Being in the food biz, I’ve always been a generous tipper, especially at lower priced establishments ie diners etc. However, the cost of eating out has skyrocketed in the past few years. Splitting a salad, pizza and a couple beers costs nearly $60 at a place down the street before tip. We go out maybe once/week at most now, so I can see why restaurants are suffering for business. As for tipping, where I used to tip 25-30% for cheap places is now 15-20%. Other places I’ve reduced to max 15% and, should tips become tax free… I’ll be tipping less. Chicago should take a page from Europe and have restaurant pricing all-inclusive of wages and eliminate tipping.
Yes! All costs have skyrocketed, food and rent chief among them, post pandemic. But leave it to the Illinois Restaurant Association to blame the workers! That piece was such a fluff piece for owners (Korina Sanchez has done that often) and they just assert their claims without giving much of anything to the workers. The rest of the world has restaurants and workers that dont rely on tips, but somehow it will kill Illinois' restaurant business? Give me a break!
The Trib had a letter to the editor today from a restaurant owner that points out all the rising costs of the past couple years, and labor is a drop in the bucket. The IRA (owner's mouthpiece) doesn't want us to know this. They want us to blame workers when it's corporations giving us the squeeze as always.
Thank you so much for sharing that Snopes explanation of the false but widely shared wine study "conclusion" about wine experts!! I love getting clarifications about urban legends like that!
I don't know anything about wine, other than enjoying a glass now and then, so kinda like the myth that wine experts can be fooled, but I enjoy much more knowing what the study *actually* looked and and what it actually found. Way to go, Snopes!
It ain't actually Snopes, and there's some validity to the criticism of the widespread interpretation of this study, but I believe the fact remains that many taste tests have revealed that even most wine aficionados can't tell the difference between, say, $40 bottles and $400 bottles in blind tests.
I remember hearing about a study that showed that, contrary to what some Froot Loops connoisseurs claim, all of the different colored loops taste the same.
I also recall a Siskel and Ebert appearance on Bob Costas’s old late night show in which Gene asserted that, not only were Dots his favorite movie theater confection, but he could taste the difference between the different colored Dots. Roger and Bob didn’t believe it, so they presented a challenge: Gene was to be blindfolded, then identity the color by taste after being fed multiple Dots. To the amazement of Roger and Bob (and probably many viewers), Gene passed the test with, as it were, flying colors.
The idea is that there are people so religiously and politically obsessed (say, fundamentalist Jesus freaks) that they think that dog indoctrination should be included within their fanatical remit. I thought it was hilarious and was one of the 14% who voted for it.
Very tough choice between Applebee's and PETA visual jokes. I went with Applebee's but probably because I saw it first.
I will follow social norms for tipping, but I already eat out less than i have in the past, and that trend will continue.
Re: 10 commandments. I have been too busy to read all of the comments, so I catch up on the Tuesday PS. I don't care if the 10 commandments are in schools or not, but it has to be said that it makes some good points. Like "Do not covet your neighbor's house, donkey, wife, or ox." Who could disagree with that?
I was part of the majority today - the churlish blocking by PETA of the inconvenient responder perfectly encapsulates the attitude that many non-PETAns believe is held by PETA proponents.
At least three of the commandments are the insanity of worshiping the fantasy being in the sky, which is the Number One reason there shouldn't be a law requiring them to be posted anywhere.
Then there's the mistranslation from the original Hebrew of Thou shall not murder to Thou shall not kill, which is totally different, as murder is different & allows for self defense!
Well there is stuff in the Bible on temptation. I am not sure if there are any stories about a guy tempted by and ox. I don't think that is common. But hey, no judgment.
Historically, the reason why restaurant patrons have been "forced" to tip (not really, but the social convention arose) was because restauranteurs were able to artificially lower their food prices by forcing their customers to underwrite part of their labor costs - egged on by state legislatures and the federal government which permitted the sub-minimum wage for waitstaff. As a result, some waitstaff were able to earn far more than the minimum wage (much less the sub-minimum wage.) Given such history, as the subminimum wage for waitstaff rises, tipping such waitstaff less makes logical sense. While I was generally aware of the changes to the Chicago subminimum wage, I hadn't really connected it to my own Chicago restaurant visits (until I saw the recent announcement of the recent hike in Chicago's subminimum wage), and have continued to tip 20% or better, resulting in my waitstaff getting a "windfall". As eating out has gotten MUCH more expensive, I will have to think long and hard about continuing to tip 20% or better on my Chicago restaurant meals. I know that this may result in disapprobation from my fellow PS-ers, but the alternative is simply to eat out less.
