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Recent Comments by spawnflagger
 | comment listing type: Top Sift for Nov 30th, 2009Friends O' the Sift Top New Worldaffairs Videos by Vote  Subscribe Top 15 Worldaffairs Sifters of All Time Top 8 Worldaffairs Sifters of the Past Week Newest Appreciated Comments         |
yaaar yaaar
Cat+Tape Experiment Pt. 1
Hardcore Parkour Jump
not as hardcore parkour as when the Punisher is shooting rockets at you, but still impressive.
Phonofone II - all ceramic natural horn amplifier for iPod
A hilarious take on Matrix Reloaded (Rifftrax)
(no, not that Crash, this Crash)
Sophie Lancasters murder animated for awareness campaign
animation kinda felt like the style of "Spirited Away".
would suck to be her boyfriend that survived...that kinda shit lingers on the mind forever.
(not saying it was better to die, just saying)
humans are so anythingist. We could have a world filled with clones, and someone would still find a reason to hate...
Google Webstation: 7 inches of gadget lust
A way to watch Twilight and actually enjoy it. [RiffTrax]
Couple Arrested for Not Paying Tip
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The restaurant/pub owner/manager was dumb because of all the negative publicity. he/she will easily lose more than $16 worth of business. I blame the manager because if the service was shitty, then they didn't have enough staff (or people called off and no one was brought in as replacement), or that that groups particular waiter/waitress was being lazy because he/she knew that they *automatically* get a tip for parties of 6, so they focused on other tables.
if it was the manager who called the cops, then the owner should have stepped in (the next day or sooner) and dropped the charges before it goes to court, and give them free meals or something. even if it was a "contract" as in written on the menu or told in person, if they got shitty service, they shouldn't have to pay for it. The soup nazi might be funny on Seinfeld, but in real life, in most locations, he wouldn't stay in business.
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In general, I think it is ok for a restaurant to add a "mandatory" gratuity (oxymoronic or not) to large groups because they are more difficult to handle. They take up more space, stay longer, and are louder than multiple smaller groups combined.
I'm also ok with it being called gratuity, as opposed to a "fee" because it removes ambiguity, such that people aren't tipped twice, and customers aren't asking about the "fee". p.s. The IRS definition for this is "autogratuity".
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waiters and waitresses make less than minimum wage (usually $2-$3 hourly). for their federal taxes they have to report 100% of their tips to be legal. Employers are required to report all charged tips, and cash tips are estimated based on previous tax year filings for similarly situated employees (- 2%), at least monthly. (For example if all waitstaff made an average of 17% tips for the past year, the employer has to report 15% of gross sales for that employee to the IRS). If the waiter/waitress makes less than minimum wage with their combined $3/hour + tips, the employer must make up the difference to bring them to minimum wage for the hours worked. (But if they are that bad, they would probably get fired)
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as a teenager, I worked as a busboy in a restaurant. maybe some larger chains are handled differently, but here it was up to the waitress to give the busboys (or busgirl) a portion of the tips they made (this is tipping-out, goes for bartenders as well as busboys). Since I knew the general price of everything on the menu, and also how many customers there were that night, I knew which waitresses were cheapskates and which ones tipped their busboys well. Guess which ones got priority?
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I think it is a self-perpetuating cultural flaw in America that requires this tipping system. In several other parts of the world, family is more important, as well as dedication to employers. People works together as a team, and they take pride in their work. So, if a waiter does a good job, it makes the restaurant look good, and if they do a bad job, they feel ashamed. American culture rewards individual achievement so much more, that it leads toward apathetic employees and employers. Everyone is thinking of "how can I get ahead?" and so most employers don't care about employees, because there is no more loyalty. People switch jobs and companies much more frequently now than 50 years ago, or even 30 or 20 years ago. It comes down to money and individual gain.
So what's this have to do with tipping? If everyone automatically got tipped the same amount, then the waitperson would have little incentive to do a good job (or NOT do a shitty job, as exampled here). Whereas if they are rewarded based on performance, then they will consistently do a better job. If we switched to a system of "0% tips, raise menu prices, raise wages" then you'd have some good employees, but a whole lot who "don't give a shit" and do the bare minimum to not get fired, and overall quality of service would go down, but prices would stay the same.
Not tipping works in asia - because the staff take pride in their work, without the feeling of individual entitlement.
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Lastly I'm surprised that no one linked to this video during this thread -
http://www.videosift.com/video/3rd-Rock-From-The-Sun-Tipping-Like-It-Should-Be
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that is all, thanks for reading.
Between Two Ferns: Conan O'Brien & Andy Richter
Kathy Griffin - Balls of Steel
"stripper pole" at 1:07...
The Cove: Sundance Film Exposes Japanese Dolphin Slaughter
I guess it's true...
The Nation: American People's Money used to Sponsor Taliban
regarding the cousins/brothers/quasi-government businessmen - I don't think they are scared of criminal extortion or "bribing a foreign official" charge when they are in the business of murder. It's like expecting the driver of a getaway car for a bank robbery to pay a parking ticket...
Here's how we get out of the "crazy zone" - pull out. All troops, all contractors. Keep UAVs flying for recon, and send in missiles to blow up training camps.
16 yr old has ridiculously simple idea, makes $$$
The only problem I see is when grandchildren try to use it for "stair gymnastics"...
(of course, that doesn't mean it's the manufacturer's fault that people are stupid. Cant wait to see the first "stairsteady fail" video online. Or perhaps some creative individual will find a way to combine a skateboard and the stairsteady for EIA goodness. schadenfreude indeed.)
Japanese men's gymnastic badassery = ballet with backflips
Banjo Hero
Digital forensics shows Oswald photo was not faked
(for those who lack sarcasm detector, the above statement is sarcasm)
If you get the joke in this, it probably means you are old
Congressman Alan Grayson Lists Number Of Dead Per District
My brother lives in a rural area, is a self-employed small business owner, and cannot afford health insurance. A few years ago, he had a cyst in his throat that required surgery, otherwise he would suffocate and die within a day. The local hospital did not have the facilities to do the surgery so he had to be taken to the city. 100-mile ambulance ride was > $10,000. (the helicopter ride would have been triple that, so he opted for ambulance). The surgery (not that complicated, probably took the actual surgeon 15 minutes, 2 hour total with setup/prep by the techs in the OR) was > $70,000. You can buy a house for that.
So, with some bad luck, you can get sick and get yourself into a lot of debt, or you can choose the republican plan - TO DIE QUICKLY.
If he had health insurance, he could have gone earlier (at the point where it wasn't an emergency situation), or if not preventable with earlier treatment, at least the insurance would cover most of that $80k of expense.
And people also seem to think that "the public option" would be free - it wouldn't. you still have to pay for it. It's simply cheaper than private insurance for the same coverage. I don't think it would ever be as efficient as a single-payer system (such as in Canada), but it would help millions of people financially.
Honeestly, I don't think congress is doing enough. Just put in the public option, but don't make it mandatory to have health insurance, and all the naysayers (people like QM and WP) will have the FREEDOM to choose the plan they want. If they want to spend $500/month instead of $100, that's entirely up to them. Or they can spend $0, cross their fingers, and if there is a major problem go to the ER and get in debt.
(I just hope I never see a 1-800-SAFE-BODY commercial, starring Justin Case.)
Awesome way to eat a chicken wing: de-bone it first!
Oh, and I don't eat chicken feet either.