Crappy Tippers

I was just trying to catch up on some blog's I follow today. I haven't been feeling so great the last couple of days and so have been slow with pretty much every thing it seems.  I ran across a post that made me stop and think a little bit.  Now this is nothing to do with gardening or homesteading or any sort of thing like that.  It was just one sentence and it really irked me.
     Someone had been out to dinner.  They asked the waiter to bring them something and apparently the waiter answered in a "sarcastic" manner. The waiter tried to make it up to the patron throughout the dinner but she was having none of that!  So what did the patron do?  Stiffed that waiter.  Yep, no tip!  Even though it was apparent to the patron that the server realized the error and tried to "make things right".   Now I know that some folks would say hey, the waiter shouldn't have been "sarcastic".  I would agree.  What I don't agree with is the patron stiffing that waiter.  He, on her own admission, tried to make up for the mistake he had made.  
      Here are a few things that you might not know about waiting tables for a living. First on the list is the rate of pay.  Most servers are only paid a couple of dollars an hour and the rest of their money comes from the tips they make.  In Texas that hourly rate is (and has been for many years) $2.14 an hour.  Anything more comes from tips.  I realize that good service is directly related to good tips.  It does not mean a server should not be treated with a little respect. 
    Too many times I have been treated like a second class citizen and run ragged "fetching" things. I hate when a person will tell you that they need X and so you ask "Can I bring you anything else?"  No, they say, That's all.  So you bring X and sure enough they ask if you could bring them Y and so you ask again... Will there be anything else?  And the circle goes round and round. The tone of a patrons voice tells alot about how the whole experience will be for both. Trust me, the server usually has you pegged right away.
     Another thing most people don't know is that it is NOT ok to "camp" out at a table during peak hours. Peak hours only last 2-3 hours usually.  Servers are given a certain amount of tables.  With those tables the only way to make money is to "turn" the tables.  Which means the more tables you can wait on the more $$ you can make.  If a patron goes in and sits at a table for an hour and a half they have effectively shut that servers "place of business" down for that amount of time. They could have waited on 2-3 more tables in that amount of time.  It is one thing to to camp out at a table and tip the server for time spent there. It is quite another to spend that time and then either stiff the server or leave 2-3 dollars and act like everything is fine. The only person it is fine with is YOU. The only time a server makes decent money or gets many tables to work with is during peak hours. 
      Another thing is this... Tips should be at LEAST 10% of the check. And that's just a barely passable tip.  A tip that the patron above should have left.  A decent tip is 15% of the check and a great tip is 20% and up.  Trust me, the next time you show up in a restaurant ALL the servers will know what kind of tipper you are.  They DO talk and they DO remember, both the good tippers and the bad ones.  You wouldn't believe how many times I have heard servers in the "galley" trying to get another less experienced server to "pick up" a table because they don't want to have to wait on Mr. Gloomy Gus or Miss Snob-o-lot. I have seen servers leave the floor and hide out in the back of the restaurant so they don't have to serve a particularly hard to deal with customer who they know won't even leave a tip. 
    I am not saying that there is NEVER a time not to tip... only that more often than not that is not the case.


I am sorry that this turned into a Server Rant. If I have offended anyone I apologize up front.  I will gladly take the comments be they positive or negative and try to plead the servers case if I can. 

Fall Gardening

Come on, Let me in the house...

Some of the things in the fall garden beds are starting to come up now.  Since not being able to do a garden this spring I am really excited about the coming fall season.  There are some things that we definitely started too late on like the tomato's and the peppers.  But with a little luck just maybe by using the greenhouse some of it may still work out.  If not, well that's ok too. We have stuff in the dirt this year after all.

Mushroom has some heirloom pole beans that have been in her family for a couple of generations. They are "genetically" in the Kentucky Wonder family. Her grandkids dubbed them Magic  Beans since they produce a nice purple bean but when cooked they look like regular green beans.  Mars has some of them started and they are about 3 inches tall right now.  He also has broccoli, carrots, beets, yellow summer squash, onions, cucumbers, strawberries(for next year), basil, sage, cilantro and a few other things that I can't recall off hand.

I have decided I want to learn how to make hand and body soap. I've been doing alot of research about it. If it works out nicely I want to make soap for Christmas gifts this year. I also have everything I need to get started.  Well almost everything.  I cannot find LYE.  Not locally.  I'm still searching but most places have taken it off their shelves. All I want is enough to do one batch of soap so I can see if it's something I would like to do more of.  If I can't find it here locally I guess I will have to order online.  The problem with that is I will have to order in quantity AND pay shipping.  It is frustrating me to no end.  I am going to be making some more phone calls tomorrow.  I wonder if a plumbing company might have some I could purchase? If not I might have better luck either in Tulsa or Muskogee.  Mushroom and Bud go to both places once in awhile so that might be an option. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to find lye?

