Friday, November 26, 2010

#240 - It Takes One To Know One

“Only someone with heart, a good heart, can see and recognize, the same in someone else.” - Dan LaFevre
Thanks, C.V., mi carnale y compadre.

Monday, November 22, 2010

#239 - Air Guitarded

This is what you are if you get caught at the airport, setting off buzzers. Fret not, for if you have to be scanned, or patted down, and an agent asks, “What is that?”, just tell them, “Oh, that’s my air guitar. I carry it everywhere I go. It’s only dangerous if you don’t know how to play it.”

Friday, November 19, 2010

#238 - Tipping The Scales

LaFevre’s first job was as a busboy in a pizzeria restaurant. He got tips at the end of the night, from the wait-staff. The amount depended on what they got. Seemed fair. At the time. The quicker the tables turned over, the quicker the tables were cleaned and prepared, the more tips garnered. It just occurred to LaFevre that no matter how hard he worked, he would only get a percentage of what the staff got. If the staff had an off night, LaFevre’s hard work didn’t matter. He only got a percentage.

Fast forward to today. Lafevre just realized, along with also realizing sometimes it takes a long time to realize things, the scam that is the tipping process for services rendered. Biggest example: restaurants. The host handles reservations and seating, and everyone who comes in the front door. A definitive diplomatic position, except that tips aren’t given for services rendered, after the fact. Tips are given for extra assistance, in advance.

But the worst part is this: we tip the wait staff, but never the chefs/cooks. Why is that?! The waitstaff merely give you the menus after you sit down. Sometimes, they come by too soon, sometimes too long after. High-end restaurants have waitstaff run down the list of specials for you, as an added service. How often do you order the special, especially after you’ve already seen the menu and picked something off that? That’s the first point of the self-inflated value the waitstaff exhibit and impose on you.

Second, they take your order and give it to the kitchen. The kitchen cooks your food, not the waitstaff. When the kitchen is done, the waitstaff deliver it. That’s all. Waiters are nothing more than messengers. And get this: if the food arrives cold, what happens? The waitstaff take it back to the kitchen, where the kitchen gets pissed off because the waitstaff took too long to pick it up and deliver it; yet the waitstaff will leave you with the impression it was the kitchen’s fault.

And the waitstaff have the nerve to EXPECT 20%? It’s why Lafever orders to go, or have it delivered, if he doesn’t already cook at home, where he has full control over the entire process and ingredients involved.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

#237 - On The Side

There is a reason they call it a sidewalk. There is a reason why it is raised 6 inches higher than the street. It does not mean side-sit. It does not mean side-lie. And it certainly doesn’t mean side-ride. Sidewalk means side-walk. Walking on the side. The side of the road. The road, where those who use wheels travel. That means cars, AND bicycles.

“Wheels belong on the street; the sidewalk is for feet!”