Mrs. Dalloway is quite short - I think it's under 200 pages, if not under 150. I read it in high school and adored it. It's a wonderful, slow-moving book. :) I finished my 5th book yesterday. My list so far: 1. The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster 2. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey 3. The Me I Want To Be by John Ortberg 4. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time by Marcus J. Borg 5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Realistically, Facebook won't find your fake name unless somebody tells them it's fake. Just like they won't know you are underage, or an inanimate object, unless somebody tells them. :)

My parents told me to use this trick when I was younger. I could still taste the food! I don't think it makes a difference for me.

I read all of them - in high school and college. I may have skimmed one or two, I don't remember. But I read very fast (thanks to years of homeschooling :D) and love to read, so it wasn't a struggle for me and didn't take inordinate amounts of time.

This happened all the time at my high school. I was one of very few who actually read the whole book when writing about it. I think most didn't read them because it took so much time and was easier to get away with than not doing other homework. Is she plagiarizing in any way?

My mom used cloth diapers on several of my siblings, and I did the diaper load for a while. It completely grossed me out. So I've never used cloth with DD and have no desire to.

Several years ago, the school my sister was attending took soap out of the bathrooms, because people were behaving inappropriately with it in some way (wasting it, or using it to make messes). My sister wrote a letter to the school about it - it was a very polite letter, but also to the point. She wanted the opportunity to use soap!! I believe they put the soap back in. There were no paper towels in the school's bathrooms though.

:grouphug: :party:

My intuition is that, in a way, the entire first part of the sentence (everything before "is") is the subject of the sentence. :D But I feel like "surface" is the primary subject. That was without looking anything up. ETA: yep, I'm wrong..it's 12% because the other two are prepositional phrases. This is why I look things up, haha.

I am not yet a homeschooling parent, so I voted other. ;) When I was being homeschooled, I don't recall ever doing it in my pajamas...I think we always got dressed first. But I'm sure it may have happened. :)

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

As part of my training at Tom Thumb (Safeway), the computer taught us how to bag. Like with like, raw meat, cold things, and cleaning products go in their own bags, don't squish eggs or bread. A lot of people ignored those guidelines.

:lol: These are amazing!! I especially enjoy the last one...

I worked at a Tom Thumb (owned by Safeway - I think the only difference is the name). We were *required* to ask *everyone* if they wanted help out. We were also not allowed to accept tips. At the store I worked at, there were supposed to be at least two dedicated courtesy clerks (official term for baggers) who would go to whichever register needed a bagger, do carryouts, get carts from the lot, replace items and do price checks for customers at the register, and clean up messes in the store. Unfortunately, sometimes I ended up being the only one because they would put the courtesy clerks who could also check on registers when the lines got long. If the baggers are all out of the store, the checkers also bag - and usually, if there *is* a bagger, both checker and bagger are bagging groceries at the end. Customers sometimes help as well, of course.

In high school (not that long ago), I worked as a bagger at Tom Thumb (Safeway under another name). I started at $6/hr when minimum wage was $5.25. We were not supposed to accept tips. I refused tips when they were offered for a while. More often than not, people would get offended and insist I take the tip! After a while, I just took the tips and said thank you - it was easier. We didn't have a place we were expected to put the tips, so I kept them. Not many people tipped, which is good. Those who did were usually older women. Around here, all the major grocery stores offer carryout. At Tom Thumb, it was required - if a secret shopper caught us not asking, we got the store in trouble.

I hope the manager wouldn't lie about that. I'm not familiar with restaurant systems either way. I suppose adding a tip to the bill must work in some cases, otherwise most restaurants wouldn't have that provision in their menus. Perhaps they figure that those who are offended and give less balance out those who wouldn't give the proper amount? I don't know. I do understand how it can be found offensive. :grouphug: I've never been the person paying for such a large group, but if I was and a gratuity was added, I would bump it up to whatever I was planning on tipping regardless. I'm not going to penalize the waiter for a restaurant policy. I'm not offended that others choose to give only the required gratuity however.

