lunch. I ate at Quiznos today and got really annoyed by the line on my credit card slip for a tip. It's a fast food deli! It's not even a locally owned deli. (Keep Austin Weird!) I am with the author on this one. Why the hell are we tipping for services we already paid for?!? And if these people are asking for tips for reasons other than supporting the business or supplementing the lower than minimum-wage income of the employees, it's not a tip. It's charity! Let's call it what it is and if you're brave enough to ask for charity money, be brave enough to explain where my hard-earned money is going.

Okay - I'm through with my rant.

Amy

Hey Green, how're you doing? Getting better I hope.

Blerff! sez Green, eh. I am not a happy camper. I continue to sound like a goodfellah and I do have serious problems with sleeping. These are due to throat pain, a desire to cough, cough, cough, and the tragic revisitation of unwonted dysentery - complete with cramps, eh, sez Green.

Many of you will have noticed Green's fondness for an um er reliancy on peppering her commentaries with eh, eh. She only does this in order to remind you that she is a furreigner, a Canuck in fact, and she wishes to acknowledge her Great White Roots, eh.

The truth is that Green is not feeling very welll at the moment. Though she is now a thinnish kind of broad she is suffering from some kind of violent acid reflux crap. And she is drifting back into the zone of unwonted intestinal cramps, etc.......... !! None of these experiences equal happy days for the kinda ruined Green.

For a while when I posted something after you, I finished my sentences occasionally with an "a" but you never got the joke. At least you never mentioned it. Know what I mean, a? Like that. Pronounced similarly, eh?

I am very sorry to hear that you're ailing. I can tell that you are not following Dr. BJean's orders. Do not make me have to come up there!

Have you been to the health foods store? Have you purchased the refrigerated acidolphilous? Have you taken it, as prescribed?

Have you taken Prevacid? (I don't know anything about that stuff your other doctors have given you.)

Have you raised the head of your bed?

Have you stopped drinking coffee and alcoholic beverages?

Have you stopped smoking?

Have you given up chocolate?

If your answer to the above questions is "no" then I'm beginning to think that Green is reveling in her agony. Please say it isn't so. Remember that at least one other health professional here, other than myself, has told you that these things are a must if your health and comfort are to improve. I don't like having to lecture like this, but I'll do what I have to do to help you get on the road to recovery. :sick Green wasn't meant to be green, you know.

Tipping beauticians is a problem. As a former beautician, I can tell you that you never tip the owner of the salon. But you should tip the people who work there. I got a pedicure for my birthday and it was heaven. So I tipped the gal $10. She nearly had a heart attack. I think I overdid it.

Bitter: I always thought you didn't tip a salon owner either. However I used to go to this guy in Orlando who straightened me out one day. After he finished my color, cut and fluff, he said, "Why haven't you been tipping me?" I sputtered that I didn't think that one was supposed to tip the salon owner. He said, "Oh girl, that's old hat and completely wrong! You should always tip at least 20% if you want your hairdresser to continue to do your hair well."

I handed him a $20 bill (which wasn't close to 20% of my bill that day) and never went to his salon again. Guess he taught me a lesson!

For a while when I posted something after you, I finished my sentences occasionally with an "a" but you never got the joke. At least you never mentioned it. Know what I mean, a? Like that. Pronounced similarly, eh?

I am very sorry to hear that you're ailing. I can tell that you are not following Dr. BJean's orders. Do not make me have to come up there!

Have you been to the health foods store? Have you purchased the refrigerated acidolphilous? Have you taken it, as prescribed?

Have you taken Prevacid? (I don't know anything about that stuff your other doctors have given you.)

Have you raised the head of your bed?

Have you stopped drinking coffee and alcoholic beverages?

Have you stopped smoking?

Have you given up chocolate?

If your answer to the above questions is "no" then I'm beginning to think that Green is reveling in her agony. Please say it isn't so. Remember that at least one other health professional here, other than myself, has told you that these things are a must if your health and comfort are to improve. I don't like having to lecture like this, but I'll do what I have to do to help you get on the road to recovery. :sick Green wasn't meant to be green, you know.

Hah! I never spotted the a joke but then I am a blondie, you know. As to the other stuff, I have given up chocolate, cut my coffee consumption down to one lousy cup in the ayem, am taking a prevacid clone (omeprazole), am taking lots of Tums on the recommendation of my pharmacist, have given up on spicy foods (a real tragedy), have found suitable boards for the bed and have sent my husband off to the cottage with orders to cut them so that we can stack them. I have been less successful with the smoking and drinking as we've been through quite a run of being surpised by visitors - all of them folks who we hadn't seen for a long time. Smoking and drinking seem to go with hospitality for this grrl. Oh yah, I do have acidophilous and I take it whenever I remember. It is good stuff. Thank you, my friend, for the love and care. Green really appreciates it.

Of all those forbidden items, smoking, drinking and coffee are the hardest to come to terms with. For a long time I would give up alcohol except when we did have company. Unfortunately at those times, I enjoyed myself so much I would pay for it for about 3 days afterwards. I have pretty much given up the fags and only smoke occasionally now. That has helped tremendously. I still wish I could smoke everyday and it has been 15 years since I "quit". I only drink decaf. I've recently discovered Paul Newmans Decaf in the pods that I use with my Keurig machine and am quite content with it. I even have decaf espresso which is sacreligious, I know, but the center of my chest appreciates it.

Hang in there. It just takes some time to learn what you can and can't get away with. The most important thing right now is to get that area calmed down and get rid of the cough and reflux. (The cough IS reflux, by the way.)

I don't know what I'd do without your wisdom and occasional support here so get your blonde a$$ well, a?