Here's the point. We can use any excuse we want and I have heard them all over the years. The profit margins are low. Changing the way restaurant staff are paid will put restaurants out of business. Use any excuse you want. But I'm with Jay. It's simply too expensive to eat out, at least very often. A lot of people agree with us, judging by the number of places closing. It's not my job to keep them in business. I don't have a large circle of friends to dine with so the food and the desire to get out of the house are the only reasons for me to dine out. But the dent in my budget isn't worth it. I have other things I'd like to do with my limited funds. Brandon Johnson was warned about this. So was Pritzker. I read something in the news yesterday about wait staff seeing hours cut. It's been on the television news about some long time restaurants closing due to rising costs or the inability to retain staff. So restaurants are just going to need to figure it out. I've noticed that at ballparks, which now only allow cards, that you are automatically allowed to add tips. I don't. $20 for a sandwich, fries, and a small soda? Not me. But watching people constantly block my view as the same people keep heading for the refreshment stands means somebody has cash to throw away.
The tipping requested at establishments that have always paid at least minimum wage, not the server minimum, annoys the heck out of me. If someone does something beyond the norm for me, I may add a tip but otherwise I don't regularly tip in those circumstances. If I had to stand in line to order and then stand in line to pick up my food, I've not been "served" in a manner that prompts me to tip. In fact, tipping goes back to a time when servers were not paid AT ALL by a restaurant, servers only got tips. Tips were 100% necessary then. But we've turned a couple centuries since then, of course.
that's it in a nutshell - meal prices rise [which they will with this incr in labor costs], consumers have 2 options: pay more, or don't pay more. only the wealthy can consistently pay more.
you can pay less [or limit your cost incr] by ordering differently, eating out less, &/or tipping less. since the govt is artificially incr'g the tipped staff's wages, why shd i add to that pay for that incr with a 'fixed' % tip?
of course, as i stated, i could order differently [lower-priced items], or eat out less - how does that help the tipped staff?
this policy will continue to result in the closing or restaurants and the loss of jobs for all restaurant staff, tipped & non-tipped. "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
The actual dollar difference between a 15% tip and a 20% tip on my food and beverage purchases--added up over a FULL YEAR--is in the very low three figures. I can afford that a lot easier than a waiter or barista can afford to live on the minimum wage. Think of it as my own little private effort at income redistribution, in return for the good fortune I've been granted.
I generally tip $10 for bills under $50 and 20% for those above $50, even for service that wasn't so great. I have only ever not left a tip when the service was so inexplicably bad that it pissed me off. My assumption has always been the restaurant staff is underpaid and splitting what I leave as a tip.
I don't know if the staff making full minimum wage changes that calculus all that much, but I will have to keep it in mind, especially if it results in dramatically higher menu prices.
It's a tough call because often when service is bad it's not the fault of the server but the fault of the kitchen staff or maybe management for not staffing up the restaurant fully. I am always pleased and grateful when the server apologizes and explains. I get grouchy when they don't.
If it's obvious the server wasn't to blame, I don't take it out on them. And most times I give them the benefit of the doubt. But there are those rare occasions when it's plain the person is checked out and just can't be bothered.
Spotify won't confirm or deny whether the band is real or not, but there are many signs that it's AI, like the band photos, bios and descriptions, the music itself (sounding generic and showing "artifacts" when put through software). The worst part of it to me is that AI is trained on copyrighted art produced by human artists, from whom it then it takes away listeners and income.
Besides the ethics of it, why do we enjoy art that we know is created by humans vs software? Why do we value authentic originals more than even fakes that are indistinguishable in every respect? I'm sure you could earn a PhD attempting to answer that.
My theory is that humans have an innate love for stories. If a piece of music evokes some feeling, that's great, but if we can add a story to this piece of music - the life of the artist who created it, what inspired him and what his life experiences were like, what was going on in the world at the time that may have influenced it, what innovations were included in the music, either on the side of music theory or instruments, etc. All of this enhances the connection we perceive between ourselves, that piece of art, and the world at large. It helps us understand and cope with what it means to be human. All of it is subjective of course, there is no accounting for taste.
It's always a bit complicating for me when a singer offers a soulful, heartfelt rendition of an emotional song, then I find out he or she didn't write it. And my point from above -- don't all artists "train on copyrighted material"?
I think that's different. A good cover usually adds a twist on the original, re-interpreting it in some aspect or another, like an effects pedal added to a previously straight connection from the original artist to the listener.
As for training, also - artists take in previously created art and use their life experiences to add and mix with the stuff that came before, good ones produce meaningful work that touches and induces feelings and inspires the next generation. Can AI do that? I won't say categorically that it cannot, but just intuitively it doesn't seem so.
On the commercial side of it, human artists inspired by preceding generations have always competed with each other, and that's fine, but when AI steps in, it's really a corporation behind it, siphoning listeners and revenue from humans, and that seems immoral to me. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Spotify themselves that created that "Velvet Sundown" band with AI trained on all the music they host.
