You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by you&me

Yes. In both cases there was a gratuity automatically added to the bill... When the server presented the terminal after entering the total bill - which included the auto gratuity - I (due to my own carelessness) added a further (20%) tip.

I understand the concept of the auto grat, but the problem I have here is two-fold:

1) I have a large family and we tend to dine out often. I can't recall ever being charged an auto grat for our party of 6 - and I've been to both of these restaurants plenty of times before. Party of 8? Sure. Group of 10? Definitely. But for a table of 6, this is definitely new to me. Reminds me of shrinkflation.

2) Ignoring the possibility of being caught off guard by moving goal posts when it comes to party size, neither server made any effort at all to state the policy up front (as I've experienced in the past with larger groups) or at the time to pay the bill - No, "Here's your bill. We include a gratuity for tables of this size"...

Just seems greasy.

If you are regular there, I'd be calling the manager. Maybe they are not really aware it is an issue. Losing customers to that would be bad.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by you&me

Yes. In both cases there was a gratuity automatically added to the bill... When the server presented the terminal after entering the total bill - which included the auto gratuity - I (due to my own carelessness) added a further (20%) tip.

I understand the concept of the auto grat, but the problem I have here is two-fold:

1) I have a large family and we tend to dine out often. I can't recall ever being charged an auto grat for our party of 6 - and I've been to both of these restaurants plenty of times before. Party of 8? Sure. Group of 10? Definitely. But for a table of 6, this is definitely new to me. Reminds me of shrinkflation.

2) Ignoring the possibility of being caught off guard by moving goal posts when it comes to party size, neither server made any effort at all to state the policy up front (as I've experienced in the past with larger groups) or at the time to pay the bill - No, "Here's your bill. We include a gratuity for tables of this size"...

Just seems greasy.

That's just wrong. That is not a large group in any way, shape, or form. And even less so when it's immediate family.

[djsFlames]

On the topic of foodies from the 960 thread, my personal/biased/"Sliver" take is that I don't get the obsession with food that some people have (I've discovered over time by bringing up the topic that I know a few people that can talk endlessly about food....endlessly....).

I mean I get remarking on something that's delicious when it is. You want to acknowledge when a dish is well done/prepared. But I don't linger, dwell on and analyze it, deconstruct it in my mind later and have dreams about it. It's just food. It goes in the mouth hole, you absorb the nutrients, and you expel it in the crapper. The pleasure part of eating tasty food is just a fleeting sensation.

Now I get that its also a passion for some. And I can respect the concept of something exciting you and wanting to gush about said thing. I do the same. But in a RL discussion, food just isn't a very interesting topic to me, beyond 2-3 minutes of exchanging a recommendation. It can only go so many places and there isn't much controversy or greater meaning to it unless you're two hard-core foodies with differing opinions in a clash.

Like there are only so many times/ways you can tell me that something is delicious and make yummy faces and rub your tummy before I get bored with what you're saying and begin to drift off into the nethers of literally anything else. Great, it's tasty, I believe you. What else? Whats going on in your life?

My friend and his family can (and have) go an entire dinner gathering talking ONLY about FOOD. it's just bananas to me. I left the first time aghast that we didn't touch on a single other topic.

And I actually hate talking about food whilst eating a big meal too. If it's something that clashes with what I'm eating, it can make me feel ill. Or it just serves to make you more hungry for more and then you over-eat.

A small gear grinder but one, nevertheless.

[Wormius]

I wish there was one designated day for everyone to mow their lawns. It’s impossible to have a day where the drone of lawnmowers and weed whackers aren’t ever present on the background.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I wish there was one designated day for everyone to mow their lawns. It’s impossible to have a day where the drone of lawnmowers and weed whackers aren’t ever present on the background.

Yeah, so frustrating...

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I wish there was one designated day for everyone to mow their lawns. It’s impossible to have a day where the drone of lawnmowers and weed whackers aren’t ever present on the background.

Sure there is. Every day between November and March.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I wish there was one designated day for everyone to mow their lawns. It’s impossible to have a day where the drone of lawnmowers and weed whackers aren’t ever present on the background.

Just ban non-electric mowers and trimmers. No need for two stroke oil filled engine pollution

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Success. Final time: 1:47:21... It's sad that I've seen worse.

Why are you pursuing the lowest fare and the worst service.

This is part of shaving every dollar out of the airline cost. It’s great when things work out but when they don’t those cuts that allow ridiculously low fares hurt.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Sure there is. Every day between November and March.

Then there’s the scraping of shovels on sidewalks. There’s no winning.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by GGG

Why are you pursuing the lowest fare and the worst service.

This is part of shaving every dollar out of the airline cost. It’s great when things work out but when they don’t those cuts that allow ridiculously low fares hurt.

Because I fly out to the coast 10+ times a year and those cost savings add up. I kind of just expect certain issues. For example, that flight was scheduled to leave at 11 pm, got delayed until 230 am, I called, waited for and hour and 45 minutes, got them to switch me to the 8 o'clock flight, which was then delayed to 9:15. Their online check in was broken so I got to the airport a bit early. The flight ended up being delayed again and left around 10:45.

