per aspera ad astra

So in light of my landline phone going poof, my family is all about this MagicJack phenomena.

As soon as they told me about this product, I knew they named it for idiots. :/

Basically, it’s a little unit that has a USB connector on one side, and the socket for an RJ-11 [phone connector] on the other. You plug it in to an available port, go through the setup, and viola! You have telephone.
It’s MAGIC!
No, it’s just another version of VoIP. Get over it. It isn’t special; you’re just using your [likely cable, because it won't work with dialup, and if you have DSL, you may have to pay for a phone line anyway] broadband connection as your phone line instead of purchasing a line through the phone company. But for some reason, for so many idiot Americans, this is magic. [Learn internet, k? For srs.]

Well golly gee, are we gonna start burnin’ witches again?

No, seriously though, it has supposedly won the 2008 Product of the Year award and has been featured everywhere on TV [not that I'd know since I don't really watch TV]. For some reason though, I just don’t like the idea of it. I’ve used and <3 Skype, but not as a main line.

My family ordered it yesterday. The unit is 39.95 and includes the first year of service [each year afterwards is 19.95 I do believe], but they’re running some special that doesn’t charge you for thirty days, and in that time you may return it, no questions asked [supposedly] to avoid the charge. I’m just wondering how much this system will actually be liked by this household, as most occupants can’t login to their email half the time. It seems foolproof, but I can only imagine that I’m going to get woken up to come fix it or something or simply to my father screaming about how it sucks…even though it was his idea.

This puts me in the market for a cellphone. x] I haven’t had one in a while since my cheapy pre-paid one decided it didn’t wanna function anymore, but I don’t like the idea of being without a phone should I need it or if the power or cable goes out, we’re fucked re: phone if we need something or if there’s an emergency.
I know I will be going with Sprint, but I haven’t come to a decision on what I want to save up for. I’m familiar with the HTC Mogul because phixious has one, and I like it…tbh, I’ll probably end up getting one of those. I do want to wait for the HTC Touch Pro to hit the market/Sprint in hopes that it will lower the cost of the Mogul since it is pretty much the souped-up, new-and-pretty version of it [from what I've read, they haven't made really substantial upgrades that would make me choose the Touch Pro's price over the Mogul's]. I do know that I don’t want to rely solely on touch technology [so HTC touch itself is out]; I’m a jerk and I like my tactile keyboard. My other two, “I’m kinda sorta glancing at these but meh,” phones would be the Samsung Ace and maybe even less so, the Moto Q 9c. I don’t really want to fuss with a Blackberry, although I did almost buy a Pearl at one point. I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up going with the Mogul, though.

Another rant, as per my usual.

Let me preface this that there is a writer for my local newspaper who ridicules the part of workforce that relies on tips [eg: waiters!] because he himself is notorious for being an ass in such establishments, and people who have waited on him have gotten fed up and called him out on his cheapskate bullshit [such as a $3 tip on a $65 check, etc]. He makes a point of writing sarcastic, moronic articles that can be taken as downright offensive if you’re in a position in which you rely on them as your source of income. [Here, typically, the hourly wage for people waiting tables is $2.13; your income, solely, is based on your tips; that $2.13/hr covers tax stuff--and that's all.] In fact, in yesterday’s paper, he had wrote a quite lengthy article about how, “appalling,” it is that everyone who makes low wages be tipped on the sales they bring in–like a salesman at an electronics store selling a $4,500 television. “How appalling,” he mused, “that that consumer wouldn’t fork over a $675 tip to the fellow who helped him to make the choice. Rather, this young man deserved a 20% tip for lugging it across the parking lot!” Of course, what Donnie Johnston seems to forget is that in such positions, the salespeople do get commission, especially of of big sales like that. He went on to chide people for going to banks, cashing their checks, and then failing to tip the teller, etc.
In short, this guy is an asshole. Any poor service he gets, he damn well deserves, because he likes to fuck with the people who he deals with, and when people call him out on it, he makes a little show of it. Of all the places he’s been, here, surely the people he’s dealt with have deserved better. I just pray that he would come into my store. I really, really do.

