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When did tipping become a requirement instead of a reward for good Service?
The whole point of tipping your waiter, taxi driver, hairdresser of anyone else in a service industry was to reward the person that went above and beyond the basic requirement of the position.
A taxi drive takes you from A to B for which he (or she) generally receives a percentage of the fare. If they also open your door and help with your luggage then they are entitled to a tip. Hell, I’d even settle for a pleasant disposition. But, I really get pissed when the cab is dirty, the driver is unpleasant and smells, I struggle with my bags and then the driver holds his hand out for the customary gratuity.
My wife and I were at a restaurant in Key West last year called “Red Fish Blue Fish”. We had never eaten there before but the menu looked interesting so we decided to try it.
The food was excellent and our waiter was polite and attentive. He pointed out his menu recommendations and checked back several times during the meal to make sure we had everything we needed. We enjoyed the meal so much we decided to return the following day.
Unfortunately our waiter from the previous day was not working this night, so we were seated by someone else. This one took our order and delivered our food – presumably the basic requirements that he is paid to do. At the end of the meal I paid the bill and added the customary 15% because I have become a politically correct, spineless whimp that doesn’t have the ‘cojones’ to make a stand for decent service.
At least, I thought I left 15%. Perhaps my unconscious was doing what my conscious mind couldn’t. Anyway, regardless of how much the tip was, it wasn’t enough for this waiter because he followed us out the door hurling abuse. It was one of those you want to curl up in a dark hole moments. I should have demanded to see the manager and had him fired but I missed the moment.
The point is, why are we now required to supplement the wages of service workers that provide no more than basic service? Worse yet are the restaurants that automatically add a service charge to the bill. If you don’t notice it you can easily double tip.
The corporate takeover of independent restaurants has meant rising prices well beyond what can be blamed on inflation. A fairly ordinary meal for two can easily approach $100. At 15%, or the now suggested 20%, that’s 20 bucks for carrying two plates from the kitchen to your table.
If you are in a service industry and rely on tips for your income, I’m sorry but you are going to have to start earning your tips. I for one am fed up with playing the politically correct games and handing over my hard earned wages and getting nothing in return.
What do you have to say? Do you agree or do you think I’m just a cheap SOB?
Yes, this “toy” was actually banned because of numerous injuries.
Hey, who wouldn’t want to throw pointy metal objects at each other. That MUST be fun!
Well, we can actually remember having a set of Lawn Darts as kids – and – we SURVIVED!
We weren’t able to come up with an original commercial as Gypsynesters were able to find for Creepy Crawlers but we did manage to find a rather tongue-in-cheek safety video. Enjoy!
You can easily do a Google search on retirement income statistics to compile your own depressing list but for starters did you know that for most US states less than 20% of the population have any retirement income and from 5 – 15% of persons aged 65 and over live below the poverty level (Source StateMaster.com). According to all the stats I can find most of us baby boomers have not done a real good job of preparing ourselves financially for retirement.
What happened to the dreams?
Maybe you had a pension fund that some greedy #@^&$# financial advisor screwed you out of or your retirement funds were tied up in your house that’s now worth half what it was last year. Or it could be you were just working as hard as you could all your life putting a roof over your family’s head, food on the table and clothes on their backs that there was never enough left over to save for your retirement.
How Can I Start an Online Business?
Whatever the reason there is a good chance that, for most of us, you won’t have enough money to get you above the government pension poverty line. Many of us are turning to the Internet in hopes of finding a way to make the money we never did in our regular jobs. Do a quick Google search for “Affiliate Marketing”, or “How to make money on line” and you be amazed at how many people can make $34,277 their first month after buying the advertised $97 dvd.
I hate to be the one to tell you but this doesn’t happen. Most of the people selling you these courses are just as broke as you are. This is not to say you can’t make money online – you absolutely can – but most people will never earn back the $97 they paid for the course and you sure as hell won’t do it in a month.
Is It Hopeless?
With hard work, perseverance and a little luck in six months to a year you might be making a living wage. A couple more years and maybe you can afford that house on the beach you’ve dreamed about. You can make buckets of money on the Internet but you have to learn a lot about how to do it and just as importantly what not to do.
Here at Geezer Guides we have picked a few themes that we hope our baby boomer readers will be interested in. The most import factor in enjoying our retirement is having enough money to do the things that make us happy. Call it “Making Money Online”, or “Affiliate Marketing” or even “How To Retire Early” whatever the title in this series we plan to take you step by step through the various opportunities and show you how they all work and what you need to look out for.
How Do I Get Started?
Pick something that you can get your feet wet in. Something that, if it doesn’t work out for you, you won’t get hurt. And if it does work out you can actually start making money with your own Internet business.
I know about just such a program and I’ll tell you all about it in my next article.
