So the restaurant I manage is under renovations to go from a breakfast and lunch place to a full-on bar and grill.  We’ll be the only place in town where someone can get breakfast, lunch and dinner.  To do this, my boss applied for a state grant to help cover costs.  We received a grant for $47,000 with the stipulation that we put in over $170,000 of our own money and add at least 5 jobs.  All of this information, of course, is public knowledge.  A columnist for our local paper then went on to write a scathing article condemning us, the governor, and the State of CT as a whole.  Apparently, he thinks we were so successful before, we shouldn’t need tax payer money.  What the article doesn’t talk about, is how expensive property is to rent in West Hartford center, how little money breakfast and lunch brings in, as opposed to dinner and alcohol, and that we will, in fact, be adding 25 new jobs, and that he has no idea what our books look like to decide whether or not we need help.   Since the article, we have received a lot of hate mail saying we don’t deserve the money and that they won’t be coming to our restaurant.  The emails/letters are always anonymous.  At most, we get “a concerned tax payer.”  Now here’s my main point.  We didn’t steal the fucking money.  We applied for a grant, met the stipulations, and received it.  Leave us alone.  If you have a problem with this, you should complain to the state about the program, which any business is allowed to apply for.  Also, do some fact checking or questioning.  25 new jobs in this economy isn’t worth a measly $47,000?  Please.  If we couldn’t get this grant, we probably wouldn’t be able to make this happen.  And banks don’t give out many small business loans anymore, if you haven’t noticed.  We’d still be the same, little deli, surviving, but not thriving, with our little staff of 15, plugging along.  Now, we’ll be a staff of 40, and the original 15 might actually thrive.  So I ask, what’s the fucking problem?