Small business owner and others discuss how the economy affects their restaurant

Christina Vallee owns The Burger Shop, a 50’s themed restaurant in Matawan. She started the business seven years ago because she thought it would be interesting and the potential for making money was great. But she admits that she may not have been as prepared as she could’ve been. The first few years were rough with making money, she said, but the restaurant has hit its stride in recent years and she has a manager that she trusts to help run the business, which is the climax of this story.

The plot is a three part story. The first part of the story is Vallee discussing how the economy affects her as the owner. If the business doesn’t make money she can’t expand or improve it. The second part of the story is from the perspective of John Maiorana, the manager. If business is slow, he has to cut his employees’ hours and not hire as much in order to compensate. And lastly, the waitress, Mackenzie, doesn’t make any tips if customers aren’t coming in.

All three of them are developing characters because they improved with experience. They tell their stories in the first person. The setting is The Burger Shop. Themes include: the economy plays a huge part in the success of a small business because everyone involved is affected by it; and many small businesses are family run because Maiorana is married to Vallee’s cousin. The conflict is man vs. society. The story resolves when the customers are satisfied and leave happily after eating.

Dog Owners Discuss Bad Neutering Experience

Alicia Harvey, 46, from Sayreville, New Jersey, and her son, Aidan Zarcaro, 13, recently adopted their dog, Buckley. In the beginning, Buckley was shy but quickly adapted to his new surroundings. Things took a turn for the worst when Buckley was neutered. After this procedure, which is a standard procedure, he had to go back to the vet where he was put on a steroid and various other medications. He felt lethargic and uncomfortable for a week and just recently started feeling well enough to play with his owners again.

The setting of this story is their home. Alicia and Aidan describe Buckley’s story before and after his procedure. The climax of the story is when Buckley gets a rash the second day after the procedure and had to go back to the vet for medication. The rash and outside world in general are the external conflicts because Buckley couldn’t move or play after the procedure. The story resolves when Buckley feels better. Buckley is a developing character. Aidan and Alicia are static. The story is told from the first person point of view of Buckley’s owners. The theme is that pets bring joy into peoples’ lives.

Allison photos

Daycare worker describes a hard day at work

Barbara Iovino, 49, from Sayreville, New Jersey, runs a daycare service from her home. She decided to be a daycare worker so she could be with her kids while they were growing up. The children she cares for are between the ages of six months and three years. During the interview, she said that she keeps the children calm by using a sound machine while they nap and letting them watch “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” Sandy Steinhausen, 71, from Matawan, New Jersey, has a granddaughter who has been with Barbara for over a year. She expressed that Barbara is a wonderful caretaker for Zoey.

This story is set in Barbara’s home. The story’s plot is Barbara describing her day at work from the beginning to the end of the day.  From the minute the parents drop the children off to the minute they leave, she is always paying attention to what the children are doing. She is either feeding them a snack, playing with them, putting them down for a nap or letting them watch “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” which is the climax of the day for the kids. Her day ends when she packs them up and gives them to their parents or, in this case, a grandparent. The crying baby is the external conflict. Barbara is a developing character who talks in the first person point of view. Sandy is static. The theme is that childcare professionals have an impact on kids.

Link to SoundCloud:

Natural sounds: Zoey’s cry; sound machine; and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” theme song

Truck Driver Discusses Decline in Trucking Industry

Bob Miller, 62, from Woodbridge, N.J., followed in his father’s footsteps when he became a truck driver over 40 years ago. Since he did not go to college, a job in the trucking industry was great at the time because of the decent wages and health benefits. But that is how he describes the first 20 years of his career. As he entered the 1990s and the new millennium, he saw his wages stay at a stand still due to non-union companies paying workers lower wages, he said, and his company even took 7 percent of his pay away several years ago to stay competitive. He does not advise people to go into the trucking business because he feels that it is a “dying industry.”

 

Link to interview in SoundCloud:

Site that Uses Multimedia Well

A site that uses multimedia well is Fox News. As discussed in class, multimedia utilizes the mediums of audio, pictures, words and interactions of the site. Fox News does this well because the site’s homepage utilizes all of these. For example, the first thing I saw when I went onto the site was a satellite image of Hurricane Irma coming toward Florida, as well as a photo of people driving their cars in order to evacuate the area before the hurricane hit. When I scrolled down, I saw a video section where I could click to watch videos of events happening in the world.

In order for people to be interested in visiting the site, they have to be sucked in by the articles’ headlines. When I visited the site, a headline that caught my attention was “North Korea may launch ICBM on Saturday, South Korean president warns.” As with any article on the site, it has a video, words, links to other articles for more information and, of course, the infamous comment section, where people can voice their opinions and have debates.

In today’s world, multimedia is so important because words, pictures and audio cannot exist alone; a site must utilize everything in order to be successful. Since Fox News does this well, they have a large following and presence in the media world.