There's an old joke that goes "There IS a difference between a $10 bottle of wine and a $50 bottle of wine. But no one knows what that difference is!"
re tipping: Restaurant customers cannot control the cost of the food or the taxes. The only thing they can throttle is the tip. much the same way many employers can only really control labor costs over materials and other costs related to running a business.
I always tip generously, but I hate the entire concept. The guessing game, the extra work that a customer needs to do. Just tell me how much and I'll gladly pay and neither of us will feel guilt or resentment or wonder if we're decent members of society. If the service was inadequate I'll go somewhere else next time.
Many complaints about Pritzker are unfair. When he has tried to address problems, Republicans have fought him--and then complained that he has not fixed anything.
The best example of the "block-and-complain" tactic is that Pritzker tried to raise revenue through a progressive income tax--but Republicans defeated the plan. Some times this tactic fails. He tried to improve schools by raising the minimum teacher salary to $40,000. This primarily helped rural downstate districts represented by Republicans. Yet most of them opposed the plan. It passed only because of support from Democrats who realized it was good for the state overall.
Stupid Illinoisans also voted down a new Constitutional Convention because the rotten to the core Chicago Teachers Union opposed it. A convention would've given up unlimited citizen initiatives like California, recall of all elected officials & an end to the pensions, putting all government workers on Social Security!
Actual result was 53-47, but it needed 60%, IIRC, to pass, so the rejection was fairly resounding. But I think it was the result of a dishonest scare campaign funded by billionaire Ken Griffin who, even after he won, packed up and moved to Florida where the tourism industry is so robust there is no state income tax.
I think Mr. Griffin is second-guessing his move to Florida and his support for Trump (for a lot of reasons), but he will never admit it after making such a noisy exit trashing Illinois on the way out.
Yeah. Good riddance! The $100 million+ he and his Chicago staff paid annually in state income taxes won’t be missed. I’m sure his office space has been filled. The $300mm in donations that he had given to Miami/Dade charities as of May of 2024 won’t be missed by Chicago/Cook.
Listening for that second-guessing in this interview last month. I think he hid it pretty well.
Yes sir. He spent almost as much as Pritzker did on his campaign.
You’re also correct on the 53-47. That 55-45 margin I found was a WTTW 98% number before all the absentee/mail in votes had been counted. 58% of Biden voters said they voted that way. Only 32% of Trump voters. That would account for that late 2% move as it did in many states.
Questions for those who want the Ten Commandments in schools.
1. Which version do you want? Different branches of Christianity number them differently. Whatever you support will anger others.
2. Which exact wording do you want? The "original" commonly used by Jews says "don't murder" but many Christians use the wording "don't kill." "Murder" is very narrow. "Kill" is very broad. It includes causing deaths in wartime, in self-defense, in accidental ways.
3. And do you really want to portray Christianity as polytheistic? The first commandment is usually something like "Thou shall have no other gods before me." This suggests it's OK to have other gods--just don't make them your primary god. That seems an odd way to advertise a religion that most followers think of as monotheistic.
It also confirms, or at least implies, that there are other gods out there. I'm not mistaken, modern day Christianity denies the existence of other gods at all.
That is why, if somebody put a gun to my head and insisted that I choose a religion by sunset, one of my top two choices would be Hinduism. I once read that pure Hinduism regards the gods of other religions as their own gods seen in different aspect.
However, without implying anything because I just don't know, I do wonder how difficult it is to find a real-world Hindu who believes that...
I think that the idea of a Creator has a very narrow lead on the Universe having been self-creating, but, if this is correct, I seriously doubt that this entity has any connection to the "God" of any Earth-based belief system.
As I wrote to Debra J. Saunders, whose paean to Trump's courage and general military brilliance appeared in the Sun-Times (my comment went to her home paper in Las Vegas), while she was joining White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in calling out previous presidents for gutlessness on Iran, she might consider that those presidents, unlike Trump, did not have a situation in which Iran had been shorn of its air-defense capabilities by the Israelis. This made the U.S. attack, at least, in the moment, a low-risk operation, which allowed Trump to move on to other considerations.
Trump has a long history of liking to rhetorically beat his chest in front of an audience. This situation gave him a free-throw to look like a hero, which would be especially useful in these times when his unpopular policies are driving his poll numbers down. It is difficult to believe that how a successful strike would make him look on television did not cross his mind as he pondered what to do.
Last year, I was in New Zealand, where there is no tipping. This year, I was in the U.K., where tipping is just starting to get some traction, but is not yet a general practice.
There was no problem with poor service in either place and nobody seemed to have been short-staffed. Why don't we just get rid of tipping entirely?
I am especially peeved by tipping for things like bartending (what is the possible range of service for pouring beer into a glass?) and hotel housekeeping. It isn't my job to decide who is and who is not a good employee. The management should decide that, pay the deserving properly, and integrate that into the asking price for their product.
To those who will argue that hotel staff aren't paid very much, I ask if this means that I must tip everybody with whom I interact commercially who earns less than I did.