To give you a really idea of why I’m irate… how is it that I made more on a moderately slow lunch shift on a Thursday than I did on a full-ish Saturday night? On my four-and-a-half hour Thursday shift, of the like.. perhaps 12 tables I ended up having, I made $53. That’s about 25% of my sales for the day, which was rung in around $202 and change.
Even so, I had two tables of rednecks stiff me. It isn’t like it’s the first time I’ve ever waited tables, and I go wayyy out of my way to make sure that my normal sass is very much in check when I’m dealing with people on this front. Everything they needed was prompt, refills were had prior to need, they even went on to say how nice and pleasant I was. One of the two tables had the nerve to go on about how gasoline is cheaper here than where he was coming from with his wife. Oh, certainly, and in all that money you’re saving on petrol, you can’t kick me like $3-5 on your $25 check? Psh. The other table had a toddler who they forced into a high chair [it was too small, and I recommended a booster seat, but nooo... gotta have the high chair] and proceded to ignore for the duration of their stay. Seven minutes after I placed their orders to the kitchen, they interrupted me while I was dealing with another table, snapping, “How much longer is it gonna be? I’m ’bout ready to leave, this is ridiculous.” As you can imagine, that was one of the instances I was at odds with my mouth…but I told them, instead, “I can see how much longer our cook says, but I’m certain it shouldn’t be more than three or four minutes. I can box it to go if you’re in a hurry.” “No,” the man of the couple snapped, “just bring it out. I’m hungry.” I was struggling, honestly, not to tell him to watch his tone, and recommend McDonald’s instead if he needed fast food; that this is a restaurant and we don’t just have everything sitting in the back to be micro-nuked. Buuut I didn’t. Meantime, their kid is spilling drinks, hurling silverware around, shredding napkins, and still screaming…but the parents ignored him. They snap at me as I’m bringing them new cutlery that they need it–well, yeah. I was already pretty sure of what they were going to leave me before they left, but even so, I maintained a good attitude and good service. But I was right–nothing, plus a huge mess from their kid. Yay! Seriously, rednecks are so damn notorious for not tipping, or tipping exceedingly poorly. I’m pretty sure the UK and Europe doesn’t have such a category of people, but I’m sure chavs act that way in the UK, and…well, I’m unworldly and all, so forgive me. x]
But through those two tables on Thursday, I STILL made 25% of my sales.

Last night, I was expecting at least a $75 yield–and actually, I really needed it. However, there was some drama caused by another waitress who is friends with one of the managers, directed at my mom–and then inadvertently at me, just because I’m her kid. The stuff is actually baseless, as witnessed by the rest of the staff, but it still threw things off for the evening. So mom was all pissy, and that waitress skipped seating me like twice, and gave me a shitload of shitty people. I mean, this sounds bad, but generally you can see at the door what you’ll make. You can’t actually judge and treat anyone based on that, but you still get an idea. All those tables got sent to me. This is how my night went:

1. Party of 6; two moms, four kids. $62 check, plus a huge mess and running back and forth to boot. $4.65. Did I mention the kids? I really don’t like waiting on kids. I don’t *show* that, but I really don’t. Mommy wants to empower them and let them order on their own, but then, although they were supposed to have decided [that's what the extra ten minutes was for, and two wasted trips to your table..] they sit there and stare at the kids menu going, “I want, uhhhh, uhhh…” and mommy dearest just smiles, proud of them for wasting time. Or better yet, when they’re shouting and changing drink orders over each other. But mommy’s so proud of her little bastards that she forgets to leave a decent tip for the people that have to clean up after them.

2. Party of 6; all adults. Drinks maintained, carafes of coffee maintained, food was out like immediately because this was during a slow spell; EVERYTHING was as it should’ve been. They were all smily and, “Thank you, dear,” and, “This is been a nice experience!” Check: $102.12. Tip: $4.38. [I had a goddamn fit over that one.. I mean seriously.] Maybe it was because one of the party ordered this mushroom bacon swiss burger without reading the damn menu, and apparently didn’t like bacon. Great. The man who handed over the bill was all, “Ohoho, no change needed,” like he’s some fucking virtuouso of generosity or something.