I’m guessing you haven’t used your computer for much more than sending emails and playing games. OK, you possibly have a computer at work to help you do your job but have you ever thought of using your computer to make money?
The kids have left home, retirement is something that occupies your thoughts more and more, you have free time plus I know you can use more money. Being able to make money with your computer is a real opportunity not just some fly by night, over hyped scam. You’re not going to make $100,000’s a month like a lot of the hucksters claim but you can make a decent income with modest effort.
When you’re getting started the most important factors are training and support. I’ll be covering all the different ways you can make money online in other articles in this series but to get started I urge you to check out SFI.
The first thing you need to know is that it is 100% free. There are no membership fees and there’s nothing to buy, plus you get lots of free training that will help you no matter what you decide to do online to make money.
I think of SFI like Amway meets eBay. It works like this – TripleClicks is a web site similar to eBay that sells their own and other peoples stuff, except that it operates in countries all over the world, in all kinds of languages. As an SFI affiliate you get paid a commission on anything that anyone you send to TripleClicks buys – for life.
The Amway part is that by recruiting a downline of affiliates you also get paid a commission on the purchases of anyone your downline sends to the site. You also get assigned a share of people that come to the SFI site on their own.
There’s lots more to it of course but that’s all covered on their website.
Why should I join?
If you’re at all interested in finding out more about making an online income this is an excellent place to start. It costs you nothing except for some of your free time and the training resources available to you will be invaluable as you explore more profitable ways to make money online.
Can I do it?
Personally I’ve always liked the multi-level marketing idea but I was never any good at it. Over the years I sold (or tried to sell) everything from Amway to satellite dishes but I just don’t have the personality for it. Let’s face it I’m a nerd, and much happier at my keyboard than a cocktail party. Which is why SFI is so great. Your personality doesn’t matter. If you’re the life of the party that’s great you can tell everyone you meet about the opportunity, but if you’re not as outgoing or you live in a cabin in the woods (but have a kick ass Internet connection) you can still build a downline with affiliates all over the world. Yes you can do it!
What’s the downside?
I really can’t think of any. Most people aren’t willing to put in the effort it takes to make affiliate income so this would be a good test for you. If you can’t make any money with SFI you probably shouldn’t spend any money trying to promote something more demanding. This is not a get rich quick scheme so don’t quit your day job just yet.
Do I have to be a computer whiz?
Not at all, in fact if you only have access to an Internet Cafe computer you could probably get by without even owning one of your own. You’d miss out on many promotional opportunities but there are all kinds of traditional ways to promote something that have been around for long before the computer age.
Even if you’re not interested in selling online you might want to check out TripleClicks.com just for the bargains they have available. And if you do click the link above I’ll get a small commission on everything you buy from the site for life – see how easy it is.
Next Time
In the next article of this series I’ll look at how you go about setting up your own website.
We both work pretty hard each day keeping our stores healthy and responding to customers but Vicky seems to do the bulk of the work so I at least try to make lunch for us. Nothing fancy, just soup or a sandwich. Today I was craving some baked beans on toast but when I opened the can I couldn’t see any beans.
I Remember When …
Do you remember when there were so many beans in a can of baked beans that there was hardly any room for the juice. They used to be packed in the can so tightly you had to slap the bottom of the can silly just to get them out. Then they sat in a lump in the bottom of the saucepan until you pried them apart with the serving spoon.
Things Have Changed
Nowadays you can pretty much count the beans as they float in the watery liquid. Forget about having beans on toast because after you drain all the juice there aren’t enough beans left to cover the toast.
Did I miss the memo about beans becoming a rare commodity or are the food companies just getting incredibly greedy and splitting the contents of one can between three.
I understand about inflation, costs of everything go up and I would gladly pay the extra few pennies if they would just fill the baked bean cans like they used to when I was a kid. I don’t want half a can of watery tomato or molasses juice, I just want beans.
Make You Own
Fortunately I’m married to wonderful cook and making a big pot of home style baked beans is no challenge at all. Here is Vicky’s recipe for her special Baked Beans. Please let her know if you like the recipe. And if you know any brand that still packs the can full please let everyone know about that too.
There was a time, way back in history, when TV was free. You probably find that hard to believe but I remember it, I was there – and I’m not that old, regardless of what my kids say.
Wow two channels
To be totally honest, in England, where I grew up, there was a small annual license fee but that was all you paid. That money went to the BBC to pay for the programs and there were no advertisements. Later on the ITV network came along and they paid for their programming by selling commercials.
We had a couple of rabbit ears* built into the back of the set which was all we needed for a beautifully clear, crisp black and white picture. It continued like that until I moved to Canada at seventeen. I think they still have the TV license fee in England but they also have cable and satellite fees as well so I’m sure they are no better off than North America. If you live there please let us know by leaving a comment below.