Yup, it means that you need to blow the moths out of your wallet and tip the hotel workers!! And the bartenders! And everyone who is over-worked and underpaid and doing you a service.
A bartender has to deal with drunks while standing for hours behind the bar. Would you do that work for minimum wage? I know I wouldn't.
I've never really liked the whole idea of tipping. Many people in society serve others. I did as a teacher. Most people are expected to do a good job, whether or not they get tipped. If I were served poorly, I would stop going to that restaurant, tip or no tip. If the issue is pay, then pay the wait staff fairly. Yes, I know- iI can hear the cries and wailing now about the closing of restaurants due to increased costs or the need to raise the costs of food. I don't see that as my problem. Restaurant owners would just need to do what they need to do and I can decide whether or not to dine out.
To say that most country music is simplistic drivel is elitist. As a cellist and chamber music player I mostly listen to music by dead composers. However, we spent last weekend in Red River, NM and went to hear Mike Addington twice, the balm to soothe my soul. Also love Kathy Mattea and others.
As far as listening to Strads, of course they sound great; they are played by the greatest artists alive. In 1999 Bein and Fushi, Chicago, made a three-CD set that compares and contrasts thirty exquisite violins, 15 made by Antonio Stradivari and 15 by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù.
The recording features the renowned violinist Elmar Oliveira performing on these rare instruments.
But I wonder if Oliviera played a $500 violin from Amazon and then a Stradivari-made one, if an average listener would be able to tell which was which. I've seen something like that on YouTube and while I think there is a difference, I don't really know if it's significant enough, especially without an immediate comparison.
BUT! I do think that simply knowing that a piece is being played on a centuries-old instrument, made by a legendary craftsman adds to the experience, on some subjective level. The story behind the experience does matter, IMHO
I have known professional musicians who, without seeing who is playing, only hearing them, can tell who it is by knowing exactly what their instrument sounds like. I don't have that level of hearing. But generally speaking, a $500 violin would sound like a piece of junk no matter who was playing it.
There was also a big dust-up ten years ago when real cellists thought the theme song from Game of Thrones was MIDI-generated because it lacked the typical slides between notes heard in many cello pieces. Yet HBO and the composer have confirmed the theme song was performed by real musicians and only lightly processed afterward.
I recently (within the last couple of years) learned of the existence of plastic "brass" instruments. Having played trombone and euphonium/baritone through high school, I was curious how good the sound quality would be compared to traditional brass. The answer: Surprisingly good, to the point I couldn't tell the difference when listening to a professional playing them one after the other.
Not necessarily. I play a $4,000 violin mainly, but have a $100 backup/knockaround violin made in China that, while not as good by any means, is also not a piece of junk.
I suppose it depends on what you're using it for. But I'd be amazed if you could get a beautiful sound out of your Chinese violin. In orchestral and chamber music playing, which is what I do, getting a beautiful sound out of your instrument is a top priority.
Well, since my comment was the source of that particular quote, let me just retell the joke about what happens when you play a country record backwards: You get your truck back, your dog back, your wife back, your...
My brother plays banjo and just got back from Blue Ox Music Festival in Eau Claire which leans towards bluegrass. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but he loved Pert near Sandstone, Big Richard, Fretliners, and Sam Grisman.
I agree about the musicianship of country music. That genre is rife with Nashville (and elsewhere) cats that have as much music in them as anyone up to and including the CSO.
Lions eat other animals. Why can't we eat lions?
There aren't that enough lions to harvest to eat. My guess is the meat is very gamey & stringy, not very tasty.
I was attempting to make a joke (based on the PETA response to the smart-alec).
Cows do not eat other cows, yet we eat cows. Does that seem fair?
Your attempt at a joke was a failure!
OK. I stand reprimanded.
Fish may be the only carnivore predators which taste good, so that makes the joke work.
Theres a market in Mexico City where you can eat lion!
Remember Richard Czimer?
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/12/19/tiger-meat-dealer-receives-6-months/
They won’t stand still long enough to be cooked.
Being in the food biz, I’ve always been a generous tipper, especially at lower priced establishments ie diners etc. However, the cost of eating out has skyrocketed in the past few years. Splitting a salad, pizza and a couple beers costs nearly $60 at a place down the street before tip. We go out maybe once/week at most now, so I can see why restaurants are suffering for business. As for tipping, where I used to tip 25-30% for cheap places is now 15-20%. Other places I’ve reduced to max 15% and, should tips become tax free… I’ll be tipping less. Chicago should take a page from Europe and have restaurant pricing all-inclusive of wages and eliminate tipping.
Yes! All costs have skyrocketed, food and rent chief among them, post pandemic. But leave it to the Illinois Restaurant Association to blame the workers! That piece was such a fluff piece for owners (Korina Sanchez has done that often) and they just assert their claims without giving much of anything to the workers. The rest of the world has restaurants and workers that dont rely on tips, but somehow it will kill Illinois' restaurant business? Give me a break!