It's both a good and a bad thing. Bad, because he can't get insurance through his job. Good, because thanks to Obamacare and being under 26, he can be on his parents' insurance - which is probably better than the restaurant's insurance. :D Also, I should clarify - he works 30-39 (and occasionally 40+) hours a week. He just isn't classified as a full-time employee. On a more serious note, it stinks that companies have basically full-time employees that don't get recognized as such. I saw that happen at the grocery store I worked at in high school, as well - people would be told to stop working on the clock at 39.5 hours. I don't know if they kept working off the clock or if they were sent home. Another difference that no one has mentioned is that the waiter is probably getting taxed on the presumed % tip of the bill, regardless of whether or not you pay that tip. As the wife of a waiter, and the oldest of 10 children, I honestly do not believe that this policy was intended to be discriminatory towards large families or to you in particular. As others have already said, it may even be an automatic thing in the system - party of 8, gratuity added, done. Large parties (NOT talking about 8 people here, just a general statement) require a lot more effort on the part of the waiter. That's a lot of drinks to keep track of, a lot of orders, a lot of people wanting things, a lot of STUFF to keep track of. Plus, the large party is taking up several tables and a lot of the waiter's time and attention. If he's taking an order, and someone else is sat in his section and has to wait 5 minutes for him to be done and get to them, they may well decide they haven't received proper service and dock his tip. Large parties stay for longer periods of time, typically, which means fewer tables for that waiter. Cleanup will be a lot more intense, as well. It's a large investment on the waiter's part (and for those to whom the waiter may be required to tip out). Adding a gratuity is a way to protect the waiter from expending all this time and energy, only to be greeted with an insulting tip. Restaurants have to set a cut-off for when this gratuity will be added. Some choose 8. That's all it is. The reason they don't do it for smaller parties is because smaller parties typically do not do all the above.

My dh is a waiter. I posted a detailed response on another recent thread about tipping. My DH makes anywhere from $1300 to $2900 a month - that includes his paychecks and tips, after taxes. He receives no benefits - even if he works full-time or close to it. Restaurants, like other places with part-time workers, do everything they can to keep their part-time workers from going full-time and qualifying for benefits. If you are going out to eat in America, and can't afford the tip, you shouldn't be going to a sit-down restaurant, period. The added gratuity is intended to protect the server. Large parties require more care than smaller parties, and getting stiffed is therefore a bigger deal. FWIW, my husband prefers not to have a gratuity added and take his chances. He's experienced both high tips and low/no tips from large parties.

Mad Men.

:grouphug: So sorry.

I've never seen that on a receipt. It seems rather odd to me. Restaurants do this to avoid a waiter working extremely hard taking care of a large party...and then not getting tipped, or getting tipped a very small amount. It seems rather odd to me in your situation, however, since you weren't all seated together. My husband is a waiter at a restaurant that says on their menu that they will add a gratuity for large parties. However, I don't think they ever actually add a gratuity. Dh says he prefers not to have the gratuity added, because sometimes people tip more - but I know he's also experienced large parties not tipping, which is beyond frustrating for him.

Went to the library today and got a stack of books - very excited to read them!! I haven't finished this many books in a long time. I had my list (both to-read and read) in my planner - now I have them in the Moleskine book journal. :D

I am a young adult. None of my friends have ever posted half-naked pictures (that I've seen), and the only Facebook friend I have with spelling issues is my younger brother, who may have a learning disability connected with spelling/writing. I would probably delete any Facebook friend, related or not, who cursed all the time and constantly used netspeak. It would drive me crazy. ;) I am Facebook friends with all my local family, but I don't feel obligated to do that. I would delete them if we didn't get along in person or if I found the content they posted on Facebook to be offensive.

My mother and I were pregnant at the same time, too! DD is about six months older than her uncle :D

Just so y'all know, Downton Abbey season 1 is on Netflix instant streaming. :D I've seen the first episode so far and I already love it.