sundries

Dec. 15th, 2010 12:42 pm
[personal profile] rm
  • Patty is home, and it's been super New York-y already: the other people in Terminal 8 were so excited to see their loved-ones they were blocking folks from getting out; the cab said his credit card thing was broken; the sound of the heating pipes woke us up; and there was some seriously creepy bird action this morning. Thumbs up.

  • Zuckerberg is Time's person of the year. How pissed do you think Assange is?

  • Meanwhile, the US Air Force has blocked access to news sites that have published the leaks. can someone explain this to me? Is it anything other than "these secret things aren't secret anymore, but we're going to pretend they are, even if it means you're working from a deficit of what is now common information?"

  • Someone is stealing New York's junked appliances.

  • On splitting the check. I understand the complaint. I don't understand why it's necessary. I've almost NEVER run into this, though. We all figure out what we owe, chuck it in, and since I've been over the age of about 25, we've usually had too much money, not too little.

  • A bill has been introduced in California to add historical contributions of LGBT people to school textbooks. A similar legislation passed four years ago, but was vetoed by the governor.

  • The academics I know keep posting this, but I still love it every time I see it: The Snake Fight Portion of Your Thesis Defense.
  • Date: 2010-12-15 08:46 pm (UTC)
    ext_6418: (Default)
    From: [identity profile] elusis.livejournal.com
    I wouldn't say there's a stigma to only paying for what you ordered.

    However I have been the money-holder too many times when everyone has "paid for what they ordered" but we are still short $30 or $40 because no one has figured 11% for tax, 15-20% for tip (amazing to me how many adults cannot quickly figure this - move the decimal, then double the result = 20%??), and in some places now, the Healthy San Francisco surcharge. Add that shortfall to the fact that people are often seeing "$11.49" and thinking "ok, about eleven bucks..." and it's a train wreck.

    I have paid $40 for a slice of pizza and a soda because I held the money for a table of folks who all got up and left after they "paid" and we were massively short.

    So, I am really glad to split evenly a few ways, or I am glad to have people total what they specifically bought, but once the number of folks gets above maybe five or six, the latter method does get very hairy. (And I say this as the first person to speak up when someone suggests "let's split four ways?" and object because no, I had two cocktails and a soup course while other people had only one cocktail and no soup, so I should owe more, etc. etc.)

    Date: 2010-12-15 09:06 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] fleur.livejournal.com
    I would say the fatal error there is letting people get up and leave the table before the bill has been settled!!

    Date: 2010-12-15 09:08 pm (UTC)
    ext_6418: (Default)
    From: [identity profile] elusis.livejournal.com
    It was a rather unruly group of about 30 people having a meal between events at a convention.

    Date: 2010-12-15 11:09 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] fleur.livejournal.com
    Well, THAT explains that, then! Definitely separate check scenario going forward??

    Date: 2010-12-15 11:11 pm (UTC)
    ext_6418: (Default)
    From: [identity profile] elusis.livejournal.com
    Don't offer to hold the money. That's been my "solution." :-/

    (And, always make sure I'm accurately paying my part, including figuring generously for tax, tip, and another couple of bucks to cover "accounting errors" from elsewhere.)

    February 2021

    S M T W T F S
     123456
    789 10111213
    14151617181920
    21222324252627
    28      

    Most Popular Tags

    Style Credit

    Expand Cut Tags

    No cut tags
    Page generated Jan. 14th, 2026 01:27 pm
    Powered by Dreamwidth Studios