Thursday Thirteen #17 -- Tips on Tipping

Thirteen tips THE GAL HERSELFrefers to for tipping etiquette If I’m not in a restaurant or a cab, I’m confused. About tipping that is. I like to think everyone finds this as confounding as I do, so here are 13 tips about tipping. 1. At restaurants, tip 15% for good, solid service. Tip 20% for excellent service and 10% for sub-par service. Why tip for sub-par service at all? Restaurant servers pay taxes on 8% to 10% of their total receipts, not the actual amount of tips they earn. If you don't tip them, they are actually losing money because they are paying taxes based on the amount of your meal. So save the “no tip treatment” for a server who puts his thumb in your food or something equally egregious. 2. Buffet servers. $1 to $2 per person. $1 if all the server does is explain about the buffet and then bring you the bill, $2 is they deliver more service. 2. Bartenders. $1 to $2 per drink. 3. Hairdresser/barber. 15% for the haircut, 20% for chemical services. Remember to tip separately for the shampoo, usually $1. 4. Spa services (facial, massage, mani/pedi). 15% 5. Bellhops. $1 per bag (tip $2 if you have just one bag). 6. Concierge. $2 to $5 for dinner or tour reservations; up to $20 for impossible-to-get tickets. (This is one I always forget.) 7. Hotel maid service. $1 per person per night. If you’re staying more than one night, leave the tip each morning because the staff may change day-to-day. 8. Room service. 15% to 20%, unless it’s automatically added to the bill. 9. Doorman. $1 for hailing a cab (another one I forget) 10. Handyman. Tip is more optional than customary; 15% of the bill is fine if you are very pleased with the service. 11. Grocery delivery. $1 or $2 per bag. 12. Flower delivery. $2 to $5 13. Coffee servers. Tipping is more optional than customary; it’s perfectly acceptable to just leave your change in the tip jar. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Dewey 2. Thomma Lyn 3. Mamma Kelly 4. terra 5. shannon 6. Amy 7. Christine 8. Laughing Muse 9. Journeywoman 10. L-Squared 11. Wylie 12. Nicholas 13. tinkerbell 14. Lisa 15. Mo 16. Sparky Duck 17. Lori 18. Kendra 19. Barbara I've learned how to do links! Let's hear it for The (none-too-tech-savvy) Gal!

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I don't have to forgive and forget

Gee, with Jerry Falwell dead and gone, who is going to tell me I'm wrong for believing in the separation of Church and State? Who is going to blame me for 9/11?

I believe in God and I accept Jesus as my Savior. I also whole-heartedly believe in America, and am proud of our heritage of religious freedom -- including the freedom to worship no gods at all. Jerry Falwell exploited his narrow view of Christianity for political gain, blurring the lines of Church and State and turning extremely personal issues literally into Federal cases.

No greater example of his cynical view of faith and government is his statement after 9/11. On September 13, 2001, he looked into a TV camera and said the following:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Way to heal us, Rev.!

I am a feminist and a dues-paying member of the ACLU. I also worked in one of Chicago's highest-profile office buildings on 9/11 and was escorted out by Daley cops. I'd never ducked under yellow police tape before. I am not completely over that day. I probably never will be. Watching those towers come down left a mark on my soul as indelible as the vaccination mark on my arm. How dare he?

What kind of man thinks of political posturing and power at a time like that?

I know he apologized the next day, but I don't believe it was sincere. I don't have to. I don't have to forgive him, either.

Fortunately for Rev. Falwell, the Lord I believe in loves all His children unconditionally. (Even feminists and gays!) So going by this Gal's view of the world and the afterlife, Jer is forgiven and right with the Lord. He will just never be right with this Gal.

Why do men find it irresistable?

Teasing me, I mean.

Two of my male coworkers share an office. This afternoon, every time I tried to make my point to Steve, Chuck cut in with lame kid-brother comments like, "No, you can't," or "That will never work," or "That's crazy," etc. It wasn't funny but it sure was annoying. I felt like Marcia Brady trying to make a point to Greg with Peter butting in.

Steve does it, too. So does our production manager. My boss starts most mornings with the same joke about my Type A tendencies, "I know you're here because I can hear the gnashing of teeth."

The other women here don't get this sort of attention/treatment. I suspect it's meant affectionately, so it's not that it bothers me. It just confuses me. Why am I different from the other girls? Why am I so much fun to needle?