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What is a union? 📦 And what was the result when 6,000 Amazon employees in Alabama voted on whether or not to unionize? 🌭 Then we meet 14-year-old Mason Wright, owner of Mason's Super Dogs and the youngest restaurant owner in all of Georgia! 🧁 Let's chow down on the fascinating world of competitive eating, and learn about famous competitive eaters like Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi. 💰 Plus! The Trivia Question of the Day!
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Transcript
Various voices 0:00
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:07
From workers banding together to kids earning a buck, in the next 10 minutes we'll get the lowdown on what's up with big business, I'm Bethany Van Delft, and this is The Ten News.
Something interesting happened at Amazon recently. And it's not that they found a way to teleport packages to your door.
A Kid 0:32
Oh man.
Bethany Van Delft 0:33
At the end of March, employees at one of the company's warehouses in Birmingham, Alabama, decided to vote on whether or not they would form a union.
A Kid 0:42
What does that mean?
Bethany Van Delft 0:43
Unions are organizations of workers dedicated to protecting workers rights and making sure they have things like safe working conditions, equality, better pay, and benefits like health care. This was the biggest push to unionize by Amazon workers in the United States yet, with President Joe Biden even showing his support for the movement. But the final vote count came in last week and the move towards unionizing was rejected. Former labor organizers aren't giving up though. They're asking the National Labor Relations Board to investigate the results. And the NLRB has already accused Amazon, the second-largest private employer in the US, of sharing misinformation with workers about unions. Also, since the vote, there's been a new wave of interest about unions among Amazon workers.
A Kid 1:38
Yes.
Bethany Van Delft 1:39
And Congress is currently working to pass legislation that could really strengthen these groups in the future.
It's never too early to start dreaming big. That's what correspondent Pamela Kirkland discovered when she talked with 14-year-old Mason Wright about how he turned hotdogs and buns into serious bank.
Pamela Kirkland 2:07
Mason, you're probably the youngest entrepreneur in the state of Georgia. Tell me about Mason's super dogs,
Mason Wright 2:14
Mason's Super Dogs is a very important thing to my heart. You can get quality hotdogs. And it's gourmet, all of us all of our toppings are gourmet and handmade.
Pamela Kirkland 2:28
You said that the restaurant idea actually started right as we were coming out of quarantine? How did that happen?
Mason Wright 2:37
I got the idea of Mason's Super Dogs from New York City. Because when me and my sister went on a trip to New York City, in Times Square all you saw was hot dog carts of superheroes. And there was a lot of people in New York waiting for one cart at a time. I was like, okay, this seems like a good business plan. And I took all the money I had left from that trip, I bought myself a little red cart. Then as I was doing, like birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, special events, it was going really well but the pace that I was going out I wanted to do more hot dogs. I wanted to be open more. So my grandfather matched me for the money for the New York-style cart for my birthday. And I was really, really grateful for that. Once COVID happened, and so getting like a food truck. We had to pivot as a business and we got, we went straight to a restaurant. Funny story. I thought we were going to go get some Chick-fil-a and a milkshake and spicy chicken sandwich. Instead of getting Chick-fil-a that day on my birthday, I got a restaurant and that was awesome.
Pamela 3:54
How do you balance running your own business with going to school?
Mason Wright 4:00
The, the way I figured it out is scheduling in time management. So, so wake up at six. get there by 11 finish up the lessons since I'm homeschooled. And then be done by 12 when the lunch rush comes in.
Pamela Kirkland 4:21
Yeah, that's smart.
Mason Wright 4:23
Thank you.
Pamela Kirkland 4:24
So what would you tell other kids who want to do something like you or who are thinking about starting their own business, but maybe are a little scared to do it?
Mason Wright 4:33
I would say just go for it. Just do it. Even if people are telling you this might not work, just do it. It doesn't matter what age you are, what career path you want to go with. Just do it.
Pamela Kirkland 4:46
And so would you say you love what you do?
Mason Wright 4:49
I do love what I do and I never work a day in my life because I do what I love.
Pamela Kirkland 4:54
Awesome. Should we be looking for Mason Super Dogs all over the country soon?
Mason Wright 4:58
Most definitely. And in the airports, trying to have a Mason Super Dog all over the place and beating Chick-Fil-A. Instead of going there come to Mason Super Dogs located at 3275 Snapping Road.
Pamela 5:14
Mason, thank you so much for talking to us today on the tin.
Mason Wright 5:17
No problem. Thank you for having me.
Bethany Van Delft 5:25
People all over the world love hotdogs. And as corresponding Ryan Nerz reports, some people maybe love them a little too much.
Ryan Nerz 5:36
Imagine that you're eating a hot dog, chomping right through the soft bun and into the warm meat casing, a burst of flavor that mixes savory beef, sweet ketchup, and tart mustard. Only imagine that this isn't just lunch. This is training, like training for a sport.
