Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Argh, yes, this annoys the pants off of me.

You need work on your idea of aversion training.

I keep running into the types who order the shrimp-encrusted steak with salmon-and-crab side meals and the three glasses of the Chateau Lafette Effete '63 and then announce, at the end, that "we'll just split". Yeah, effin right we will. I just give them a pitying look, and say "damn, that's a good idea - you should have announced that before we ordered!", and then put my calculated share on the table next to them. If they persevere, only then do I point out that it's never the salad-and-a-roll people who suggest a split.

You can't let other people shame you into paying their way simply because you are too nice to call an ass an ass. That's the asses' greatest weapon.

[NotFromHere]

Paigow,
You really should get yourself a Tivo, or Replay or whatever the fuck they're pushing this month. It really takes the thinking out of recording shows. Just hit Survivor - season's pass, and it records every episode automatically. That being said, what really pissed me off is that the actual votes were counted on Suvivor - the reunion. So Tivo wasn't smart enough to figure that out - fortunately I was home at the time and caught the error.
And speaking from recent experience (having watched 3 episodes of Survivor last night since MSNBC ruined the end for me) I can tell you that they plugged the shit out of the 2 HOUR SPECIAL SEASON FINALE ON SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY. You must have scanned through the commercials too quickly - or left the room like some of us do during live TV.

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Argh, yes, this annoys the pants off of me. Story about cheapass friend with weird math habits.

This is another reason why I have no friends -- I would tell her to shove her pencil up her ass and suck it up and pay equally or go sit somewhere else. I mean, barring the situation where a person goes off the wall and orders lobster when everyone else is having salad you split the damn bill evenly or else take turns treating -- by the time you stop hanging with this person or die (or both) things will even out.

Of course this only explains why I don't want to be friends with people, not why they don't want to be friends with me.

ThrashersFan

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
I'll give you a dollar to either shorten the length of most of your posts or break your posts up from one long paragraph of repetitive rant to lots of smaller ones.

TM

Show me the dollar first.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Argh, yes, this annoys the pants off of me.

I have one friend who (i) is vegan and (ii) likes good wine. When calculating her share of the tab, she invariably (a) insists that we just split the whole tab, since "everyone pays their own" never works, (b) excludes from the total all items including meat or dairy, and sometimes other stuff that she doesn't like much, because she couldn't share those, (c) excludes all drinks that anyone ordered other than the wine, which she orders "for the table," even when dinning with Mormons, (d) divides by the total number of people, (e) pays that + 15% and (f) calculates everyone else's share by dividing the remainder by the total number - 1 and adding 15%. I never, never go out with her other than 1 on 1 anymore (where I can force a "pay your own" policy). I'm pretty liberal with the "buy a round, cover the bill, someone will catch you up later" thing. I can take abuse of the system by reason of poverty, bad luck, any number of reasons. But I CANNOT tolerate abuse in the guise of assuring "fairness."

The only way to deal with these vultures is to cut them off - either mandate before the shindig that the bill is being split straight, or stop socializing with them in groups where it can be split.

My group has that friend who: (1) always seems to show up at gatherings/cookouts/etc right when the food preparation/booze buying has ended, (2) "half-cabs", i.e., gets in the taxi with you when the place he's going is on the way to place you're going and offers no money, giving the "well, you were going this way anyway" excuse a la George Costanza, (3) always stiffs us on the bill ("I only had two beers!" - fuck you).

I've bitch-slapped once for getting angry at me for saying he owed at least $20 more. He paid (I'm normally not violent, but I'd had enough).

Behind his back, we refer to his BMW and his new loft in the West Loop as OUR BMW and OUR loft, since we've basically paid for them via all of the money he's saved by fucking us over...

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
How can she began to rationalize a step (b), (let alone steps c, d, and e), in light of step a?

Good fucking question. You see why we're so infuriated. But even if we force her to agree we all pay our own way, she still tries to justify subsidized wine on the grounds that "that was for the table," despite all evidence to the contrary.

BR(even more annoying because she likes California cabs with all the subtlety of a stiffie in loose trousers, and I am a Burgundy girl)C

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by Gattigap
You say this as if it's a systemic problem. Is it? If so, is bad service specific to restaurants, or services there generally?

I have never been, but am looking for an analogue to Hawaii (which is fantastic, but from the East Coast is simply too freakin' far away.) That leaves the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, etc. From what I gather, the Bahamas is a mixed bag.

The Bahamas is a paltry sub. for Hawaii. The bad service was particularly notable in restaurants, as E/O said, you would just wait and wait and wait some more (and the food for the most part wasn't great). I also noticed that the hotel bartenders and concierge/front desk staff were not as helpful/swift as I would have liked, but the cab drivers were good, FWIW.