North American TV
North American broadcast TV has always been paid for by commercials. Several times an hour Speedy Alka Seltzer or the Ajax White Knight would come on screen to sing to us while we had a quick bathroom break or headed to the kitchen for a sandwich. Does the increase in the number of commercials over the years account for us all getting so fat?
Rabbit ears were fine for local stations in Toronto but across Lake Ontario, in Buffalo, USA was where the TV action was. If you held the rabbit ears in just the right position (usually standing on a chair in the corner) and peered through the snow you could just about make out the picture.
The Outer Limits and Twilight Zone were not available on local Toronto stations. I had no choice but to install an antenna. Not just any old roof top antenna but a super ten foot wide monster mounter on a rotor atop an aluminum tower that soared twenty feet above the roofline. Full 360º rotation was controlled from a box that sat on top of the TV. I could pull in twenty or more stations from cities on both sides of Lake Ontario. The antenna wasn’t free but TV still was.
The Wonderful World of Color
Of course not all the stations were perfectly clear. The ones that were furthest away looked like the Buffalo stations when all I had was rabbit ears. And naturally they were the ones that had all the best programs. Fortunately cable was now available in our area and it was only a few dollars a month. Worth every penny to get clear crisp reception on our brand new Zenith – works in a drawer – colour TV.
The years passed, the cable services – and the prices – increased. More and more stations with less and less content. New series would come and go at an ever increasing rate. Most of them disappeared before we had a chance to watch them. Episode counts for a season shrank to thirteen, then less as shows got rerun during the season.
TV From Space
That’s OK, satellite TV had evolved from the giant ten foot dish that had to be embedded in concrete to a small light two foot dish you could mount just about anywhere there was a clear few of the southern sky. Only $49.95 a month and you got stations from all over the country plus specialty channels for sports and movies. You could even pay a little extra and watch new movies before they came out on VHS tape. We didn’t need to go out to the movies so often so we were actually saving money.
Time passes and the reality show was born, cheap TV even compared to game shows. You got to watch people eating bugs while you were eating your supper. Viewers lost interest, ad length and frequency increased, cable and satellite rates went through the roof and even with 500 channels there is still nothing worth watching.
It’s Dead Jim
I remember when TV was great and free. Does TV have a future? HBO still manages to crank out a decent series once in a while but I’m not willing to pay over a hundred dollars a month for a couple of hours entertainment – how about you?
* Have you ever wondered why rabbit’s feet are considered lucky. The bunny had four of them and it sure didn’t do him any good!
This brand new DVD featuring the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas is packaged and ready to ship.
Images of Eleuthera, which is over an hour long, is a photo journey through the island of Eleuthera separated into North (including Harbour Island and Spanish Wells), Central (including the Glass Window Bridge) and South (including Princess Cay and Lighthouse Beach).
There is even a bonus section of underwater photos as well as a folder of photos to use on your computer as a screen saver.
All of this is set to an original score by long time winter resident and well known composer, Sam Spence.
We are all trying to make our lives and our homes a little “greener” and more environmentally friendly.
We can all do little baby steps like trying to cut down on our waste, stop using products that encourage deforestation, buying products with less packaging and repairing rather than replacing broken items.
A popular green choice being talked about more and more is Bamboo. Bamboo, a fast growing member of the grass family (that’s right – grass!), is an easily renewable resource, reaching maturity in only 4 to 5 years.
There are many eco-friendly items being produced today using Bamboo and Bamboo Fiber.
Here’s a list of some items that are being made from bamboo. Some, I’m sure, will seem very familiar while others might be new to you:
- Cutting Boards
- Sushi Plates
- Bowls
- Picture Frames
- Patio Furniture
- Bar Stools
- Musical Instruments – such as flutes, Shakuhachi (Japanese flutes), clarinets, saxophones and even didgeridoos
- Clothing – ultra-soft clothing is being made from bamboo fiber.
To try to do our part in going green, we decided to launch a new online store – GreenBambooProducts.com – bringing many different bamboo products together in an eclectic mix. We have chosen Earth Day, April 22, 2009, as an appropriate day to launch this new website.
In celebration of Earth Day, we are offering visitors a discount coupon that is valid until April 30, 2009. Visitors just need to enter coupon code “earthday” at checkout to take advantage of the discount.
This makes it possible to Go Green and save some “green” all at the same time.
We both work pretty hard each day keeping our stores healthy and responding to customers but Vicky seems to do the bulk of the work so I at least try to make lunch for us. Nothing fancy, just soup or a sandwich. Today I was craving some baked beans on toast but when I opened the can I couldn’t see any beans.
There was a time, way back in history, when TV was free. You probably find that hard to believe but I remember it, I was there – and I’m not that old, regardless of what my kids say.