3. Party of 5 seniors. Icecream&coffee, made their sundaes myself and had to brew fresh coffee too. Now, I wouldn’t mention that, but.. literally as soon as each Decaf and Regular had finished brewing, I filled cups and carafes. The cups hadn’t had enough time to really heat up from the coffee, and they insisted the coffee was cold when I took it to them. I went back, filled a separate cup, dipped my pinky, and burned the hell out of it. That goddamn coffee was hot. The 7.5 seconds it took me to get from the brewing area to their table I know it hadn’t turned lukewarm. But whatever, I made their cups toasty for them. But so, on their $34 check, $2 and the change they didn’t want to carry in their pockets. They also sat there for a total of an hour and 15 minutes after they had paid, taking a table in my section, and prolonging me from going home because they stayed 20min after closing.

4. Party of 2…and a half. Some smarmy woman, her yowling toddler, and her obese friend came in. But so, everything was peachy, everyone had what they needed, as always refills were had prior to being required, etc. It was one of the rare tables that could tell I was new-ish, but only because she overheard a conversation with another waitress. She was like, “Ohh, you’re new? You’re doing a GREAT job! ^_^!” Annnd after she gives me more smarmy nonsense and rude tones, and lets her kid make a mess of everything … the cunt stiffs me on a $34 check. It was my last table of the night.

I made $45 fucking dollars last night and I rang in like $427 in sales for the evening.

The other staff had been watching me since I am technically new, and they said that they didn’t see me slip up at all. I didn’t have any complaints. I don’t get why people have to be so fucking obnoxious, rude and ultimately, cheap. If you can’t afford to come out to eat–and that includes tipping the appropriate people as and if appropriate…and I make damn well sure it IS approrpriate–then don’t bother to come out.

Writer Donnie Johnston and others like him don’t seem to understand that people do live day to day. Well, of course not, he’s got this big farm that he rakes in loads from, and some other tripe, and he’s a staff writer for the newspaper. He doesn’t have anything to worry about. He’s one of the folks that thinks it is more than perfectly acceptable to treat people in the service industry any way he pleases. While it isn’t acceptable, he pretty much can get away with it…I mean, what can you do short of pre-empting him and fucking with him?

More people ought to watch that movie, Waiting. While it is a comedy, it conveys such a serious message: don’t fuck with people who handle your food. Don’t fuck with people who handle your car or your children. Just act right, damnit, and there won’t be any issues. But that’s just too hard for some people. Some people gotta make things so much more difficult than they need to be.

Now this is the *real* post concerning money and its effects on whatever.

So as soon as I got this job back, my dad, instead of coming and talking to me about it, just decided to be an obnoxious little prick and bitch about me to my mother. Apparently I’m expected, now, to shell out for the last payment of Keystone. That’s not really a big deal, I should have enough money by then to cover it, even only working part time on day shift…but that is something that needs to be discussed with ME, not with mom. Mom doesn’t have access to my money. Mom isn’t necessarily going mention this shit to me [although evidently she did]. How the hell am I supposed to know something like that unless I’m told? So it comes down to the date the payment is due, and he’s like, “O BTW…”
Yeah! That’d be fan-fucking-tastic.

Meantime, I also have to shell out for gas to cover my trips to and from work. He thinks that, since I am a teenager and since I don’t drive yet or even just get out much, that I don’t know how much gas costs, and because of that, he tried to give me this exorbitant rate when it costs under a gallon for my to- and -from. I was like, “Uh, right; here’s 3.52, that’ll cover today’s transport and then a little bit.” He’s not happy about that, but I’m not funding his vices when he doesn’t even manage to keep food in the pantry and fridge. It isn’t that I mind paying for the gas, but the fact that he absolutely came to demanding and insisting that I get a job but now demands that I pay for it and even part of my mom’s ‘fare’ is what makes it a fucked up situation.

And that’s where this becomes a rant! :D?!