The Trib had a letter to the editor today from a restaurant owner that points out all the rising costs of the past couple years, and labor is a drop in the bucket. The IRA (owner's mouthpiece) doesn't want us to know this. They want us to blame workers when it's corporations giving us the squeeze as always.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/01/letters-070125-restaurants-chicago/
That wine study didn't say what you think it said: https://sciencesnopes.blogspot.com/2013/05/about-that-wine-experiment.html
Also: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/08/19/the-red-and-the-white
Thank you so much for sharing that Snopes explanation of the false but widely shared wine study "conclusion" about wine experts!! I love getting clarifications about urban legends like that!
I don't know anything about wine, other than enjoying a glass now and then, so kinda like the myth that wine experts can be fooled, but I enjoy much more knowing what the study *actually* looked and and what it actually found. Way to go, Snopes!
It ain't actually Snopes, and there's some validity to the criticism of the widespread interpretation of this study, but I believe the fact remains that many taste tests have revealed that even most wine aficionados can't tell the difference between, say, $40 bottles and $400 bottles in blind tests.
I remember hearing about a study that showed that, contrary to what some Froot Loops connoisseurs claim, all of the different colored loops taste the same.
I also recall a Siskel and Ebert appearance on Bob Costas’s old late night show in which Gene asserted that, not only were Dots his favorite movie theater confection, but he could taste the difference between the different colored Dots. Roger and Bob didn’t believe it, so they presented a challenge: Gene was to be blindfolded, then identity the color by taste after being fed multiple Dots. To the amazement of Roger and Bob (and probably many viewers), Gene passed the test with, as it were, flying colors.
Now *that* was television! Enough of this Love Island crap.
My half baked product: the fork sharpener.
I do not get the dog visual joke. ?
There's a book called How To Talk To Your Cat About Gun Safety, so it's in reference to that.
The idea is that there are people so religiously and politically obsessed (say, fundamentalist Jesus freaks) that they think that dog indoctrination should be included within their fanatical remit. I thought it was hilarious and was one of the 14% who voted for it.
Very tough choice between Applebee's and PETA visual jokes. I went with Applebee's but probably because I saw it first.
I will follow social norms for tipping, but I already eat out less than i have in the past, and that trend will continue.
Re: 10 commandments. I have been too busy to read all of the comments, so I catch up on the Tuesday PS. I don't care if the 10 commandments are in schools or not, but it has to be said that it makes some good points. Like "Do not covet your neighbor's house, donkey, wife, or ox." Who could disagree with that?
I was part of the majority today - the churlish blocking by PETA of the inconvenient responder perfectly encapsulates the attitude that many non-PETAns believe is held by PETA proponents.
At least three of the commandments are the insanity of worshiping the fantasy being in the sky, which is the Number One reason there shouldn't be a law requiring them to be posted anywhere.
Then there's the mistranslation from the original Hebrew of Thou shall not murder to Thou shall not kill, which is totally different, as murder is different & allows for self defense!
But what it it's a really nice ox?
Well there is stuff in the Bible on temptation. I am not sure if there are any stories about a guy tempted by and ox. I don't think that is common. But hey, no judgment.
An ox would be less practical than all those sheep they had running around, which is commonly believed to be how humans first contracted syphilis.
Historically, the reason why restaurant patrons have been "forced" to tip (not really, but the social convention arose) was because restauranteurs were able to artificially lower their food prices by forcing their customers to underwrite part of their labor costs - egged on by state legislatures and the federal government which permitted the sub-minimum wage for waitstaff. As a result, some waitstaff were able to earn far more than the minimum wage (much less the sub-minimum wage.) Given such history, as the subminimum wage for waitstaff rises, tipping such waitstaff less makes logical sense. While I was generally aware of the changes to the Chicago subminimum wage, I hadn't really connected it to my own Chicago restaurant visits (until I saw the recent announcement of the recent hike in Chicago's subminimum wage), and have continued to tip 20% or better, resulting in my waitstaff getting a "windfall". As eating out has gotten MUCH more expensive, I will have to think long and hard about continuing to tip 20% or better on my Chicago restaurant meals. I know that this may result in disapprobation from my fellow PS-ers, but the alternative is simply to eat out less.
I am in an anti-zero sum mood right now so the argument that waitstaff get a windfall does make me cringe a little.
