Homeboy #1: Yeah, ever since he got that raise, he been livin' all grand and shit.
Homeboy #2: Oh yeah?
Homeboy #1: Yeah, yo! Nigga got 3-ply toilet paper an' shit!
--Q46 bus
Girl: Why are you so upset? You told me to try new things.
Guy: I didn't mean ecstasy!
--Times Square
OverHeardInNY - Check this out!
..oil on this planet! Will people come to terms with it and move on? We can find ways to send man to the moon and beyond, we can't find alternate sources of energy? Or even if we have alternate sources of energy, why don't we deploy them? What is Detroit and the rest of the automobile industry waiting for? How many more wars is this oil greed going to ignite? Will the stock market think maturely about rising oil prices, accept it, and move on?
When I went to the Automobile Fair in NY few months back, I was very keen to see the alternative fuel options out in the market by the major car makers - they weren't bad - there are options out there. What we need is incentives. People will start moving to alternate sources soon (as oil prices inch higher), but an incentive like - "drive a fuel efficient car and you get to use the car-pool lane" or "you pay lesser tolls, lesser for parking" - might get the middle-class thinking and give the process a much-needed boost.
A top commodities analyst at a major investment bank made the prediction a few months back that oil prices would reach 105$ a barrel. At a time when the prices were hovering just under 50$ a barrel, it seemed a bold/nonsensical prediction. The price has only gone up since then and registered an all-time high of 68$ this week.
One of the most hyped up series in recent memory (BBC ran a countdown on its sports page 'xxx days to go for the Ashes', counting down from 100!), lives up after all. 3 tests down, 1-1, England show they can give Aussies a fight and more (a scare!). A series right up there with the Aussie tour to India in 2001. The new Botham, Freddie Flintoff leading the English charge. English bowling as a unit proving to be superior to Aussie bowling (who have the 2 best bowlers in the world, McGrath & Warne), courtesy an art they once cried foul about - reverse swing (interestingly, a certain Waqar Younis taught Simon Jones how to bowl reverse swing when they played together for Glamorgan - the guy picked it up quite well, didn't he - Jones now teaches Reverse Swing 101 for the other English bowlers. Brett Lee peeps into the class to see if he can pick up something too).
A 10-day break gives the Aussies a chance to get back to the press and claim moral victories in a draw (not saying draws cant be moral victories, just surprised the mighty Aussies are saying it). It comes down to England denying Aussies any further wins in the remaining 2 matches, and pulling off at least one win themselves - am clearly an English supporter here, but I think its going to be very hard. I think England are one batsman short and their bowlers have been making up for it - am scared the strategy will fall apart if the Aussie batting grinds it out to a big score. Any bowler is better than a struggling Gillespie for Aus and Shaun Tait might give them additional firepower to attack the somewhat-short English batting lineup.
Some of the greatest Test cricket in recent memory - hope the remaining 2 matches live up to it as well..
Extrapolating on an op-ed piece by a certain Steven A. Shaw in the nytimes (for those who want to/can read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/opinion/10shaw.html), tipping to me seems European, elitist - it is something you give when you feel nice about your service (generally, when you feel nice - period!). Seems to a customer that it provides a waiter/waitress an incentive to work harder, impress you. Now, I have at some point in my life worked as a waiter also - I have tried to impress the customer to make a few bucks over my pathetic hourly. The system works; but, its not capitalistic!
When you order food from the menu, with the prices next to the items, it gives you at best, a ballpark figure of what your bill could be - there is the money for the food, then the tax, then a possible service charge (aka gratuity..?), or a suggested tip, or a tip-from-the-heart - I don't know - its hard! What if you had a figure next to a bottle of wine, which you know is all you were gonna pay for the last drop in there - tax, tip, all added. Wouldn't it make both the customer's life AND the waiter's life easier and more straightforward? The downside to that (the customer thinks), what happens to the waiter's incentive to perform well now, to impress you - can he/she spit in your food (in front of you!), safe in the knowledge that a portion of what you pay is gonna land up in his/her pocket anyway? Hmm..
My take having seen both sides of the tipping divide (pun'ny) (finally!) - the tip being added to the menu prices is better for the waiter - permit me to explain - in almost all restaurants, all your tip money goes into a pool, which is split up between the waiters, chefs, cleaners, etc. at the end of the day. Further, (from personal experience), the higher in the hierarchy you are in the "food chain" (ooh..in form here), the bigger your slice of the pie (irrespective of your contribution to the pool). Not surprising really! So that waiter who impressed you with his/her finest behavior, touching you as she spoke, giggling, filling up your glass promptly, she/he ain't getting what you thought they deserved. Also, I believe there are more bad tippers out there than good ones - so by standardizing the tip amount and adding it to the price, the waiters stand to gain - their pool will *definitely* become bigger.
On the contrary, having a tipping practice is good for the customer - makes going to a restaurant and dining a more interesting, talk-able experience (my favorite talking point as I sign the cheque and draw the chair out for the lady), makes you feel like the waiters are out to impress you. Adding it to the menu would deprive the customer of a chance to impress his co-diners of his/her generosity/largesse.
In conclusion, there are always going to be places that make you tip, some that force it on you - just laying out both sides for you..