So I ended up landing right around when I originally thought, it just took a roller coaster to get there. That's how it goes. To be honest the way Air Canada is going right now I doubt it would have gone much better had I flown with them.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Because I fly out to the coast 10+ times a year and those cost savings add up. I kind of just expect certain issues. For example, that flight was scheduled to leave at 11 pm, got delayed until 230 am, I called, waited for and hour and 45 minutes, got them to switch me to the 8 o'clock flight, which was then delayed to 9:15. Their online check in was broken so I got to the airport a bit early. The flight ended up being delayed again and left around 10:45.

So I ended up landing right around when I originally thought, it just took a roller coaster to get there. That's how it goes. To be honest the way Air Canada is going right now I doubt it would have gone much better had I flown with them.

So you grind your own gears then. You received the expected level of service for the fee you wanted to pay.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

That's basically true in every way except for the waiting on hold for over an hour. I don't think any company should ever do that. And again that's something that's not limited to a budget airline. The entire strategy of "make it as difficult and painful as possible to get customer support so the customer gives up" is pretty widespread and is a totally reasonable gear grinder every single time it arises.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

That's basically true in every way except for the waiting on hold for over an hour. I don't think any company should ever do that. And again that's something that's not limited to a budget airline. The entire strategy of "make it as difficult and painful as possible to get customer support so the customer gives up" is pretty widespread and is a totally reasonable gear grinder every single time it arises.

I’d say if you are intentionally paying for a discount service a lack of customer service is one of the few ways to cut costs.

You can have older planes, limited schedules, but staffing whether it be flight attendants, check in people or customer service is a huge chunk of the non-fixed costs.

It’s the same with budget cell phones and no fee banks. Great until you need help.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by GGG

I’d say if you are intentionally paying for a discount service a lack of customer service is one of the few ways to cut costs.

You can have older planes, limited schedules, but staffing whether it be flight attendants, check in people or customer service is a huge chunk of the non-fixed costs.

It’s the same with budget cell phones and no fee banks. Great until you need help.

While I do agree with you, you cannot currently (or at least recently) reach Air Canada help desk. You get a pre recorded message saying that due to shortage of staff there is no one to take your call. Please visit AC online blah blah blah

[81MC]

Originally Posted by GGG

Just ban non-electric mowers and trimmers. No need for two stroke oil filled engine pollution

F that. It takes me like an hour of pure cutting time to tend to the yard and boulevard around my house. My mower and trimmer work fine and should run for another 50 years given their use. No way in hell am I tossing that for $1000 worth of battery packs for something I do once a week tops.

Ban the ####ers out there mowing down their 1” grass to 15/16” every other day. Get a life fools, let the grass grow a bit.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by 81MC

F that. It takes me like an hour of pure cutting time to tend to the yard and boulevard around my house. My mower and trimmer work fine and should run for another 50 years given their use. No way in hell am I tossing that for $1000 worth of battery packs for something I do once a week tops.

Ban the ####ers out there mowing down their 1” grass to 15/16” every other day. Get a life fools, let the grass grow a bit.

Really we should ban lawns as they are a poor fit with our climate. Maybe you just grandfather out gas powered motors or put decibel and pollution restrictions on them so that the externalities of owning them are priced in.

If you had to pay for your Nox and CO emissions that drive air pollution perhaps it wouldn’t be economic for you to continue to use it.

[Fuzz]

Start by banning 2-stroke engines, they are the worst. 4 stroke are up to 10x fewer HC emissions, and quieter.

https://www.edmunds.com/about/press/...delinecom.html

You could eventually ban the sale of 4 stroke as well, but they aren't all that bad, considering how short of a time they run for in a month.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Freaking Boomers.

Go to Apply Apple Podcasts. Go to Library. Click on podcast of choice. Click the three dots in upper right corner. Click on settings. Then click on Episode Order Oldest to Newest.

You're welcome.

Haha, I’m also not a boomer (and not really close), it’s just a terrible app.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Start by banning 2-stroke engines, they are the worst. 4 stroke are up to 10x fewer HC emissions, and quieter.

https://www.edmunds.com/about/press/...delinecom.html

You could eventually ban the sale of 4 stroke as well, but they aren't all that bad, considering how short of a time they run for in a month.

4 stokes are still terrible for Nox. Your link shows the 4 stokes are 3 times the Nox emissions of a two stroke. Still terrible on a cumulative basis. I’m terms of persona Hydro carbon emissions an hour a week of mowing is essentially more Nox being emitted then driving or a week. It terms of Nox it’s 3-1. So the amount the now your lawn is just as bad as all the driving you do on the week end

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by GGG

4 stokes are still terrible for Nox. Your link shows the 4 stokes are 3 times the Nox emissions of a two stroke. Still terrible on a cumulative basis. I’m terms of persona Hydro carbon emissions an hour a week of mowing is essentially more Nox being emitted then driving or a week. It terms of Nox it’s 3-1. So the amount the now your lawn is just as bad as all the driving you do on the week end

If you drive a diesel, it's far worse. Nox emissions are about 0.125g/km for a modern pickup. That's 12.5 per 100km of driving vs 1.86 per hour for the mower. So ban diesel pickups if you are that concerned about Nox. And if you are actually concerned, ban mods and fine them heavily, because they emit far more. Even "clean diesels' emit far more Nox than a mower.

https://www.greencarreports.com/news...a-big-business