It's a funny thing, BJean, but over the years I have watched all my middle-aged GFs succumb to delicate digestive tracts and I was very proud that my own was still behaving like it was made out of cast iron. :heh: Caffeine and hot spicy foods bothered me not one bit! Now look how this grrl has fallen.... *sniff* I swear I think I am about ready to burst into tears over this mess. :think Argh!

Green deserves to be a bit whiney about her recent physical condition! You go right ahead and have a good boo-hoo. If I could, I'd lend you my shoulder. Feeling bad really sucks! :cry

Green, here is a sure fire amazing sore throat cure. I've had people bring me flowers after telling them this.

Put a few swallows of juice in a glass. Add about 15 to 20 drops of liquid grapefruit seed extract and about half a dropper of bee propolis tincture. Mix and sip away. Tastes very bitter.

Hope you're feeling better soon. There's a nasty flu going around here on the west coast that involves vomiting and a nasty headache. Thank goodness I never get the flu.

I like your post, Future. I am one of those who counts in the tip as part of the price of going to the restaurant, taking a cab, or getting your hair done. Where we differ is that I will give a lousy tip for lousy service at a restaurant though in the case of an obvious newbie I wouldn't be likely to do so.

Green, here is a sure fire amazing sore throat cure. I've had people bring me flowers after telling them this.

Put a few swallows of juice in a glass. Add about 15 to 20 drops of liquid grapefruit seed extract and about half a dropper of bee propolis tincture. Mix and sip away. Tastes very bitter.

Hope you're feeling better soon. There's a nasty flu going around here on the west coast that involves vomiting and a nasty headache. Thank goodness I never get the flu.

Thanks, Devana, for this recipe. I assume that I can find the ingredients at a health food store?

future2bsn: I've noticed that many of my well-to-do friends who have never worked in a service job are the poorest tippers. I have never been able to understand how they can expect people to be nice to them with their attitudes.

A former friend of mine (I finally got fed up too) used to embarrass me and my husband as well as her own husband every time we went out to dinner. Something was always wrong with the table we got, the food we were served, the drink, the dessert, the coffee or the after dinner drink. ALWAYS. It was like she just craved the extra attention or maybe she just liked to lord it over people. She definitely was a control freak. I always wondered if she was the type of person that the restaurant staff spit in their food.

If I get good service I overtip a server. If I get poor service I try to figure out if it is from inexperience or because of a really bad attitude. I tip the minimum if it is attitude - and you have to admit there are servers with bad attitude, although they are few and far between.

As for the hairdresser in Orlando who demanded a tip, I honestly was taught that the owner of a salon would be offended by the offer of a tip and that it was in bad taste to tip them. So I didn't tip him because I thought it was the accepted practice.

This guy had become famous from doing several movie stars' hair when they were in town and he used to travel with one national TV news gal. He was a pompus ass, but he did my hair well and it was fun hearing all the gossip he blabbed constantly. As far as I was concerned, he could have asked me in a courteous way why I didn't tip instead of outright demanding one. Or he could have had his receptionist handle it, very delicately. Instead he chose to embarrass me and insult me in front of the other patrons and probably told the story to everyone througout the rest of the day. Frankly I don't put up with that kind of treatment when I am paying someone for a service. Know what I mean?

This guy had become famous from doing several movie stars' hair when they were in town and he used to travel with one national TV news gal. He was a pompus ass, but he did my hair well and it was fun hearing all the gossip he blabbed constantly. As far as I was concerned, he could have asked me in a courteous way why I didn't tip instead of outright demanding one. Or he could have had his receptionist handle it, very delicately. Instead he chose to embarrass me and insult me in front of the other patrons and probably told the story to everyone througout the rest of the day. Frankly I don't put up with that kind of treatment when I am paying someone for a service. Know what I mean?

Heh... this reminded me of something that happened several years ago.

I went to one of those places in Scottsdale, AZ where they give you champagne to sip while doing your hair. I had always wanted to go to one of those places to see what it was like.

Well, a few days before my appt I was stung by a scorpion. Most scorpions are not poisonous but some are. When I was stung I discovered I was allergic to their stings. That was an embarrassing story too, but a different story.

I was soooo sick after being stung. By the day of my appt at least my tongue wasn't swollen anymore and I didn't speak like a freak. But I was still fairly ill.

I go to my hair appt, I'm wearing a cute little sun dress (it was my skinnier days) and I'm sipping champagne while my hair is drying. Not sure if it was the heat from the dryer mixed with champagne or what was happening but I thought I was gonna hurl. I stood up to find a bathroom and the next thing I knew Mrs. Speigel (from Speigel catalogs) was patting my face asking if I was okay. I was laying on the floor, spread eagle, my cute little sun dress up to my neck, and I was out cold. I fainted.

How embarrassing.

However, Mrs. Speigel turned out to be a verrrry sweet lady! Very motherly.

I once had a disasterous experience in an uptown fancy hair salon. A friend of mine had fabulous hair and she recommended her stylist to me. In those days I was dealing with my kinda curly/frizzy hair by getting it permed. My theory at the time was that the frizz would all go in the same direction. :phanvan Well, I phoned the salon up to book an appt and to get a quote. While I was having my hair worked on they stuffed me full gourmet cake, gourmet coffee, and compliments on my clothes. This very attentive service had the effect of making me very nervous for I don't enjoy getting my hair done anymore than I like going to the dentist. :rolleyes The insults to my sense of self-esteem began as I was leaving; they charged me a further 30 bucks over the quote and I left the joint looking like Bozo the Clown. :omg: This evil head job was done in October and I still looked foul by the end of December. This was particularly humiliating to me because I was spending much of that holiday in Paris visiting with friends. Hanging out in Paris while you are suffering from a bad hair year ain't fun! Oh, but that was a terrible experience! I did tip the bastards, though. :tired