Posted On: Tuesday - April 11th 2023 5:53PM MST
In Topics: Curmudgeonry Artificial Stupidity Big-Biz Stupidity Customer Care
Peak Stupidity readers should be well versed in the stories of a big pet peeve of mine (hence, the curmudgeonry topic key) about retail establishments and the entering of customer data. A phone number is all they want most of the time, likely just to keep a record of your particular transactions without a CC number involved. (Or, yeah, they want to sell a list of them to some marketing company.)
My 1990s land line number works fine for this - I probably have it memorized better than when it was my actual phone #! This has worked fine, except when I'm just not in the mood, and I tell 'em, "I'm just paying cash for these battery terminals, don't worry about it.", "No thanks, I'm just getting this box of candy is all", or "Just getting a haircut. Is that OK?" It helps if I tell them to "Just put in any number you want to.", especially for the Millennial types who are not aware that you can get stuff done without computers.
I reported on the hair-cut place, Great Clips, back during the early part of the Kung Flu PanicFest, in mid-June of '20. The gory details of in On the charges of Kung Flu rebellion - I plead Immunity.. That time, they were SERIOUS! They absolutely had to have a real actual number to track me in case someone came down with the sniffles and they'd have to... what? bring the fancy chair that'd I been sitting in to a biohazard site and burn it? Who knows? It was the Black Death 2.0, so I needed to get with the Panic! OK, OK, I broke down and gave them the REAL NUMBER of my friend's old 1990s landline.
That was not the case during my recent, very brief visit. I figured I might need a professional job, or I'd have asked my wife to cut it. I hadn't been there in half a year, and it's not enjoyable in the least. The place has 3 to 4 fat black ladies, some friendly, but even then, there's nothing to talk about. Didn't these places used to have friendly hot chicks at least?
A I walked in and as usual, it was the usual "what's your phone number"" I don't know - again, just being sick of this crap, I guess, I told the lady "just came to get my hair cut, you don't need the computer." There was no discussion - she just glared. 10 seconds later: "Do you want to cut my hair, or you have to do something on the computer?" She did, and a switch flipped in me. I walked out with no plans to ever come back. My wife is getting better at it too!
It's just another way to get both out of the rat race of Artificial Stupidity and off the grid a tad. Oh, and the place would have made $12 with 2 or 3 bucks to the lady for a tip, in a total of ~10 minutes. Speaking of off the grid, that'll get us 10 more pounds of beans and the mylar bags to put 'em in.
Comments:
Bill H
Thursday - April 13th 2023 11:03PM MST
PS Tipping in California has become very complex. The minimum wage in San Diego is now $16.hr, and it applies to everyone. The waitstaff who is serving your food and expecting a 20% tip is making $16/hr or more, mostly more because no one will work for minimum wage no matter what it is. Add 20% of all their tabs and they are making $100,000 per year or more. Not out of my pocket they're not.
Hail
Thursday - April 13th 2023 8:03PM MST
PS
Mr. Smith, I appreciate your defense of the Tipping custom. My assessment, from what you say about your tipping instinct and practices and views, is that you are indeed the conscientious White man I already knew you to be.
I am willing to accept the pro-Tipping arguments in principle, but I see a puzzle, and wonder what other Peak Stupidity readers think, if anyone's still following this thread:
If what the Tipping custom's defenders say is correct and it creates general goodwill and better service all around, then why does there seem to be an inverse relationship between service-quality and average tipping rate? Most will agree that service-quality has gotten worse; in the same period, tipping rates have gone up. If tipping rates have gone up, wouldn't we expect service-quality to go up on aggregate? What explains this?
.
Tipping as a quasi-mandatory custom seems to me a mix of both pro-social behavior (via conscientious patrons, generally Whites) and anti-social behavior (in part by employers paying low wages by custom and encouraging the attitude of "if x worker(s) don't get tips, look how little they get!"). There are other "systemic" things going on, the power-imbalance the Tipping custom can create (similar to bribery, but at a low level of course), the possible creation of unnecessary labor of people who "work for tips" (a degenerate manifestation you see in some cities is Blacks holding doors in public places or giving useless-info and asking for "tips" from passers-by), and the phenomenon of Tipping-creep.
Some of the Tipping Inflation scenes you began to see in the late 2010s or so, very common now in the 2020s, are getting ridiculous. I have heard of gas stations now prompting patrons using self-serve stations to add a tip to their fill-up bill. That's an egregious example. The now-common custom of "tipping" for picking up food yourself ("take-out") is another example. The already-mentioned custom of cashiers glaring at you as a screen gives the ultimatum: "Tip!: 20%, 27%, 35%--CHOOSE ONE; Or, press 'Other' and write '$0,' if you are a bad person."
