Gratuity included

I was recently in NYC on vacation doing the tourist thing after my urbanathlon competition. Taking the city sights and sounds in and its many restaurants the one thing I found disconcerting was the inclusion of tip, gratuity, already calculated in the bill. The problem I have with that is that to me it feels like the waiter/waitress put in less effort because they know they are getting a tip regardless of the services they provide, this is not a good impression, these people should put in the work and should the patron such as myself feel they deserving of a tip then a tip will be given. We all go out to be relieved of the burden of cooking, we all see going out as a treat a time for us to put our feet up and have someone wait on us.  I think if I knew that when I go to work no matter what I do I’m getting paid I think I may be a little hesitant to do any work, well a bit more than hesitant…I wouldn’t do shit. Far too often wait staff are slow on the ball and I’m able reflect my displeasure of services in the amount I leave as a tip. Gratuity included is sending a wrong message to all servers especially young servers as it says “you do not have to work hard and the rewards will still come”, this is mediocrity gone wild and I won’t stand for it…someone should do something…lol. I’m just tripping, but I think you get my point, I mean know there are people who don’t tip and thats why they have gratuity included, but they should tell you, I’ve almost double tipped when visiting Miami.

about a girl

she was New York through and through fast pace and unsentimental but very friendly once you got past the façade, the very first difference I noticed was in her goodbyes, see in Minnesota folks need closure and they will often keep you for what seems hours after you first let them know “I gotta go” passive aggressively widdling your life span with things like “ok ahh I’ll see you Monday unless you get hit by a car, and in which case I’ll totally visit you in the hospital unless I get mugged or something on the way…I don’t know I just want to make sure…” please just say peace and leave already.  But I was going to tell you about this girl, she was concerned with Fiji water and pre-ripped jeans, how we ever became a couple, I don’t know.  See she ailed from out of state in a different way she couldn’t  change her hometown but she could change her mind state her Louis Vuiton purse was like a grab bag holding tidbits of her deep seated hate for Minnesota, said she wish she was from a less cold place and I had to laugh,…at the irony in her statement, she was beautiful, angry and crazy strangely we had little in common beside a hometown a lonely longing and a youthful curiosity maybe we drew strength off each other’s insanity, but I was going to tell you about this girl she handed me my flaws on a silver platter, that was just the level of sophistication she was accustom to, on our very fist date I ate a 35 dollar piece of lasagna that her dad unknowingly picked up the cheque for, I won’t tell you here last name but she shares it with a former president and that’s not a coincidence, yes there was time when rich girls really dug me for some reason maybe it was just good old fashion slumming but this one invited me to stay with her in her posh Brooklyn apartment and though I barely had enough money to last a day in New York I cheerfully accepted. obsession turned to frustration annoyance and ultimately something sapping in shadow yet all the while unconsciousness all round down and called pure physicality the night of our fight regarding her denial of the existence of dinosaurs I came to the realization that from the start I was delusional so I faced the music quit attempting to resuscitate a love that never truly lived, I was a kid, passion turned to frustration disgust and ultimate something intangible a run down I called boredom she kick my ass to the curb in a network minute with the cold quickness of surgical steel but the fat graffiti letters were on the wall the night she asked me to start sleeping on the guest bed so I lighten my shoulder load, I took a greyhound home, I wrote this poem, shave my head and started over.

- homelessryank