Dad’s job covers the rent, and utilities [water, gas, power]. Since we pretty much rent this house from his boss, that comes out of his check. So he just doesn’t really tend to go get his check weekly or even bi-weekly because it would be rather small. Instead, he prefers to let it amass for months at a time so it is actually a real dollar amount. [Actually, as of two nights ago his pay has just been doubled--which is marvelous for him what with the economy about to die.] Mom’s earnings from waiting tables are supposed to cover the other stuff–food, fuel, and the phone and cable bills, and of course their cigarette and alcohol habits..and other vices.. Oh, and dad’s retarded football parlays. He’s usually fairly decent, but this year he hasn’t won a single one because players keep getting injured. But he persists to blow from $50-100 weekly on these things. Plus the lotto and scratch tickets. [But he's complained about the five bucks so that I could obtain some personal hygeine things I needed. e_e]

There were a couple weeks in September where business at the restaurant was slow, so she brought in less that normal, and that put us in a bind. Since then, business has come back up a bit, and she’s been making what is closer to normal, meaning we should be okay.

We should be, but we aren’t. Our phone was cut off yesterday, because for SOME reason, my dad never paid the bill. Oh, right, yes, because he’s blowing money gambling, drinking, and smoking. But even with those things, all the money isn’t accounted for; there’s around $200-$300 that is floating in limbo, and this time it isn’t my mom’s fault. He hasn’t been buying hardly any food, the damn cable bill is past-due, and he hasn’t fixed the goddamn van yet, so wtf.

There was really no reason that my Grandmother had to kick in to help with the last Keystone payment [plus my money to get my A+ done.. and don't get me wrong, I do greatly appreciate her willingness to help me--but the point is, she shouldn't have had to]; he had the fucking money… he’s just hoarding it or blowing it on something that he really doesn’t want mom and I to know about.

I hate to sound like an angsty teenager here, but I don’t know if I can help it. With the circumstances being as they are, I’m not even really certain why I bother living here and putting up with the tripe and nonsense that they perpetuate. I’m not content with the idea of waiting eight months to move, especially since those eight months will continue under circumstances such as these; my time, energy, and money would be better spent in an area that actually DOES have some jobs despite the cutbacks, making a decent living fucking wage to contribute to the household that will be, then, phix’s and my own.
I mean, honestly. This is just goofy. I guess the only reason why I have to stay is so that I can make sure that the damn school doesn’t fuckup my transcript from Keystone and so I can ensure that I have all the shit documenting the fact that I am a legit graduate. After all, Dad’s all been pushing for having me out of here ASAP and I haven’t even discussed my plans to move as soon as it’s legal for me to. When Phix was here visiting, he was introducing him to people as his future son-in-law and cracking jokes about getting me married off and moved out. How fucking tacky..

The United States House of Representatives voted down the proposed Bailout Plan to give kickbacks to the folks on Wall Street, etc.

Owned.

The wealthy class is trying to make the middle and lower classes pay for the mistakes of their elitist jerks when we’re in more than enough debt as is. Fuck that noise.

Since they voted it down, the stock market has fallen 800 points. Again, owned. I feel for people who have stocks that aren’t wealthy, because they’re going to get fucked over too, to a degree, but I just can’t help but not be devastated. Yet.

The government says we aren’t in a recession.
What are they going to say when we enter Great Depression: The Sequel?

Now, I can’t say I expect all that much from great big companies, especially ones like Disney…but come on, can’t I at least have the bare minimums?

Mom gave me some money to order Jerrica a new swimsuit–she’s outgrowing the one she’s got–and its matching beach towel [there's talk of a beach expedition in August/September-ish]. It’s cute, it’s got Tinkerbell on it and such. I go to order it and encounter a ton of application/website/other random errors. I try back later, same thing. I try back the next day, same thing. Meantime, the sale that is going on is ticking down, and the availability of promo codes is diminishing.

Few more days of errors, etc. It then informs me that I am more than welcome to shop as a guest. So I do, go through checkout, have mom apply her codes, etc. However, it doesn’t show a deduction of the codes prior to finalizing the purchase…and my mother just blew through the thing and submit it.
Although I told her not to so that I could check things over, being as that, you know, it would be my damn account on the line.

Being ten-ish, I emailed Disney’s Customer Service thing, asking that everything had been correctly applied and that I had not been overcharged, expecting a reply upon waking [which was after NOON.] Every other customer service place I’ve dealt with via email has been very prompt. Not Disney.