 The fig tree is still producing like crazy.  We have put up 18 pints of whole figs so far.  The consensus is that we have canned enough whole fruit for the season.  Next comes jelly, jam and/or preserves.  I've never made fig "anything" before, so I'm looking forward to learning something new!  From what I understand the figs will be producing until the middle of September so I don't know what in the world we will end up doing with the rest. Mushroom says that these particular figs don't dry well, which is a bummer.  I would really like to try to dry at least one batch though.  Anyone out there have some good fig recipes or ideas? 

911 Call

The coast is clear guys.... come on out!!!

I can see the future!  Well some of it anyway... We are going to be doing round two on canning figs a little later on today.  There is already one HUGE bowl of  them picked and by this afternoon there will probably be another 1/2 a bowl ready.  We should get several more pints put up today. The first batch of figs netted 8 pints. There are wayyy more figs this time around!  I'll be doing a post on canning figs in the next couple of days.

The fall garden is starting to come up!  We have cucumbers, magic purple beans, onions, peppers, and tomato's all sticking their little green heads up out of the dirt. Its a beautiful thing to behold! I'll be taking pictures as things start getting a bit bigger.

I saw where the Posers are now eating Spaghetti Squash that Mars had planted in the little "herb" garden.   Dang I wish I had pulled up all those plants before we left there! OK OK  I know I shouldn't be thinking things like that but..... Grrrrrrrrrr   I thought about ripping them all up too, but I figured someone had to be the better person in that situation.  

I've been wanting to make some tortillas for well over a week now but I am out of lard. I cannot believe it but I am having trouble finding it in the stores around here. I'm beginning to wonder if it is a cultural thing. Until now I have never seen a store that didn't carry it.  But then I'm from Texas so that may be the difference.  I never even entertained the idea that a person couldn't find lard in the grocery store.  It has just "always been there".  I have been to 3 different ones and no one has any!  How the heck can ya make righteous tortilla's without it? 


Anyway......  I don't know if anyone has noticed the new gadget on the right hand side of the page here.  It lists fruits and vegetables that are in season. You can change the locations on it for your area and even change the part of the month that they are in season.  I've been having fun playing with it!  It is interesting to see what all is in season in different parts of the country.  Can you tell I am easily amused?  


PS Speaking of easily amused.. after over two years posting here on this blog I realized that I can put captions under my pictures.  How cool is that and what a dork I am for not realizing this hundreds of pictures ago!

Learning New Skills

Have you thought about what skills you possess?  Or how important they may become for you and your loved ones in the future? This would be a good time to assess your skills and also those you may be lacking.
Make a list of your talents and your family's (groups) skills as well. What all can you do? Are there things that are quite obvious that you will need to know if SHTF?  There have been many articles written on this subject and for a good reason. 


We will all need to know how to get along if things suddenly "aren't the way they used to be".  This does not necessarily mean that we are going to find ourselves in a post- apocalyptic situation, although it could happen.  So wouldn’t it be a good idea to do an inventory?


 Personally I would like to have the skills necessary to be able to take care of as much as possible without "outside" help. Our goal is to one day be able to live as self- sufficiently as possible. To grow our own foods and raise some small livestock. I have been thinking about this more and more lately.  Especially once we acquire that little piece of land and are living in a "smaller" world of our own design.   It also makes more sense to know this stuff if for no other reason than to be able to do it ourselves. The trading and bartering of skills will most likely be the new way to do business.  Therefore it makes sense that the more you know the "richer" you are.


At first I couldn't think of many things I felt I knew how to do. I think there are alot of us that feel like that. And then I realized that I DO know how to do a few things.  Like how to preserve foods by canning and dehydrating and gardening.
 Sometimes we “know” things that we don’t even think about.  They have become so much a part of us that they become second nature.  Other things we have to think about. For instance, I am currently trying to learn to knit.  This would be a wonderful skill to have "at the ready".  I would like to learn to repair and to make clothing, and especially things like socks and sweaters.
 
 I am lucky that my husband is one of those guys who can do a myriad of things. A true jack-of-all-trades.  And yet there are skills that he would like to acquire and those he would like to become more proficient at.
 For instance, he has the basic “book knowledge” about solar power.  He's read several books on the subject.  And yet he wants some hands on experience with it.  Because you can have all the “book” knowledge in the world, but until you can apply it with your own hands it isn't going to be of much use to you. Practice makes perfect.


Take gardening for instance, just because you have the seeds to plant a garden, and just because you know that you will need to plant the seeds it does not guarantee that they will grow.  You need to practice your skills until you are comfortable with the process.  Seeds don’t guarantee success.  Putting your knowledge to use will give you the added practice necessary to succeed. Don't wait until you are up against a wall to put your knowledge into practice. 


  ~ What better time is there than right now to learn something new?~