Funny you should mention that. I tried to contact the IRS this week because I received two U.S. treasury department direct deposits to my checking account for nearly $95,000 total, which I know is an error--- obviously. I tried for hours to get through the message tree on the IRS phone line only to have it keep disconnecting. Finally I called the local office to make an in person appointment, and the message said it would take up to 6 weeks just for a call back to schedule an appointment. The government is so inept, no wonder there is 100 billion dollars missing due to fraud from the covid relief payments. I know they will come back for the money they sent me, probably want penalties and interest too. I'm not touching a penny of that money, and now I fear this will screw up my taxes.

Seems today that celebrating failure is more important than celebrating winning. There is noting healthy about being fat. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes. If the powers that be worried more about telling people the truth about their fat unhealthy lifestyles than trying to force people to wear a piece of paper over their face, then MILLIONS of lives would be saved, and BILLIONS in healthcare costs. I was at Costco this week and I watched a mother allow her already obese child to refill his soda cup at least 6 times while he was there eating pizza and other junk. How is it that some will claim that some parents are "abusing" their children by not forcing them to wear a mask, but they will allow them to consume tons of junk food and soda pop?

Gas prices headed for $7 per gallon here in California. Stock market falling. Homeless camps and open drug scenes in our cities. Cartels in charge of our southern border. But at least we are all agree that banning plastic lids at Starbucks is the top priority.

Hunter's Laptop

Those virtue signally checkout charities never work on my. Cashier: "Sir, would like to donate a dollar to help starving children in Africa?" Kipper: "No, but if you can tell me where the nearest strip bar is I have $20 in my pocket just itching to help out a struggling actress who will sit on my face!"

WOLFGANG

Holy Shit! Almost missed watching season 11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself.

No not required, but generally expected for many service people, especially waiters and bartenders. Some restaurants will say upfront that a 18% gratuity is required for groups of 6 people or more. I suspect that is because often with a group of people, when the bill comes and they all throw in some money, people often fail to leave enough for the tip as taxes are also due. There is also this thing that if you order drinks at your table, the waiter or waitress will need to share part of their tip to a bartender, and he will be expecting his usual 10%-15% for the part which he provided service for from the bar. So, if you fail to give the waiter/waitress a tip, then they still have to pay the bartender out of their own pocket. I don't like the mandatory 18% and I tell them upfront that I will decide on the gratuity, because at 18% they are just shorting themselves if they provide good service because I would tip more than that anyway. In some locations there are also some restaurant owners adding on "fees" to help pay for workers healthcare coverage, which is bullshit. Those places will say so usually on the menu, but you are not legally required to pay that, and it puts you into a situation where you must tell the owner to remove that fee from your bill. I've seen this in more of the "liberal/progressive" cities where some restaurant owners are doing that. I don't feel as customer it is my responsibility to pay the healthcare cost which the owner should be paying. There is a rumor that Black people don't tip, which I'm not sure it true or not,

HBO is free this weekend. Loading up on old Soprano's episodes.

I enjoy leaving a good tip for top notch service. The happiness goes both ways. 20% would just be an average tip at a nice restaurant. But I tip on the curve so to speak, so I really am not spending more in tips than I need to. For example: an mediocre server will not get as much as they could get if they show a disinterest in doing a good job, so their loss. But the take away from that server will be added on to the next server who goes above and beyond. So really pure capitalism on my part. "To the victor goes the spoils" as they say.

But it isn't compulsory, you don't have to leave a tip. And if you don't leave a tip then you may only get bad service. The way it is supposed to work is that you are more than happy to reward a server for working hard to earn a good gratuity. When you go out to dinner with the wife or girlfriend for a special evening and the server makes it extra special, why wouldn't you want to reward them? I hate servers who expect a good tip but then don't earn even a medicore tip.

It is still legal, but it is going away fast. I like cash because I can get better service by tipping upfront sometimes. You know like in Goodfellas... But not like Henry Hill level service--- usually at the donut shop with special requests.

My favorite scene is when the teacher is asking John Bender what he would do if his house was on fire and his dope was burning. Richard Vernon : What if your home... what if your family... what if your *dope* was on fire? John Bender : [truthfully] Impossible, sir. It's in Johnson's underwear. It actually was in Johnson's underwear at that moment. Also the line where Bender asks Vernon: "Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe"?

LOL! Yeah you did, but my old brain saw Beatles and then processed your post wrong. My bad. American Graffiti a really great film which the studios had no interest in getting behind until Francis Ford Coppolla put his weight behind it and Lucus. It is so funny how studio bosses are often clueless to creative brilliance of many directors. I mention Diner and it was the same with that film. The studio just thought so little of the project that they didn't stick their noses in too much, and that left the director to really do what he wanted.

I never use debit cards or any of the apple pay or paypal stuff. I'm fine with using credit cards as those offer me the best protection against fraud, but I realize some people are not good at managing their credit card use. I don't own a smart phone and never will. I have a plain old flip phone with no aps or other crap. All of that stuff is about tracking you and selling your information. Getting people to pay with a smart phone ap is Orwellian stuff. This is EXACTLY how in China the government tracks and evaluates citizens on their behavior. It is about controlling you.

And even more specifically Southern California due to Spicoli and his surfer friends, and also a touch of that "Valley" (San Fernando Valley) thing too. Sean Penn grew up here and was very much aware of the way surfer's acted when he did his role in the film. So common was a Jeff Spicoli type, that almost everyone from here probably knew a Spicoli in high school. I think the scene where Spicoli and his friends went into the All American Burger and took their shirts off when walking in was something you don't see in too many other places unless actually at a beach town here. No shirt and no shoes was very common here, especially in the summer. Today kids are so damn fat that most would not dare go without a shirt.

I think that a good case for these three could also be made; American Graffiti Diner Almost Famous Maybe not specifically high school, but the coming of age just after high school. Then many more films in a similar genre: 16 Candles Superbad Saint Elmo's Fire The Breakfast Club Stand By Me The Outsiders Summer of '42 Ferris Beuller's Day Off Pretty In Pink The Lords of Flatbush Dirty Dancing

10cc

Fast Times table read

I would be very angry to find out that any tip I give to MY waiter is put into a pool and then shared with other staff. The whole idea of a gratuity is to compensate THE PERSON who provided good service. And since not all waiters are as good as the best ones, the ones lacking in merit should get less. What you are describing sounds like socialism, which I loathe. I believe in tipping, but if I knew that it was shared with others, then I would just tip a lot less than I do.

I cant start my day without Dunkin Donuts coffee.

Spot on!