Rain sinks outdoor tourist service worker profits in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bay Area prayed for rain and the prayer was answered but for those working San Francisco's tourist trade -- much of which occurs outdoors -- the blessing can be more of a curse.
With this winter's unrelenting storms, the Bay Area's wish for rain has been granted. On San Francisco's Embarcadero, business relies on foot traffic from tourists and locals like Carl Simmons and the weather has not been inviting for months.
"This is not the norm for us! We're so used to perfect weather," Simmons said. He thinks the tourists will still come out but it's the locals that are staying away. "We're not going to come out that much. We're trying to stay in where it's nice and warm."
On Saturday's, the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building normally has a healthy-size crowd shopping for healthy foods like Ramini's Mozzarella cheese. Salesman Ryan Meadows said, lately, the cheese stands alone.
"The groups getting off the ferry ... they're not coming during these rainy days," Meadows said. "So, that's a pretty large group of people that we're not seeing walk through here."
Working in the rain has been no picnic either. At the Marshall's Farm honey stand, Larry Sigmund said his canopy hasn't been much help during some of the recent storms.
"When it comes sideways, we get rained on! Believe me, we can get real wet," he said. "It ruins our labels and all the boxes get soaked. We pick 'em up and everything falls out the bottom. There's all kinds of problems. This is no fun working in the rain."
Jose Davila operates a pedicab service on the waterfront. You might think pedicabs would be out of business in a driving rain but most have removable protective canopies to keep passengers dry. Davila said the tips are better when the riders feel sorry for you.
"I mean, I have all the rain gear," he said. "I get a little wet, I don't mind, though. People ... they might be a little extra sweeter to you, you know, since you're out here toughing it out in the rain."
While other businesses were running dry, one seemed flooded with customers. The line in front of "Roli Roti" stretched down the sidewalk with people waiting for the rotisserie pork loin and chicken.
"I would stand in line for chicken," said tourist Shekhar Dahore, visiting from Barcelona. "Very few things I would stand in line for but chicken is one of them."
Fifteen-year employee Robert Callen said it's the atmosphere at Roli Roti that makes the difference so they crank up the music which gets the workers dancing and makes the customers forget about the gray skies.
"Music, good food, good vibe -- anything else is irrelevant!" Callen said. "Try to make it good for them, try to make it exciting for them. These are the people that will actually get us through the wintertime and help us survive the storm!"
From historic drought to historic rains, "surviving the storm" has become business as usual.
