"DSK" wrote in message
.. .
It's a shame that the work ethic has evolved to having to bribe someone
to get the service you are already paying for...


It's stupid to assume that you are "already paying" for something just
because you hand over a paltry amount of bucks to somebody who may have
had little to do with the goods/services you are receiving. Can we ditch
the Wal-Mart mentality?


Or that the human heart has hardened to the point where an annual token
of appreciation
cannot be considered anything other than a bribe, as well as
unneccessary, because, after all, the service was "paid for".


It's not hard-hearted, it's just plain cheap & dumb.
Some people can live in Podunk all their lives and still have some
realization that the rest of the world is different. Other people go out
into the world for decades and never realize that it's different from the
Podunk they came from... or if they do, they spend a lot of time bemoaning
the fact and fighting it.

In the U.S. it used to be considered degrading to beg for money, or to
accept money for what was expected of you (like helping a lady fix a flat
tire).

OTOH there have been many countries & cultures where 'baksheesh' was the
norm. I'm more comfortable with the former ideals & standards, and would
suggest that it leads to a more productive overall socio-economic system.
But I wouldn't argue the point strenuously, nor get huffy about paying
baksheesh in a place where it is the standard.



JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
Sometimes, the creativity of a tip becomes the reward in itself. Where I
get my car worked on, there are 3 guys. None of them eat donuts, or even
the best cheese danish in town, so that's out of the question. Two of
them don't drink, and I'm not so sure alcohol's a good gift anyway
because you never know, ya know? The guy who works on my car once spotted
a hairline crack in my brake rotor, which had just been installed by the
Ford dealer, so as far as I'm concerned, he may have saved my life. I
tried to hand him some cash. He said "I make plenty of money here, but I
appreciate the gesture". So, I sent him flowers, which he still laughs
about five years later. I guess the value of that gesture was that it
DEFINITELY broke up his routine. :-)

heh heh
sending a mechanic flowers... now that was cool... what did the card say?

Regards
Doug King


"Love, and stop putting those paper foot mats in my car" It's really a
great place. The guy's into handguns, so we talk. The other mechanic's a
really annoying lake trout charmer. Some people catch lake trout. Not Bruce.
He charms them into the boat. He takes orders from friends. If he wants 4,
he gets 4, anytime, always. It's nuts. To him, Lake Ontario is a vending
machine.