Here's the point. We can use any excuse we want and I have heard them all over the years. The profit margins are low. Changing the way restaurant staff are paid will put restaurants out of business. Use any excuse you want. But I'm with Jay. It's simply too expensive to eat out, at least very often. A lot of people agree with us, judging by the number of places closing. It's not my job to keep them in business. I don't have a large circle of friends to dine with so the food and the desire to get out of the house are the only reasons for me to dine out. But the dent in my budget isn't worth it. I have other things I'd like to do with my limited funds. Brandon Johnson was warned about this. So was Pritzker. I read something in the news yesterday about wait staff seeing hours cut. It's been on the television news about some long time restaurants closing due to rising costs or the inability to retain staff. So restaurants are just going to need to figure it out. I've noticed that at ballparks, which now only allow cards, that you are automatically allowed to add tips. I don't. $20 for a sandwich, fries, and a small soda? Not me. But watching people constantly block my view as the same people keep heading for the refreshment stands means somebody has cash to throw away.
The tipping requested at establishments that have always paid at least minimum wage, not the server minimum, annoys the heck out of me. If someone does something beyond the norm for me, I may add a tip but otherwise I don't regularly tip in those circumstances. If I had to stand in line to order and then stand in line to pick up my food, I've not been "served" in a manner that prompts me to tip. In fact, tipping goes back to a time when servers were not paid AT ALL by a restaurant, servers only got tips. Tips were 100% necessary then. But we've turned a couple centuries since then, of course.
that's it in a nutshell - meal prices rise [which they will with this incr in labor costs], consumers have 2 options: pay more, or don't pay more. only the wealthy can consistently pay more.
you can pay less [or limit your cost incr] by ordering differently, eating out less, &/or tipping less. since the govt is artificially incr'g the tipped staff's wages, why shd i add to that pay for that incr with a 'fixed' % tip?
of course, as i stated, i could order differently [lower-priced items], or eat out less - how does that help the tipped staff?
this policy will continue to result in the closing or restaurants and the loss of jobs for all restaurant staff, tipped & non-tipped. "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
The actual dollar difference between a 15% tip and a 20% tip on my food and beverage purchases--added up over a FULL YEAR--is in the very low three figures. I can afford that a lot easier than a waiter or barista can afford to live on the minimum wage. Think of it as my own little private effort at income redistribution, in return for the good fortune I've been granted.
I generally tip $10 for bills under $50 and 20% for those above $50, even for service that wasn't so great. I have only ever not left a tip when the service was so inexplicably bad that it pissed me off. My assumption has always been the restaurant staff is underpaid and splitting what I leave as a tip.
I don't know if the staff making full minimum wage changes that calculus all that much, but I will have to keep it in mind, especially if it results in dramatically higher menu prices.
It's a tough call because often when service is bad it's not the fault of the server but the fault of the kitchen staff or maybe management for not staffing up the restaurant fully. I am always pleased and grateful when the server apologizes and explains. I get grouchy when they don't.
If it's obvious the server wasn't to blame, I don't take it out on them. And most times I give them the benefit of the doubt. But there are those rare occasions when it's plain the person is checked out and just can't be bothered.
Yep. I figured a tip is something I can do to make the world slightly better for someone, especially with all the crap that is coming down the pike.
Regarding AI-generated music, there is a current controversy going on surrounding a band on Spotify called "Velvet Sundown", which is pretty clearly an AI-generated fake. There's a short summary here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/an-ai-generated-rock-band-has-blown-up-online-spotify-won-t-tell-you-they-re-fake/ar-AA1HIG7G
Spotify won't confirm or deny whether the band is real or not, but there are many signs that it's AI, like the band photos, bios and descriptions, the music itself (sounding generic and showing "artifacts" when put through software). The worst part of it to me is that AI is trained on copyrighted art produced by human artists, from whom it then it takes away listeners and income.
Besides the ethics of it, why do we enjoy art that we know is created by humans vs software? Why do we value authentic originals more than even fakes that are indistinguishable in every respect? I'm sure you could earn a PhD attempting to answer that.
My theory is that humans have an innate love for stories. If a piece of music evokes some feeling, that's great, but if we can add a story to this piece of music - the life of the artist who created it, what inspired him and what his life experiences were like, what was going on in the world at the time that may have influenced it, what innovations were included in the music, either on the side of music theory or instruments, etc. All of this enhances the connection we perceive between ourselves, that piece of art, and the world at large. It helps us understand and cope with what it means to be human. All of it is subjective of course, there is no accounting for taste.
It's always a bit complicating for me when a singer offers a soulful, heartfelt rendition of an emotional song, then I find out he or she didn't write it. And my point from above -- don't all artists "train on copyrighted material"?
I think that's different. A good cover usually adds a twist on the original, re-interpreting it in some aspect or another, like an effects pedal added to a previously straight connection from the original artist to the listener.
As for training, also - artists take in previously created art and use their life experiences to add and mix with the stuff that came before, good ones produce meaningful work that touches and induces feelings and inspires the next generation. Can AI do that? I won't say categorically that it cannot, but just intuitively it doesn't seem so.
On the commercial side of it, human artists inspired by preceding generations have always competed with each other, and that's fine, but when AI steps in, it's really a corporation behind it, siphoning listeners and revenue from humans, and that seems immoral to me. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Spotify themselves that created that "Velvet Sundown" band with AI trained on all the music they host.