The Chinese buffets that Peak Stupidity has sometimes mentioned are known to force up-front "tips" despite the patrons all serving themselves their own food. As you have no "waiter," the "tip" just becomes a surcharge outright. A surcharge on the conscientious. No one explained to them the concept of "tipping" probably doesn't make sense in their business in the first place (all self-serve-- "tipping" who for what?), nor does the way they do it make sense (presented as mandatory, up-front, before eating.)
A certain type of "Asian slick businessman" type views Westerners, maybe North American Whites in particular, as gullible people to take advantage of. It's basically a mean-spirited attitude which (which they share with another certain ethnoreligious group, the one who get Holidays and not festivities like lowly Christians). It's an attitude which, if observed in an individual White man, might be thought a sign of individual sociopathy. It can work for a small group as long as they have a large pool of goodwilled people to work amongst.
In any case, as usual with Diversity, the positive aspects of the Tipping custom can become degraded and distorted. This is to say nothing of the major racial group in the USA known traditionally as the Worst Tippers.
Mr. Smith, I appreciate your defense of the Tipping custom. My assessment, from what you say about your tipping instinct and practices and views, is that you are indeed the conscientious White man I already knew you to be.
I am willing to accept the pro-Tipping arguments in principle, but I see a puzzle, and wonder what other Peak Stupidity readers think, if anyone's still following this thread:
If what the Tipping custom's defenders say is correct and it creates general goodwill and better service all around, then why does there seem to be an inverse relationship between service-quality and average tipping rate? Most will agree that service-quality has gotten worse; in the same period, tipping rates have gone up. If tipping rates have gone up, wouldn't we expect service-quality to go up on aggregate? What explains this?
.
Tipping as a quasi-mandatory custom seems to me a mix of both pro-social behavior (via conscientious patrons, generally Whites) and anti-social behavior (in part by employers paying low wages by custom and encouraging the attitude of "if x worker(s) don't get tips, look how little they get!"). There are other "systemic" things going on, the power-imbalance the Tipping custom can create (similar to bribery, but at a low level of course), the possible creation of unnecessary labor of people who "work for tips" (a degenerate manifestation you see in some cities is Blacks holding doors in public places or giving useless-info and asking for "tips" from passers-by), and the phenomenon of Tipping-creep.
Some of the Tipping Inflation scenes you began to see in the late 2010s or so, very common now in the 2020s, are getting ridiculous. I have heard of gas stations now prompting patrons using self-serve stations to add a tip to their fill-up bill. That's an egregious example. The now-common custom of "tipping" for picking up food yourself ("take-out") is another example. The already-mentioned custom of cashiers glaring at you as a screen gives the ultimatum: "Tip!: 20%, 27%, 35%--CHOOSE ONE; Or, press 'Other' and write '$0,' if you are a bad person."
The Chinese buffets that Peak Stupidity has sometimes mentioned are known to force up-front "tips" despite the patrons all serving themselves their own food. As you have no "waiter," the "tip" just becomes a surcharge outright. A surcharge on the conscientious. No one explained to them the concept of "tipping" probably doesn't make sense in their business in the first place (all self-serve-- "tipping" who for what?), nor does the way they do it make sense (presented as mandatory, up-front, before eating.)
A certain type of "Asian slick businessman" type views Westerners, maybe North American Whites in particular, as gullible people to take advantage of. It's basically a mean-spirited attitude which (which they share with another certain ethnoreligious group, the one who get Holidays and not festivities like lowly Christians). It's an attitude which, if observed in an individual White man, might be thought a sign of individual sociopathy. It can work for a small group as long as they have a large pool of goodwilled people to work amongst.
In any case, as usual with Diversity, the positive aspects of the Tipping custom can become degraded and distorted. This is to say nothing of the major racial group in the USA known traditionally as the Worst Tippers.
Adam Smith
Thursday - April 13th 2023 4:17PM MST
PS: Greetings,
Mr. Moderator, always happy to help. The heat-sealable mylar bags with the O2 absorbers and desiccant sounds like a good way to store beans, prepper style. A big bucket of beans might come in handy one day.
Mr. Hail, I've always been a generous tipper. (I really don't think I'm doing it as any sort of virtue signaling.) I used to work at a Delta Sonic car wash in Orchard Park, NY and I was paid the minimum wage allowed for waiters/waitresses. (I think I was paid ~$2.15. Regular minimum wage was probably ~$4.50 at the time. I didn't have to report tips for tax purposes. As far as anyone knew I was earning regular minimum wage.)
