen grabbed a microphone and announced he would keep his promise. But Mr. Mayes, who heads the Rescue Mission and had supplied Chen his own personal homeless people, appeared by Chen's side at the microphone and said, "Oh no you will not do that - giving them money is a direct violation of our contract."
>
> >
>
> > The crowd was getting ugly. The charismatic Chen stall-calmed them with promises.
>
> >
>
> > The story was a hoot and fun to read. Interviewed later, with some of the homeless still hanging around, Chen attributed the dissatisfaction of the homeless to a misunderstanding caused by the difference in culture between East and West. "In fact", he said, "next year I am going to continue my philanthropy in Africa."
>
> >
>
> > I have to give the guy credit. Intended or not he exposed our system's underbelly, and his reference to Africa was particularly funny because, from the pics I saw, most of the homeless who showed up were of African descent. Funny article. You have the web, look it up.
>
> >
>
> > TJ
>
> >
>
>
>
> Poor Mr. Chen! He thought he was dealing with the benevolent benefactor
>
> of the homeless. My guess is that he expected that the money would be
>
> distributed out by Mr. Mayes with the rest going to his good works. Mr.
>
> Mayes probably thought he was getting paid to furnish warm bodies. As it
>
> goes, warm bodies go for cheap in this land and my guess is Mayes would
>
> have been happy with $25 a head. And the homeless would have been happy
>
> with a $5 jug of T-bird for each man. Cultural differences indeed!



LOL. I think I described the article well enough, but I thought the original was well written and a joy to read. I get the papers, I don't enjoy reading off a screen. I have not yet seen a followup on the Chen article. I guess everything is back to "normal."

TJ

On Monday, July 21, 2014 1:03:32 AM UTC-4, Sqwertz wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Jul 2014 23:57:35 -0500, Sqwertz wrote:
>
>
>
> > The way you explain it, such a contract would be legally
>
> > unenforceable. This is bordering on human trafficking. Mr. Mayes
>
> > just rented out 200 people at $4,500/pop (a ridiculous amount),
>
>
>
> Correction: $450. I lost my decimal point.
>
>
>
> -sw


I get it. But I'm telling you, I don't have a scanner and am not able to access the New York Times via computer - too big a site - so I wrote the article from memory as best I could. I wrote it because I thought it was funny and also to recommend or suggest that others check out the original article if they can. I do not make such recommendations or suggestions often, so basically when I first wrote that article (about the NYT article), it was to send to people I know so they could access the original article by going to the NYTs site and pumping in Chen. In other words, I sent it in because I thought people would like it. Not only was it well written and a joy to read, it had me laughing out loud. And it was long - perhaps longer than some folks might have thought it should be. For me it wasn't long enough.. I'm still waiting for Chen (part 2). I guess Chen part one didn't sell enough to warrant a remake.

We shall see,

TJ