Let me introduce myself. My name is Randy White and I live in Portsmouth on “the island” in Rhode Island. I am a freelance writer who dabbles in many things. I thought it might be useful to provide reviews and references to local businesses, maybe add some opinions and thoughts to try and help anyone who might be willing to hear my advice. You might well ask what my qualifications for putting myself out there like this are and that would be an appropriate question so let me give it a go.
I live a simple lifestyle and consider myself to be an everyday kind of guy, I have owned and maintained my own home as well as rented. Though I am degreed and worked in high tech electronics and computers for much of my career, in my mid fifties I was told that, (not an exact quote but close), “Due to the current economic situation we are being forced to downsize and your services are no longer needed. It’s nothing personal.” Really, nothing personal?! I’m not sure I can think of anything much more personal than taking away a person’s livelihood. They shouldn’t say this in a layoff, it is what it is and I get that but it most definitely is personal!
I know that I am not alone in this situation, surprisingly it didn’t make me mad but it was a little frustrating. “What do I do now?” The thought was a follow on to one I had been thinking over the last couple years, “You’re getting older, what do you want to do with the rest of your life?” The answer came later that day when the owner of a store I had been working part-time Saturdays offered me a full-time position if I wanted it. I took it at a reduced rate of pay because I had been able to answer the question, “I want to be able to help people, I wanted to look forward to going to work in the morning, I wanted to feel like I had accomplished something when I went home at the end of the day.”
I figured this would be a good way to figure out the rest of my path and my direction for retirement as I knew I would have to do something once I hit the magic age, whatever that is. I’m not the type to sit idle, though I do enjoy a good book or movie. I feel the need to consistently improve myself and learn/try new things. This is an outlet where I may reach out and help other people or at least let them know they are not alone. More of this later if anyone is interested.
While this whole pandemic thing has been going on, I have seen many small businesses and restaurants closing or struggling to keep their doors open. This country was built on small business and it is important that we support these people, the consequences if we don’t are horrific. Imagine a country where you can only get products from the giants at the price that they declare to be fair. Without competition, the prices will quickly rise.
As some of these local businesses reopen their doors with reduced seating and capacity and possibly a more limited selection of items we need to support them as best we can.
I intend to share my experiences in dealing with small businesses and let people know what is available to them. My fiancée and I like to travel around some when we can so I will include some of that here too. As I read quite a bit I will put an occasional book review up here as well for when you’re spending time at home and want to curl up with a good read. Let’s get started…