So I called their department, and pretty much got the, “Oh, well that’s THIS section of the department,” “No, I have to re-route you here,” instead of getting a simple, “Yes,” or, “No,” regarding the fucking amount actually charged.

I finally found out by checking my balance online, seeing that it had posted.
I have still not heard anything from Disney’s Customer Service folks via email, and although I have the issue figured out, they haven’t brought up their end. How irksome.

Or at least, what I’ve tried from them so far is.

A few years ago, they had a heating mask that I used to use, and it was nice, although it was a little pricey. The price of some of their products used to turn me off considering them, but then I tried some, either by having enough money to afford or via a friend. So far there’s nothing by them that I’ve used that hasn’t made me happy.

All their toners/astringents work just as described and even better. I’m not using one of their currently, but when I run out, I’ll probably buy some.

Currently, I’m using their godly Pore strips which you’re instructed to use after you wash your face. The normal ones work just fine, but I have stubborn pores at times and sometimes I’ll opt for the improved Ultra version. You get less per package, and I do believe they’re slightly more [depending on where you purchase from]. There’s a bunch of cleansing, ilk-attracting stuff in the strip that, when activated with water, draws any stuff from your pores. Obviously it isn’t anywhere near as dramatic as the commercials were when they first came out–and if it is, wth @ your skin. It’s a neat product, I’ll have to say. I’m not really acne-prone, but prevention is fine too. :x

For my trip, I picked up a pack of their little Daily Cleansing Cloths so I wouldn’t have to fuss with transferring my pHisoderm into a little bottle for the week. These things are pretty great, too…they smell really nice, and if you don’t need [or feel you need] anything like salicylic acid, they’re perfect. I still prefer my pHisoderm for regular use, but if there’s any chance you feel psychotic and adding something for face-stuffs then…yeah. Not complicated or involved, just open the damn case, pull one out, wipe it about ze face, and boom. I suppose it would be especially convenient for those who wear makeup, and if you’re very tired and don’t feel like taking a whole shower or even just trying to wash your face at the sink, that way you aren’t wearing that stuff to sleep…it’s been really gentle around my eyes, so that shouldn’t be trouble unless you’re trying to scrub away at mascara or something.

I plan on trying their myriad of exfoliating somethings, but not until I’m out of my St Ives. Mrawr.

& its impact upon my wallet.

Stemming from the forum topic Your Smell Good and Look Awesome Stuff, I have come to think about how much money I pour into this whole looking nice thing. I make such a big deal of not using cosmetics/makeup [aside from lip balm, if you count that, and perhaps some clear mascara, and, if I'm feeling silly, glitter] and such a big deal of taking care of my skin so that I don’t feel compelled to…that I don’t tend to watch its effect on my wallet.

Okay, some of the things are entirely reasonable, such as the shampoo [although I've cut the cost and I'm using Pantene's Ice Shine two-in-one, now, I don't always need a heavy conditioner, and I can invest in a leave-in that will last forever, should the ends of my hair complain] or antiperspirant/deodorant.

However, I don’t need sprays and perfumes, and even though I don’t use styling gunk, I shouldn’t ever be tempted to buy some. I don’t need to use lotion as heavily as I do, I don’t have an issue with dry skin. I don’t need to use facial moisturizers. As much as I love my exfoliants, I could probably get away with, as I do for whole-body ones, just using sugar and sea/epsom salts. I can cut my dependence on my beloved lip balms. Even though I *hate* it, I can stand to go more time in between shaves, I suppose, and conserve blades. And I could switch to a less-expensive razor…Hm.

I don’t tend to go out and get haircuts often–especially not since I’m specifically aiming to grow it longer, nor do I go and get expensive wax jobs at salons, nor do I have a weird mani-pedi habit. But still, it seems as if that money could be better directed elsewhere.

I don’t like feeling high-maintenance. :/ I don’t like the costs. I feel wasteful. Murr.

Alright, I’m sure most of you have heard of Zazzle, the silly site where you can upload personal designs for shirts, cards, mugs, and all other sorts of media and then either have your designs made available for public sale or you may have them for private printing.

