Couple more things, but not Trump

Well good afternoon everyone, a bit of winter these last few days here in North Texas and yet they are saying high in the 70’s tomorrow. It may not reach that high, but probably will be close.

As you know I am not a fan of corporations pigeon holing my into behavior that benefits them. Hey I am the customer and a person and if I am spending my money I would like to be treated as such. I guess woo is me, whine whine whine,.,,,

Anyway, I struggle with tipping. I know there are certain jobs where tipping is to be expected such as wait people, bell hops, valet, hair dressers or barbers etc,, it is just for the majority of people you need to tip I have no idea how much to tip. I certainly understand what to tip a wait person, but that is about it. I know there are some internet articles that give you an idea or framework. I just need to go and read them I guess. It is maddening though for the average person. I do not know how much to tip the person that cuts my hair and it gets really crazy inside my head when I pick up my wife from getting her hair done and she says to me when I am paying don’t forget to tip. Seriously? Or about when she gets her nails done??? Or when I pick up her and the daughters,,,, I never know what to tip.

So, what is the big deal? There has been a trend building that people that work at counters are now expecting tips. I am not sure how I feel about this. I know they are working for minimum wage or just above so earning extra money is necessary for them. And yet why do I need to be their extra source of income? Are fast food companies and the service industry forcing me to subsidize their labor costs?  Should I? I feel guilty when I don’t and pissed when I do. Am I a scrooge here? So,,,,, this goes back to my corporation argument. Are they pigeon holing me into a behavior that benefits them only? Do they tell their people part of their pay is the tips? And if so, what expectations are they giving their people?

I do not begrudge the workers, but seriously all they are doing is what they are paid to do in the first place. Never was the expectation that everyone working as a cook or register person or order taker or whatever should be tipped. Occasionally you might tip if someone went above and beyond or if you saw someone regularly you might give them a Christmas present or Christmas bonus, yet at what point should we tip all the regular workers vs the people whose main source of income is tips?

Again, am I out of line or do I have an argument that I am indirectly doing what the employer should do and pay their workers more? And If I am being suckered into this behavior what are my expectations to tip? Good service? Every time? Just my change? A dollar? My discretion? (Yeah that works! Ask my kids they’ll tell you,,, I am cheap)

I have no problem tipping well for good service at a restaurant or for a bell hop that truly anticipates my needs or even the person that cuts my hair (still don’t know much, but I give some) and yet I do not know where to draw the line anymore and quite frankly that bothers me. So where is it the companies’ responsibility to pay their employees enough vs me supplanting their income? It drives up my costs just to go there now and do companies realize if they keep adding costs back to me sooner or later I may quit coming and then what. If others feel the same way I do, then business is lost, employees are laid off and eventually the company goes out of business. I do not understand where is the line that says okay company I know you want to make money, but pushing off so much of your responsibility to provide me a good experience back on me is not going to make you money if I stop coming.   

And I won’t get started on parking fees, sheesh, that is another monster issue. I live near downtown and I see what some parking lots will charge per event. These people need to go to jail for extortion.

And my second issue is about an article I read recently about the State of Georgia’s election site hacked…… and by our own DHS*. I am not sure if this is correct. I read it in passing so I don’t have the details on the top of my head. This does frighten the heck out of me. Is our own government really interfering with different organizations within our country? And under what right or direction? This is not good news if true. And if true how do we manage this? Who is responsible for monitoring what our government is doing? Our Constitution and us, as people, are in trouble and people just don’t seem to care.


*This is updated. Originally I remembered as NSA, however saw a blurb that said Department of Homeland Security