Random Questions & Thoughts

Got up at 515 to go to the gym. By 530 there was already a couple there. Very infuriating.
 
Was it inappropriate of me to bring a 27 year old date to a wedding this year?
 
Fwiffo said:
Was it inappropriate of me to bring a 27 year old date to a wedding this year?
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It's only 6 more days till Christmas and I am honestly not feeling festive at all.

Partially it has something to do with going broke but I did manage to make a few sauces and put them in jars as gifts for people. I spent a lot less than I normally do during Christmas.

I have three parties to go to. One is with my old work mate, his wife and his two girls. I've been seeing the older girl for Christmas since she was a baby but now she's a teenager going into high school. We broke the streak for the past two years because of coronavirus but I still sent her art supplies via Amazon and she recorded FaceTime videos for me. A lovely Islamic Christmas Eve.

I have a party at my aunt's house on Christmas Day. This used to be the main family gathering but people have split off to see other relations or are busy or too afraid of the virus. I haven't seen the cousins I grew up with since Christmas 2019 but I vividly recall Boxing Day 2019 was when one of them got angry at me, said I've become a monster compared to my youth and will never speak to me again. It's buffet so there aren't any seating plans. My uncle used to drink with me - strangely not his own kids - but has now some strange allergies to certain seafood, shellfish, red meat, wine, hard liquor, and the list goes on. Plus he, like my father, has pretty much lost all his teeth so nuts and other crunchy things are out of question. I'm making a few things to bring over like a baked pasta, spinach flan, and a swordfish roll. Probably too summery but I've had good success making them and except for the fish they reheat well.

The final party is a brunch at my brother's place. He is with his in laws until they return on Boxing Day. Of course this would be more pleasant if my brother's wife didn't hate me for showing up for US Thanksgiving completely sloshed.

About the only positive was when I snagged an early seating on New Year's Eve as a gift for my parents to a restaurant that recently got awarded one michelin star.
 
I was making my 4th Christmas dinner on Boxing Day to be shipped off for my "daughter". I'm making a sweet potato rosti quiche, beef bourguignon and potato fondants all at once to save time when I turned around and some oil from the fondant splashed on my face. Normally this was nothing some water and aloe vera can't handle but unfortunately for me I needed a fashionable Phantom of the Opera mask for the days since.
 
Fwiffo said:
I was making my 4th Christmas dinner on Boxing Day to be shipped off for my "daughter". I'm making a sweet potato rosti quiche, beef bourguignon and potato fondants all at once to save time when I turned around and some oil from the fondant splashed on my face. Normally this was nothing some water and aloe vera can't handle but unfortunately for me I needed a fashionable Phantom of the Opera mask for the days since.
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Welcome back, Fwiffs!

Sorry to hear about your face.

Having a “daughter” doesn’t sound creepy at all.
 
Dropbear said:
Welcome back, Fwiffs!

Sorry to hear about your face.

Having a “daughter” doesn’t sound creepy at all.
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Well. When she was a kid she would mistakenly call me papa. I am filling in a role that is not being fulfilled by the person holding the title.
 
Random question, I see a tipping option now at nearly every establishment I visit; from coffee house to restaurants to bagel shops. It is really awkward at the checkout counter when the cashier is staring at me.

I don't usually tip unless I am actually being serivced . Thoughts?
 
Pauly Chase said:
Random question, I see a tipping option now at nearly every establishment I visit; from coffee house to restaurants to bagel shops. It is really awkward at the checkout counter when the cashier is staring at me.

I don't usually tip unless I am actually being serivced . Thoughts?
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We still talking food?

If my order is $3-something, I may round up to $5.

But I don't feel the need to tip for counter service. I am a VERY good tipper in general for wait service. It takes a lot for me to not tip well. But counter service is another thing, in my opinion.
 
Pauly Chase said:
Random question, I see a tipping option now at nearly every establishment I visit; from coffee house to restaurants to bagel shops. It is really awkward at the checkout counter when the cashier is staring at me.

I don't usually tip unless I am actually being serivced . Thoughts?
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I know exactly what you mean! I got the kids a couple of donuts the other day and of course the machine asked how much I wanted to tip the dude behind the counter who just bagged them for me. Same when I picked up an to-go order of ramen. Every damn retailer these days is using Square or something like that with a tipping option.

I tip waiters and bartenders, but not retailers and counter staff. And I resent that awkward moment of selecting ‘no tip’ while the cashier is watching me.
 
Do you tip for someone to grab you a bagel or if get you coffee?

I tip decent for wait service. but I have noticed more and more now that at high end establishments, because of the exuberant prices, people are expecting rather than trying to earn the tips.
 
Dropbear said:
I know exactly what you mean! I got the kids a couple of donuts the other day and of course the machine asked how much I wanted to tip the dude behind the counter who just bagged them for me. Same when I picked up an to-go order of ramen. Every damn retailer these days is using Square or something like that with a tipping option.

I tip waiters and bartenders, but not retailers and counter staff. And I resent that awkward moment of selecting ‘no tip’ while the cashier is watching me.
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Dude it is fucking annoying especially with the awkward stares or the "please choose your tip option at the next screen" from the person
 
Pauly Chase said:
Do you tip for someone to grab you a bagel or if get you coffee?