Also, we didn't have an opportunity for good snorkeling/diving, and we went in the winter and the water wasn't as warm as I would have liked. Next time I'll try the Virgin Islands, or Costa Rica when I have time for a longer trip.

[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
The Bahamas is a paltry sub. for Hawaii. The bad service was particularly notable in restaurants, as E/O said, you would just wait and wait and wait some more (and the food for the most part wasn't great). I also noticed that the hotel bartenders and concierge/front desk staff were not as helpful/swift as I would have liked, but the cab drivers were good, FWIW.

Also, we didn't have an opportunity for good snorkeling/diving, and we went in the winter and the water wasn't as warm as I would have liked. Next time I'll try the Virgin Islands, or Costa Rica when I have time for a longer trip.

Try St. Johns or St. Barts.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by ThrashersFan
Show me the dollar first.

TM

[bilmore]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
The Bahamas is a paltry sub. for Hawaii.

I have the best luck in that part of the world when I can tip most frequently, i.e., never run a tab, but pay and tip with each drink, give the waitron five bucks as you sit down "for the nice table", etc. Resentment of the rich American waxes and wanes, but the feel of the bill in the hand seems to overcome at least the more obvious affects of it.

[evenodds]

Originally posted by Gattigap
You say this as if it's a systemic problem. Is it? If so, is bad service specific to restaurants, or services there generally?

I have never been, but am looking for an analogue to Hawaii (which is fantastic, but from the East Coast is simply too freakin' far away.) That leaves the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, etc. From what I gather, the Bahamas is a mixed bag.

I love the Bahamas and I highly recommend it.

What you must remember about the Bahamas is that the pace of everything is very slow there, so you have to recalibrate your service expectations.

Service improves tremendously when you visit native restaurants rather than those geared specifically to tourists, but no matter what it will be slower than you are normally accustomed to in the states.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Gattigap
You say this as if it's a systemic problem. Is it? If so, is bad service specific to restaurants, or services there generally?

I have never been, but am looking for an analogue to Hawaii (which is fantastic, but from the East Coast is simply too freakin' far away.) That leaves the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, etc. From what I gather, the Bahamas is a mixed bag.

I totally agree with RP, the Bahamas is a weak substitute for Hawaii - where they actually like tourists and our money. The Bahamians simply were there - they have protected jobs and automatic tips - no incentive to earn anything. And you'll never get a second cup of lousy tasting coffee from anyone, ever! When I was there, the water was filtered not purified, so anything with ice or water tasted salty - even the shower water was salty. Of course I didn't stay in a swanky hotel, but I didn't stay in a dump either. Hawaii is just so much more friendly.

edited to fix code e/o

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall


TM

POTD.

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Paigow,
You really should get yourself a Tivo, or Replay or whatever the fuck they're pushing this month. It really takes the thinking out of recording shows. Just hit Survivor - season's pass, and it records every episode automatically. That being said, what really pissed me off is that the actual votes were counted on Suvivor - the reunion. So Tivo wasn't smart enough to figure that out - fortunately I was home at the time and caught the error.
And speaking from recent experience (having watched 3 episodes of Survivor last night since MSNBC ruined the end for me) I can tell you that they plugged the shit out of the 2 HOUR SPECIAL SEASON FINALE ON SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY. You must have scanned through the commercials too quickly - or left the room like some of us do during live TV.

So this is another reason to get Tivo? Is it worth the six hundred bucks? I am still a little conflicted about spending that much on something that is not good for the mind of body. But I do love chocolate chip cookies and they arent good for that either.

anyway,. i do leave the room during commercials or talk on phone or someting. so i didnt know. and assuming I am not the only person in the world who does this, how does CBS think its ratings would be better on Sunday than Thursday? Is it bc all the youngsters go out partying on Thurs nights? even so, you would think they would watch the finale if they were into it.

and speaking of TV< I found the greatest TV show ever. "What not to wear" on BBC *(which is quickly becoming my favorite network). I saw only one episode and these two british chippies were making over this size 18 whose hair looked "smeared on " The makeover chick wasnt just going into it blindly, she suffered tons of humiliation and bitched that the skinny chicks didnt understand what it was to be her size. And the british harpies were heaping praise on a skirt that had folds so that you didnt know if it was the material or that "wobbly naughty fat" that accounted for the bigness. There was another adjective in there but I cant remember it but it was funny. Definite recommendd FB viewing. Dont ask me when its on- i just stumbled across it when it was raining and I needed a nap./

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall


TM

Lucky for me that I stopped doing things for a dollar when I finished paying off those lawschool loans.