A Kid 5:58
What?
Ryan Nerz 5:59
There are actually hundreds of people who train like this. They're known as competitive eaters, or if you're an insider gurgetaters. I know because I used to work as an announcer for major league eating the world governing body of all stomach-centric sport.
A Kid 6:15
That's incredible.
Ryan Nerz 6:17
For five years, I traveled around the country announcing eating contests for all types of foods, complete with records that would blow your mind. There is the cupcake record: 72 cupcakes in eight minutes
A Kid 6:30
Nice
Ryan Nerz 6:32
And chicken wings: 281 in eight minutes, and even ice cream: 16 pounds in just six minutes.
A Kid 6:39
Wow.
Ryan Nerz 6:40
Talk about brain freeze. But the Superbowl of competitive eating, the Stanley Cup of swallowing, the World Cup of consumption is the Nathan's famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. It's been held annually in Coney Island, New York since 1916. And up until the early 1990s. Regular guys with big old bellies would pretty much always win. But in 1996 that changed. A scrawny little Japanese eater named Hirofumi Nakajima crushed a 360-pound American man named Ed the animal crotchy Nakajima took the $2,000 first prize by eating just over 23 hot dogs and buns, or hdb's, as they say, in 12 minutes. Neither of the gurgitaters used condiments, and they both dunked the buns in water to increase their eating speed. It was the dawn of the Japanese era of competitive eating. In 2001, another skinny Japanese eater named Takeru "the tsunami" Kobayashi doubled the record, eating a phenomenal 50 HDB's in 12 minutes. Kobayashi held the title for six straight years. But in 2007, a fresh faced California kid named Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, used his formidable jaw strength and stomach capacity to knock down 66 hot dogs. In the last 12 years since chestnut has lost only once, no, and he just keeps eating more and more like a bottomless pit. Last year, JoeyJaws ate an astonishing 75 dogs in just 10 minutes. And a petite American woman named Miki Sudo won for the seventh year in a row, breaking the woman's record with 48 and a half hdb's. You go girl. Though the eaters nicknames are funny. There's Sonya "the black widow" Thomas and Richard "the locusts" Lefever. Calling competitive eating a sport no longer seems like a joke. The Nathan's famous Fourth of July contest has a total of $40,000 in cash prizes. And over a year long season, there's an estimated half million dollars in prizes up for grabs on the pro eating circuit. But the training is actually quite rigorous. Trust me. So, dear listeners, please don't try this at home. But just remember, the next time you enjoy a delicious hot dog that in the weird world of competitive eating, this would be just like a tough workout at the gym.
Bethany Van Delft 9:28
Lucky you it's:
Sound Bit 9:30
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 9:33
Trivia on The Ten. Now that we've talked a ton about making money, who is the world's youngest self made billionaire? Is it A) optics technology with Austin Russell? B inventor, Reed Richards or C) fashion designer Cher Horowitz?
Did you guess it? Yeah, answer is. A, Austin Russell. So what is optics technology? And how exactly did it make Austin so rich? Okay, well, very simply, optics is a branch of physics dedicated to the study of light and the way it interacts with instruments that gather information.
A Kid 10:30
Okay?
Bethany Van Delft 10:31
We use optics tech every day, your wireless mouse, digital camera, or Blu ray: all optics. So, how does Austin come into the picture? As a kid, he happens to understand optics really, really, really well. And at 17, he founded a laser sensor company called luminar. The laser sensors luminar makes now are being used to develop self-driving cars, which are worth a whole lot of moolah. Austin's stake in his company is valued at about $2.4 billion.
That's a lot of money.
Sound Bit 11:11
Yeah, baby.
Bethany Van Delft 11:14
Time's up. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. We're hosting a Ten News town hall with former commander of the International Space Station, Terry Virts. And we want to hear from you! Ever wonder what food astronauts really eat? Want to know what it's like to be in space for 213 days? Or how one becomes commander of the ISS? Submit a question of your own by visiting thetennews.com. That's t-h-e t-e-n n-e-w-s.com. And there's a chance your audio maybe use this part of the podcast. How cool is that? Houston, we have a great question. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The production and editorial team is a group with a huge appetite for news including Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ben Austin DoCampo Jenner Pascua, Stephen Tompkins, and Sarah Olender. Pamela Kirkland and Ryan Nerz contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle, and The Ten News is executive produced by Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. Do you want to be part of this show? Have a grown-up help you record a question, a joke, or a fun fact you want to share an email it to us at hello@thetennews.com and show your love for The Ten News by going to your favorite podcast app and submitting a rating and a review and helps others find the show so they can join the fun too. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. All right car, driving to Mason Super Dogs.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Sources for this episode
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/07/amazon-union-election-alabama-white-house-labor/