There's an old joke that goes "There IS a difference between a $10 bottle of wine and a $50 bottle of wine. But no one knows what that difference is!"
re tipping: Restaurant customers cannot control the cost of the food or the taxes. The only thing they can throttle is the tip. much the same way many employers can only really control labor costs over materials and other costs related to running a business.
I always tip generously, but I hate the entire concept. The guessing game, the extra work that a customer needs to do. Just tell me how much and I'll gladly pay and neither of us will feel guilt or resentment or wonder if we're decent members of society. If the service was inadequate I'll go somewhere else next time.
Many complaints about Pritzker are unfair. When he has tried to address problems, Republicans have fought him--and then complained that he has not fixed anything.
The best example of the "block-and-complain" tactic is that Pritzker tried to raise revenue through a progressive income tax--but Republicans defeated the plan. Some times this tactic fails. He tried to improve schools by raising the minimum teacher salary to $40,000. This primarily helped rural downstate districts represented by Republicans. Yet most of them opposed the plan. It passed only because of support from Democrats who realized it was good for the state overall.
They’ve complained, all right! But it’s hard to block anything when the Dem’s have had the “trifecta” for the last 7 years.
And they complained on the Progressive Tax, too, but it was the Illinois voters who voted it down 55% to 45%. A majority are democrats…🤷♂️
Stupid Illinoisans also voted down a new Constitutional Convention because the rotten to the core Chicago Teachers Union opposed it. A convention would've given up unlimited citizen initiatives like California, recall of all elected officials & an end to the pensions, putting all government workers on Social Security!
Actual result was 53-47, but it needed 60%, IIRC, to pass, so the rejection was fairly resounding. But I think it was the result of a dishonest scare campaign funded by billionaire Ken Griffin who, even after he won, packed up and moved to Florida where the tourism industry is so robust there is no state income tax.
I think Mr. Griffin is second-guessing his move to Florida and his support for Trump (for a lot of reasons), but he will never admit it after making such a noisy exit trashing Illinois on the way out.
Yeah. Good riddance! The $100 million+ he and his Chicago staff paid annually in state income taxes won’t be missed. I’m sure his office space has been filled. The $300mm in donations that he had given to Miami/Dade charities as of May of 2024 won’t be missed by Chicago/Cook.
Listening for that second-guessing in this interview last month. I think he hid it pretty well.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/JPu_ItgKOhA
Yes sir. He spent almost as much as Pritzker did on his campaign.
You’re also correct on the 53-47. That 55-45 margin I found was a WTTW 98% number before all the absentee/mail in votes had been counted. 58% of Biden voters said they voted that way. Only 32% of Trump voters. That would account for that late 2% move as it did in many states.
Questions for those who want the Ten Commandments in schools.
1. Which version do you want? Different branches of Christianity number them differently. Whatever you support will anger others.
2. Which exact wording do you want? The "original" commonly used by Jews says "don't murder" but many Christians use the wording "don't kill." "Murder" is very narrow. "Kill" is very broad. It includes causing deaths in wartime, in self-defense, in accidental ways.
3. And do you really want to portray Christianity as polytheistic? The first commandment is usually something like "Thou shall have no other gods before me." This suggests it's OK to have other gods--just don't make them your primary god. That seems an odd way to advertise a religion that most followers think of as monotheistic.
It also confirms, or at least implies, that there are other gods out there. I'm not mistaken, modern day Christianity denies the existence of other gods at all.
That is why, if somebody put a gun to my head and insisted that I choose a religion by sunset, one of my top two choices would be Hinduism. I once read that pure Hinduism regards the gods of other religions as their own gods seen in different aspect.
However, without implying anything because I just don't know, I do wonder how difficult it is to find a real-world Hindu who believes that...
If I were forced to chose a religion, this atheist would chose worshiping the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
Makes a lot more sense than all of the others!
I think that the idea of a Creator has a very narrow lead on the Universe having been self-creating, but, if this is correct, I seriously doubt that this entity has any connection to the "God" of any Earth-based belief system.
My take on some creator is if one exists, we're more likely the mold in its Petri dish than some thought-out creation.
I particularly like the graph on the prevalence of pirates!
May His noodly appendage touch you!
As I wrote to Debra J. Saunders, whose paean to Trump's courage and general military brilliance appeared in the Sun-Times (my comment went to her home paper in Las Vegas), while she was joining White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in calling out previous presidents for gutlessness on Iran, she might consider that those presidents, unlike Trump, did not have a situation in which Iran had been shorn of its air-defense capabilities by the Israelis. This made the U.S. attack, at least, in the moment, a low-risk operation, which allowed Trump to move on to other considerations.