Spinning towels was a good job and I would often earn about $20-25 an hour in tips. This was before I could legally buy beer, so it would have been around 1996. Gas was about a buck a gallon.
I would guess I usually tip around 25%, maybe a little more depending on how the bill rounds up. But I'm a hermit and as such I'm not often in a situation where I have to tip anyone. (Usually it is a restaurant as Mrs. Smith 💕Loves💕 cutting hair.) This practice has, on occasion, resulted in higher quality food and service in establishments that I have frequented enough to be remembered by the wait staff. I would imagine being a generous tipper with a barber or some other service type person you frequent more than once would be a good idea.
I remember when I was paid in tips, and how getting a good tip would brighten my day and keep me motivated. For example, Doug Flutie tipped me $20 for drying off his SUV! (About 5 minutes work.)
Mrs. Smith and I eat at a restaurant probably about once a month, maybe a little more. So, let's say that our lunch/dinner cost $30. At 15% our tip would be $4.50. At 25% our tip would be $7.50. If service was really good I might even round the bill up to $40. But as infrequently as I leave a tip it really does not matter to my budget. Tipping generously costs me about $50-$60 extra each year.
And it might just brighten someone's day.
(or get me a little better service the next time I visit.)
☮
Mr. Moderator, always happy to help. The heat-sealable mylar bags with the O2 absorbers and desiccant sounds like a good way to store beans, prepper style. A big bucket of beans might come in handy one day.
Mr. Hail, I've always been a generous tipper. (I really don't think I'm doing it as any sort of virtue signaling.) I used to work at a Delta Sonic car wash in Orchard Park, NY and I was paid the minimum wage allowed for waiters/waitresses. (I think I was paid ~$2.15. Regular minimum wage was probably ~$4.50 at the time. I didn't have to report tips for tax purposes. As far as anyone knew I was earning regular minimum wage.)
Spinning towels was a good job and I would often earn about $20-25 an hour in tips. This was before I could legally buy beer, so it would have been around 1996. Gas was about a buck a gallon.
I would guess I usually tip around 25%, maybe a little more depending on how the bill rounds up. But I'm a hermit and as such I'm not often in a situation where I have to tip anyone. (Usually it is a restaurant as Mrs. Smith 💕Loves💕 cutting hair.) This practice has, on occasion, resulted in higher quality food and service in establishments that I have frequented enough to be remembered by the wait staff. I would imagine being a generous tipper with a barber or some other service type person you frequent more than once would be a good idea.
I remember when I was paid in tips, and how getting a good tip would brighten my day and keep me motivated. For example, Doug Flutie tipped me $20 for drying off his SUV! (About 5 minutes work.)
Mrs. Smith and I eat at a restaurant probably about once a month, maybe a little more. So, let's say that our lunch/dinner cost $30. At 15% our tip would be $4.50. At 25% our tip would be $7.50. If service was really good I might even round the bill up to $40. But as infrequently as I leave a tip it really does not matter to my budget. Tipping generously costs me about $50-$60 extra each year.
And it might just brighten someone's day.
(or get me a little better service the next time I visit.)
☮
Moderator
Thursday - April 13th 2023 12:59PM MST
PS: Thanks for another book link, Adam. Going along with that theme, I saw multiple hats with Trump and more so, Ron DeSantis slogans on them. One of the latter was "Ron DeSantis, making America Florida!"
For Mr. Hail, too, the lady who ran the place was Conservative enough to talk politics with ME, even! She had come down from the northeast 20 years back. I was going to speculate, but instead I asked her "Were you a Conservative before you came down here, or was it from being around Conservative Southerners?" It was the former. She liked my "Let's Go, Brandon!" silver coin.
For Mr. Hail, too, the lady who ran the place was Conservative enough to talk politics with ME, even! She had come down from the northeast 20 years back. I was going to speculate, but instead I asked her "Were you a Conservative before you came down here, or was it from being around Conservative Southerners?" It was the former. She liked my "Let's Go, Brandon!" silver coin.
Moderator
Thursday - April 13th 2023 11:51AM MST
PS: For Bill and Mr. Blanc, I too like the old-fashioned way, and I remember the red/white/blue barber poles being everywhere. I've probably seen more of them in China, but they are odd colors, like pastel green, black, and purple!