I tip decent for wait service. but I have noticed more and more now that at high end establishments, because of the exuberant prices, people are expecting rather than trying to earn the tips.
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I don't drink coffee...but if I am having a bagel/hot chocolate at one of my local places/coffee spots, I will round up(no table service) when paying.

I don't even expect anyone to "earn" tips if I am having wait service. Just do the basics and you will get a very good tip from me.
 
Can someone explain to me the history of tipping especially in the hospitality industry? Why is this industry so different than other customer service industry?
 
ballmouse said:
When the food industry is run by robots, will we still be tipping?
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Robot maintenance surcharge

Pauly Chase said:
Dude it is fucking annoying especially with the awkward stares or the "please choose your tip option at the next screen" from the person
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If I tip I get a nice paper bag with handles for my bombolini or macarons. If I don't tip, I usually don't get the bag, no chance to retrieve the receipt and the Gen Z version of "next customer..."

The worse are the machines that are used for both sit down meals and takeaway. You get options like 18%, 25%, 30% or custom. Although it works both ways - one my favourite bartenders inherited a machine that had 10%, 15%, 18% and people kept pressing 10% for a week until it was reprogrammed.
 
I am also someone who doesn't overthink tipping...especially living in NYC.

I can look at my bill and base my tip on the amount. I am not doing major calculations or determining if the waitstaff checked on me 3-4 times or offered me extra glasses of water.

The last time that I didn't tip was many years ago:

A friend and I were at a somewhat local bar. I was probably drinking Stoli and cran and he was drinking "Irish car bombs" = Bailey's/Jameson/Guinness(he had them before at this specific spot.)

So we notice the bartender pouring well whiskey when we/he orders round 2. We ask her...why she isn't using Jameson and she said that she didn't know. We asked if she was charging us the same as if he ordered Jameson and she said....er...yes. We finished that 2nd round, paid w/o tipping and left!

F that!
 
I haven't really thought about until recently after noticing the tipping line popping up everywhere I go.
 
How much do you all tip for uber eats? With the fees and taxes and tips, sometimes the extra cost is as much as the food order itself
 
Pauly Chase said:
How much do you all tip for uber eats? With the fees and taxes and tips, sometimes the extra cost is as much as the food order itself
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I have never used Uber eats. I don't need an app to get food.

I live and work in an area where there are restaurants all around. Either I order delivery directly from the restaurant, call in and pick up or walk in and p/u.
 
Pauly Chase said:
How much do you all tip for uber eats? With the fees and taxes and tips, sometimes the extra cost is as much as the food order itself
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I only get sushi delivery from a sushi place that’s about 5 minutes down the street with little traffic and speeding. When I order the fees come up to $10 so I throw in 2-3 in tip. They always do multiple stops and it takes an hour. They never use cooler bags so the sushi is Luke warm by the time it gets to me.
 
I promised to stay back today and go to this networking event at my co-working space. I really didn't want to but since I went to another space's networking event for the attractive manager, I grudgingly accepted to go to this one. There's nothing like getting up on a stage and blathering on about what you do and who you are and then have people come around and sniff at the golden pork chop that is hanging around your neck.

I think some alcohol may be required to get me into the mood.
 
That was a pretty horrific evening. Most of my co-working friends except the executive coach who sits behind me were long gone. How in one evening I can meet 3 real estate brokers, 1 unemployed bloke, 1 indie film festival organizer who does "data management", 2 Ukrainian IT sales people, and some tech start up guy who makes gift cards for corporation-corporation gifts.

I didn't even know I had to speak in front of 30 people so luckily the 4 glasses of wine kicked in. 1/5 of the people were Toastmasters trying to encourage to join with the fervour of Jehovah's Witness evangelicals and using the opportunity to get another practice doing speech improv before some regional competition that was coming up.

And I remember going to one of these at another co-working space and there was a financial advisor there who came to this one again with the exact same spiel.

The most funny thing was when one of the real estate brokers referred to the Ukrainians as Russian and when the microphone was given to the Ukrainian guy, he said "I'm Igor. And I'm Ukrainian, not Russian."

Although how the other one was able to leave his country 5 months ago when age 18-60 should be staying back was something I was tempted to ask.
 
Does anyone here have experience renting out a spare car on Turo?
 
I know someone who did it briefly; unless it's a car you absolutely don't care about, I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Pauly Chase said:
I know someone who did it briefly; unless it's a car you absolutely don't care about, I wouldn't recommend it.
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Don’t really care about the car - wife’s 12 year old Honda. Mostly I’m wondering if it is worth the effort and depreciation on the car.
 
My friend rented out his Tesla model S, this was a few years back before Tesla became popular, I don't think he made that much money and he told me that every single time he noted the renters definitely drove it hard.
 
Pauly Chase said:
My friend rented out his Tesla model S, this was a few years back before Tesla became popular, I don't think he made that much money and he told me that every single time he noted the renters definitely drove it hard.
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Thanks man. Yeh, got a feeling it isn’t worth the work and stress. Better to just sell the old car now.
 
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