Trump has a long history of liking to rhetorically beat his chest in front of an audience. This situation gave him a free-throw to look like a hero, which would be especially useful in these times when his unpopular policies are driving his poll numbers down. It is difficult to believe that how a successful strike would make him look on television did not cross his mind as he pondered what to do.
Saunders is a nutcase. I've been tempted to write to her to tell her that it won't work, that she is not Trump's type.
Last year, I was in New Zealand, where there is no tipping. This year, I was in the U.K., where tipping is just starting to get some traction, but is not yet a general practice.
There was no problem with poor service in either place and nobody seemed to have been short-staffed. Why don't we just get rid of tipping entirely?
I am especially peeved by tipping for things like bartending (what is the possible range of service for pouring beer into a glass?) and hotel housekeeping. It isn't my job to decide who is and who is not a good employee. The management should decide that, pay the deserving properly, and integrate that into the asking price for their product.
To those who will argue that hotel staff aren't paid very much, I ask if this means that I must tip everybody with whom I interact commercially who earns less than I did.
Yup, it means that you need to blow the moths out of your wallet and tip the hotel workers!! And the bartenders! And everyone who is over-worked and underpaid and doing you a service.
A bartender has to deal with drunks while standing for hours behind the bar. Would you do that work for minimum wage? I know I wouldn't.
I've never really liked the whole idea of tipping. Many people in society serve others. I did as a teacher. Most people are expected to do a good job, whether or not they get tipped. If I were served poorly, I would stop going to that restaurant, tip or no tip. If the issue is pay, then pay the wait staff fairly. Yes, I know- iI can hear the cries and wailing now about the closing of restaurants due to increased costs or the need to raise the costs of food. I don't see that as my problem. Restaurant owners would just need to do what they need to do and I can decide whether or not to dine out.
To say that most country music is simplistic drivel is elitist. As a cellist and chamber music player I mostly listen to music by dead composers. However, we spent last weekend in Red River, NM and went to hear Mike Addington twice, the balm to soothe my soul. Also love Kathy Mattea and others.
As far as listening to Strads, of course they sound great; they are played by the greatest artists alive. In 1999 Bein and Fushi, Chicago, made a three-CD set that compares and contrasts thirty exquisite violins, 15 made by Antonio Stradivari and 15 by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù.
The recording features the renowned violinist Elmar Oliveira performing on these rare instruments.
But I wonder if Oliviera played a $500 violin from Amazon and then a Stradivari-made one, if an average listener would be able to tell which was which. I've seen something like that on YouTube and while I think there is a difference, I don't really know if it's significant enough, especially without an immediate comparison.
BUT! I do think that simply knowing that a piece is being played on a centuries-old instrument, made by a legendary craftsman adds to the experience, on some subjective level. The story behind the experience does matter, IMHO
I have known professional musicians who, without seeing who is playing, only hearing them, can tell who it is by knowing exactly what their instrument sounds like. I don't have that level of hearing. But generally speaking, a $500 violin would sound like a piece of junk no matter who was playing it.
There was also a big dust-up ten years ago when real cellists thought the theme song from Game of Thrones was MIDI-generated because it lacked the typical slides between notes heard in many cello pieces. Yet HBO and the composer have confirmed the theme song was performed by real musicians and only lightly processed afterward.
I recently (within the last couple of years) learned of the existence of plastic "brass" instruments. Having played trombone and euphonium/baritone through high school, I was curious how good the sound quality would be compared to traditional brass. The answer: Surprisingly good, to the point I couldn't tell the difference when listening to a professional playing them one after the other.
I've seen those large plastic tubas for years now.
Not necessarily. I play a $4,000 violin mainly, but have a $100 backup/knockaround violin made in China that, while not as good by any means, is also not a piece of junk.
I suppose it depends on what you're using it for. But I'd be amazed if you could get a beautiful sound out of your Chinese violin. In orchestral and chamber music playing, which is what I do, getting a beautiful sound out of your instrument is a top priority.
Well, since my comment was the source of that particular quote, let me just retell the joke about what happens when you play a country record backwards: You get your truck back, your dog back, your wife back, your...
I admit I was a bit judgmental in making that remark. And that joke did make me laugh.
I do agree, country music isn't drivel, it's a thousand times worse than that!
Sounds like you need to listen to more country music!
That might cause me to commit suicide!
Country can cloy and be corny, but also very powerful. I'm a huge fan of vintage country, from the Carter Family to George Jones, the Louvins, etc.
My brother plays banjo and just got back from Blue Ox Music Festival in Eau Claire which leans towards bluegrass. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but he loved Pert near Sandstone, Big Richard, Fretliners, and Sam Grisman.
How about If She Ever Leaves Me by The Highwomen? The first openly gay country song. “It takes more than whiskey to make that flower bloom.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_CgZlT2t1T0
I agree about the musicianship of country music. That genre is rife with Nashville (and elsewhere) cats that have as much music in them as anyone up to and including the CSO.