I only have a couple things because I suck at graphic design, and I never actually planned on having anything come from it, but I got an email that someone purchased one of the shirts I ‘designed’ earlier. As the designer, you may set how much of a percentage [royalty-wise] that you want from the sale to a certain degree. That, of course, drives up the cost of the shirt, so if you actually plan on having people buy your products, you can’t jack it up too high.
Even so, unless you become what they call an Associate or do some referral work, you can only make so much from your sales. They put a cap on royalty percentage to protect buyers from exorbitant pricing.

Zazzle offers a variety of styles and colors of shirts–if that’s what you’re going for, and that’s what I’m primarily writing about, here–for men, women, children, and infants from well-known manufacturers such as Bella, American Apparel, Alternative Apparel, and others. They also offer popular “green” options for the environmentalist trend such as organically produced cotton and shirts by edun LIVE. They also offer performance [eg: sportswear] and outerwear options [hoodies, etc].
As a result, the price of an item varies not only on how much the designer wants to make from it but also on the actual shirt itself. Zazzle obtains the shirt, does the printing, pressing, and whatever else goes into the shirt-making process [they actually have a page about that somewhere] and informs you of royalties you receive.

So granted, I’ve only made two bucks from having one of my shirts purchased once…but for the zip work I did? I’m not complaining.
Plus, if I make more, and more people buy…two dollar incrementation can build up after a while. :]

I cannot believe I forgot to write about this…gah.

Alright, in general, the way most teens–in this area, at least–conduct themselves in public is appalling…especially when they go out to eat. Most audiences of adolescents in restaurants run their server ragged, are rude, loud, obnoxious, and then proceed to neglect to tip their server. Having my mother be a waitress and having waited tables myself, I’m familiar with the hassle…and I cannot even imagine conducting myself that way in public, let alone an establishment like that.

In fact, there was a letter to the Editor of my local newspaper echoing his discontent and disgust with the groups of teenagers who have gone out on Prom night to eat after having witnessed one such fiasco himself. He began with the lack of manners of the young men: they didn’t pull their chairs for their dates, offer arms upon standing, etc, and generally weren’t gentlemen. He said that they would shout and holler across the restaurant, at one point even whistling, and otherwise use inappropriately loud tones and language for such an environment and evening. He then moved onto the young ladies who would apply makeup at the table, reach across others’ plates for condiments, and would neglect to thank their wait person [as did the guys] and dates for paying. Their language was equally foul and their volume just as great.
I read this article in sad agreement with the reprimands of my generation most their parents for not instilling manners and passable etiquette in their children.

I don’t act that way in restaurants, and if I am with a group who is, I do my best to get them straight. They would cry the blues if someone else was acting like a buffoon and interrupting their time, but are just as inconsiderate as anything. They also don’t understand the cardinal rule of restauranteering: Don’t fuck with people who handle your food.

Anyway, last Monday, after school, Kelsey and I took Kate–well, Kate drove, but we paid for gas and for the food–downtown to a nice icecream parlor and to get pizza from a small family-owned Italian joint that we adore, Castiglia’s. [Kate's boyfriend had dumped her twenty minutes before midnight prior...midnight marking their second anniversary. So we tried to cheer her up and such.] We were sat at a little table right outside since the weather was nice, right in view of the door, and already knew what we wanted–a large cheese pizza [Kelsey is a Vegetarian and Kate&I don't dig veggies on the pizza] and three Dr Peppers.

Eventually our pizza is brought out, we’re just quietly discussing random things, not making a ruckus or an issue or anyone. Aside from that, our waiter never checked on us, never sought if we might like refills for our long-empty drinks. We had almost finished our pizza by the time I went in and asked someone else if we might be able to obtain refills, and she rapidly obliged, and I thanked her. It took another ten minutes of wondering where the hell our waiter was–turns out he was sitting in a booth in the back of indoor part of the restaurant…text messaging–before I again went inside to the register [a whole...five steps?] to request my check.

