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Hannah C.

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Posts posted by Hannah C.

  1. And the classics book club I belonged to meets next week and they are doing Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Anyone know if it's possible to even read that in one week? I like to go slower with classical literature.

     

    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

  2. Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

     

    Tara

     

    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.

  3. Schools aren't helping teach good handwashing practices. Some of the schools in my town don't provide soap in the bathrooms. I always think about that when some Highschool kid is bagging my groceries or taking my order.

     

    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.

  4. WTB here! :D Years ago, when I was but a wee slip of a thing, I had a job as a bagger in an urban supermarket in eastern Canada. In the staff room, there was an employee training binder that had instructions and diagrams about how to pack the grocery bags. I think I must have been the only person in the history of the store to have actually read it. I only worked there for a few months, but it was long enough to hone my craft. Of course, this just makes me even more ticked off when people do a careless job with my groceries.

     

    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.

  5. How about something like this...

     

    "Let it be known that the exhaust fan serves as excellent noise cover should you desire some semblance of privacy while you attend your needs. The switch for the fan is by the door, next to the light switch."

     

    or

     

    "Have you ever wished for a bathroom where no one could hear what you're doing in there? yea, us too. In fact, we've left the exhaust fan noisy for just this very reason. Switch is by the door if you'd like some cover...."

     

    or

     

    "May we kindly suggest that you activate the Sound Shield, aka, exhaust fan? Turning the switch on insures that the rest of the first floor population won't notice what's going on in the bathroom, something I'm sure you appreciate as much as we do. Thanks! And, You're Welcome!"

     

    I guess those are kind of wordy for framing and hanging....let's see.....

     

    "Hoping for a noise blocker? Try the fan, switch by the door..."

     

    or, right over the switch a big arrow that says "Sound-Blocking Force Field, Please Use"??

     

    What a dilemma! Hope you figure something out that works!

     

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

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. In the instance when it happened to us, the manager (probably lying again) said it isn't added on in the system, that the server has to go to a supervisor and have it added on.

     

    And what you posted isn't any different than what anyone else posted. It is the same basic premise, the same basic idea. And I still disagree with it, wholly. And find it silly to boot, as it is apparently not enforceable and invokes irritation and lower tips from those upon whom it is imposed. If it isn't enforceable, and tips are still legally optional, adding it on seems like a bad idea. It isn't protecting the server from a bad tip, since it doesn't have to be paid and folks in this thread who disagree with it have all said they pay it, and it is less than what they would leave if left on their own to decide. And that includes dh and me. So, from a customer service stand point, it seems like a lousy idea.

     

    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.

  9. Hannah, we live very close (I say this in a non-creepy way!), so I know well how this area can support the food service industry. It really upsets me that your dh can't get full time. This area is like the Mecca of Overeaters Anonymous. Restaurants here are constantly busy, and I know a lot of them are making a ton of money, but they won't take care of their workers.

     

    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.

     

    Ok, here's where tipping doesn't make a lot of sense to me:

     

    A couple goes out to a casual place, get the veggie fajitas to share (it's a two-person platter), and drink water because they feel it's healthy. Bill comes to $15 plus tax. Server brings water, refills them, brings all the dishes that go along with fajitas, takes order, cleans up. Tip at 20% could be $3.

     

    A couple goes to a fancy place, get steak dinners, and drink wine. The plates are $30 each and the wine is $40. Server does perhaps the same amount of work as at the fajita place, or probably somewhat less. Tip at 20% is $20. And what if they had ordered the $80 bottle of wine? Why would that be worth an extra $8 for the server? Did they really do anything extra to deserve it?

     

    So why the huge difference? Does one deserve it more than the other, just because they found a job at a fancier restaurant? People should be able to use their discretion.

     

    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.

     

    What if it were a couple and the bill was $150? Maybe they would normally tip 20% on their usual $50 bill, but this is just too much for them so they will simply tip $20 and call it good? It has nothing to do with numbers of people and everything to do with individuals and how they tip, well or poorly. But some want to look at my family and assume that we won't tip well because other groups don't? If we were a family of 7, that would be fine. But wow, add on that extra kid and now all of a sudden, we might not be responsible enough to tip on the whole bill because other people might not.

     

    I'm sorry. Honestly, it doesn't make sense to me. It makes sense to me in terms of mixed groups, as I have stated over and over, but it doesn't make sense to me when it is a family - parents with their children. It can be explained 18 different ways, but at the end, it is the same - large group (regardless of make up) can't be trusted to tip appropriately. Therefore, family of 8 can't be trusted to tip appropriately.

     

    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.

  10. 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.

  11. I've never seen that on a receipt. It seems rather odd to me.

     

    That doesn't bother me nearly as much as the "18% gratuity will automatically be added to your bill for parties over 6" or whatever. Thing 1's hockey team went out for lunch one day between games - we all showed up at the same time and were sat all over the place (but largely had to to ourselves, as not too many people were at this pizza place at 230 in the afternoon). Despite having 12 separate checks, we all had gratuity added, and not all of the families noticed, so some added more tip besides. I happened to notice that the bill seemed high and read it carefully and then let everyone know.

     

    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.

  12. 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.

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