A strong observation

I don’t know what you think but I really feel we’ve gotten a bit wimpy. Not guys wearing pink frilly aprons making quiche wimpy, just a bit soft in our thinking. Now guys, I know some great male chefs, and I like quiche, but if you’re making salmon bruton’, at least wear an apron that says, “Kiss the Cook.” That’s all I’m saying. Remember, I specified, ‘Soft in Our Thinking,’ not soft in our brains. People have been getting softer in their brains for decades. In fact, I make a decent living explaining things to folks who use brain softener on a daily basis.

This is after working customer service, and spending hours explaining to folks where the ‘Any Key’ is, because the installation software said, “To continue, press any key.” Also, there’s those folks who insist they need the two-hundred-dollar software package rather than the one-hundred-dollar one, because it’s more expensive, and therefore better. Even though I’ve explained for half-an-hour that it won’t do what they want. But I digress.

Electing to be better

Another example of the way we’re getting soft is elections. Just look at the stupid ads. All of Candidate A’s ads stated that Candidate B spent his off hours kicking defenseless puppies. All of Candidate B’s ads mimicked the fact, Candidate A hates butterflies, baseball, and apple pie. America is a free country, but not that free. There are limits you know. Either way, there was absolutely no reason to vote for either candidate, only reasons to vote against the other guy. Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!! I long for the days, my father told me about, when the ads were more like this; Vote Alfredo Linguini for senate! Because his enforcers know where you live! It’s direct, to the point, and not wimpy at all.

Socially unacceptable

Then there’s social-media. We spend hours scrolling through things we don’t like, and cat videos, which I absolutely hate. Then we get offended when while we’re doing it. In our anger, we tell off the writer of the offending post. This may or may not have a basis in our freedom of speech, or even kind attempts to help others learn. This is all well and good, but then comes the stupid part. We somehow believe the writer will just say, “Ohh I never realized this. Thanks for bringing it up,” Then it’ll all be over, and we will have made the world a better place. What planet are those wimpy people from? Of course, that’s not going to happen. More likely the writer is going to insult your parentage, dog, and credit rating. You will get angrier and start a war-of-words which will anger both of you for the next decade or so.

You might think this is a strong thing to do, but no, it’s wimpy! The strong thing would be to ignore it, and find that little thing called the off button. You go on with life thinking them a fool, and never get angry or stressed. Frankly, I just avoid social-media all together, and immediately think half the population are fools from the beginning. It cuts out the middleman. But that’s just me. Yes, I miss a lot of jokes. On the other hand, I write my own. I also miss all the cat videos. So, the plusses outweigh the minuses.

Room for just a little more

Then there’s this new craze of everybody asking for a tip. I have a tip for you; Stop asking me for extra money, when your prices are almost unaffordable as it is. Would you like to know how tipping got started? It actually made sense back then. Way back when, taverns didn’t have servers. You walked in, went up the bar, ordered food and drink, walked to a table, and sat to wait. Eventually the barman announced he had your food. Depending on how much you drank, you walked back over to the bar, grabbed your food, and walked back. Later some enterprising kids came to the tavern, and did the walking for you. They were not paid by the place, so they asked the customers for a few coppers in thanks for the service. Tipping had begun, and in fact, it’s still called a gratuity.

Of course, eventually the kids were hired and laws were passed, blah, blah, blah. Next, folks decided to tip for excellent work; Fast cab rides, Great haircuts, Being dealt winning cards, Not being eaten on African safaris, stuff like that. I understand all this, if you feel someone does better than the price, then give them a tip. It truly is, up to you.

Now though, everybody feels they need a tip. I went to a coffee house the other day. It was three bucks for a coffee, but it’s okay I agreed to pay it up front. When I paid with my debit card, the screen asked me if I wanted to leave a twenty-percent tip. Let me get this right, I asked for coffee, they gave me coffee. Where is the excellent, over the top, service? Is three bucks so bad a price for a cup of java that I should opt to pay an extra sixty cents? No, It’s not

And they keep asking

The thing is, there’s a new trend in restaurants as well; No Servers! You walk in, go up to a screen, place your order on the screen, pay at that screen, then the screen asks for a tip. No, the screen did not give me excellent service. Frankly, I thought the screen’s service sucked. It’s not that it was rude. Actually, it was quite efficient. It just didn’t act in a friendly manner, or laugh at my bad jokes. When I was younger, I sometimes flirted with the servers, and they got a better tip for giggling. You just can’t flirt with a screen. I tried it, and they never giggle. Also, when my food was ready, the screen did not bring it to me. I had to go get it. The guy who was standing there was less friendly than the screen, but that’s beside the point. Suffice to say; The screen didn’t get a tip.

The real sad thing is, when I was using the self-check-out at a local store. After I scanned, and bagged my groceries, the machine asked if I wanted to leave a tip. What? It boggled my mind. They should be giving me the tip. I’m the one who did the work. In fact, I believe I provided myself with super excellent service, truly top notch. A thirty-percent tip was in order. I was that good, although I don’t like to brag, so just give me twenty-percent and that’ll be fine.

It just the iceberg of a tip

Then I thought of something seriously confusing. I have never been asked for a tip from the various cashiers who’ve checked me out over the years. Apparently, cashiers don’t need extra money. It’s the machines that feel they’ve provided superior service. Then again, what would a machine do with money? They’re like cats. Everything they need is given to them for free, even so, they’re temperamental. Am I missing something?

So, did you like this post? If you did you should leave a twenty-percent tip. Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.