“Oh…” I hear my waiter say as he gets up, slouching forth. I returned to my table and he eventually followed with the check, and placed it face down. At this point, I was very annoyed with him, and although his ’service’ hardly warranted a tip, I was going to be compassionate and leave a tip–not a great one, but still. I picked up my check [shoulda been around $17.40 including tax], however, at the end was added a Gratuity of 20%! This brought my bill past the twenty-dollar mark.

The only time that is done in the US is if it is a large party or if it is a very upscale restaurant. I have been patronizing this restaurant for years and have never been tacked with such a charge. Standard tip etiquette for decent service here is 15% of the bill…that worthless son of a bitch most certainly did NOT deserve twenty. Gratuity additions are not a compulsory part of the bill and you are not obligated to pay them if you don’t see fit. While mulling this over with my friends, a table neighboring us overheard and shared that they had the same waiter, got the same pathetic ’service,’ but was not outfitted with gratuity.

I approached the register where what seemed to be a manager stood and inquired then the policy of gratuity additions began. Upon overhearing my, my waiter was quick to the register, telling his boss he’d handle it.
“Will you? I was wondering what the meaning of this is…when it started…all that.”
“Well, see, we’ve been having problems with people walking off without paying or tipping.”
“Sorry if this sounds cold, but that isn’t my problem. You can’t make up for lost food cost by tacking on TIPS to other folks’ bills. You can raise menu prices, but that’s it.”
“I don’t see why it is such a problem anyway.”
“Well, for one, it is rude and poor business practice. Increasing bill figures won’t influence someone to stay and pay it. Furthermore, you do not make the final decision on how much is left, that is up to me. There’s no need for your worry…if you had afforded my small party of three remotely decent service, then it wouldn’t be.”
“Oh, so you think 20% is too much? You evidently don’t know how ha–”
“Yes, I believe it is very exorbitant. My mom’s a waitress. I’ve waited tables. I know very well how much of a hassle it is, and I know how people are. As a result of this, I know how to behave and how to tip accordingly.”
“But you’re young…”
“Oh, I see, so now you’re discriminating against customers by age…you assume that because I am a teen that I will screw you over and so you automatically gave me inadequate service. I’ll have you know that I was going to tip you, regardless, simply on good faith. But you’ve now assured not only that you get nothing out of this but that I won’t be returning, nor will my friends, nor their families. Make certain that your boss thanks you, and here’s what I owe the restaurant, in exact.”

And so we left.
And that’s depressing…I liked that place.

Alright, so I spent more than I wanted to on that gown that only ended up being worn for a few hours. I’m not the type of arse who tries to return it afterward, but I doubt I’ll really have any occasions to wear it again myself.

So, my options:

1. Save for little sister.
2. Give to a similar-sized friend.
3. Donate to whatever charity.
4. Sell or have a consignment shop sell for me.

Now, sure, it’d be all well and cute if Jerrica wore it when she got older, but as ridiculous fashion waxes and wanes, she likely won’t have the same taste at my age. She’s probably going to be a slender young lady like me, but we aren’t built the same, and there’s the chance that it wouldn’t fit her properly regardless.

I have very few similar sized friends, and one of them has a stigma with the whole ‘hand-me-down’ bit. Well, understandable, I suppose. That, and most of my similar-sized friends prefer short gowns for such occasions. I feel that formal events like that ought to be more classily dressed, but hey, whatever.

Eh…I mean, yes, that would be all well and noble, helping someone.
But I’m not gonna lie. I’m an asshole. It isn’t that I’m against helping, but I’d rather know who/what it was going to.

Probably the most likely avenue of attack. I dunno, maybe it sounds bad that I’d like to get something back from it, but as stated, it was more pricey than I’d like, and it would be pretty nice to have some sort of return AND know that someone will be able to obtain it for much less/with more ease. ^_^
And if I do go this route, I have a couple other dresses…one from a formal at the end of my [gasp!] seventh grade year that I have done nothing with [regarding moving it along] all this time, a homecoming dress from last [tenth] year. :3 And I have a bunch of stuff in very good condition that I’ve simply outgrown [fucking hips...] and could move along this way. Hoorah.

Well, I guess this was to ask for opinions on the matter. So…yours?