Mr. Hail, I CAN believe that the US inflation rate was under 5% this century until a couple of years ago. However, I'd seen numbers like 1-2% in reports and an average quite a bit lower, but then as you could see in my multiple posts on various (some pretty major) goods and services, it seems to get to 4-5% over 20 to 40 years. If you were to go back so that you'd count that early 1980s inflation, well, I could see that average matching the BLS perhaps. I get back to the mid-1990s sometimes, when inflation WAS really low - not visible to me as a consumer (I say for one decade ~1996 to 2006, but maybe almost 15 yrs - 1994 to 2009?) and then I don't see how the inflation of the last 15 years could NOT be closer to 4-5% or higher.
It's time to write more inflation posts. I have a good piece of point-in-time-TO-other-point-in-time data on fast food, but tipping is interesting. As you wrote, it's not so much what people would give, but the pressure to put in 20-25% is on - these damn electronic displays let you choose one, right in front of some cashier or what-have-you, at the take-out pizza place! Even if inflation is 50%, wouldn't a 15% tip still keep up with it? Of course.
Mr. Hail, I CAN believe that the US inflation rate was under 5% this century until a couple of years ago. However, I'd seen numbers like 1-2% in reports and an average quite a bit lower, but then as you could see in my multiple posts on various (some pretty major) goods and services, it seems to get to 4-5% over 20 to 40 years. If you were to go back so that you'd count that early 1980s inflation, well, I could see that average matching the BLS perhaps. I get back to the mid-1990s sometimes, when inflation WAS really low - not visible to me as a consumer (I say for one decade ~1996 to 2006, but maybe almost 15 yrs - 1994 to 2009?) and then I don't see how the inflation of the last 15 years could NOT be closer to 4-5% or higher.
It's time to write more inflation posts. I have a good piece of point-in-time-TO-other-point-in-time data on fast food, but tipping is interesting. As you wrote, it's not so much what people would give, but the pressure to put in 20-25% is on - these damn electronic displays let you choose one, right in front of some cashier or what-have-you, at the take-out pizza place! Even if inflation is 50%, wouldn't a 15% tip still keep up with it? Of course.
Moderator
Thursday - April 13th 2023 11:41AM MST
PS: "Type your posts into notepad or a text editor, the copy and paste."
I don't mean for the short stuff, in which you can do it in 10 minutes and then re-login.
Anything that you want to save in a file is a problem, pictures or test. I've had good luck sometimes acting like I want to save a picture in on the page in the browser window. Then, when it opens up directories (the old term), one can just right click on any .txt file, then write over it, then save as another name. Same with a picture: Act like you're saving one, see any .jpg image there, then "open in MSPaint", do your own thing, then save it.
However, many of these computers have software that won't let you save anything that way or any other way I could figure out. If you do, there's a chance it'll all be wiped out as soon as your guest user short-term account is logged out..
They have their reasons - wanting the computer to not be f__d with and bogged down for the next guy - most want to look on line for something quickly and/or print out a web page or maybe a document in their web-based email messages.
Anyway, now that I can type, yeah, this was a B&B with no computer to use at all. At other places I have to improvise to get things saved on other servers, so I don't lose my work... uhh, if you could call it that.
I don't mean for the short stuff, in which you can do it in 10 minutes and then re-login.
Anything that you want to save in a file is a problem, pictures or test. I've had good luck sometimes acting like I want to save a picture in on the page in the browser window. Then, when it opens up directories (the old term), one can just right click on any .txt file, then write over it, then save as another name. Same with a picture: Act like you're saving one, see any .jpg image there, then "open in MSPaint", do your own thing, then save it.
However, many of these computers have software that won't let you save anything that way or any other way I could figure out. If you do, there's a chance it'll all be wiped out as soon as your guest user short-term account is logged out..
They have their reasons - wanting the computer to not be f__d with and bogged down for the next guy - most want to look on line for something quickly and/or print out a web page or maybe a document in their web-based email messages.
Anyway, now that I can type, yeah, this was a B&B with no computer to use at all. At other places I have to improvise to get things saved on other servers, so I don't lose my work... uhh, if you could call it that.
Peak Stupidity Book Club
Thursday - April 13th 2023 10:46AM MST
PS: Good afternoon, everyone,
The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival
https://tinyurl.com/29hjzsu8
☮
The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival
https://tinyurl.com/29hjzsu8
☮
The Alarmist
Thursday - April 13th 2023 9:22AM MST
PS
Type your posts into notepad or a text editor, the copy and paste.
Type your posts into notepad or a text editor, the copy and paste.
Moderator
Thursday - April 13th 2023 6:43AM MST
PS: "If you're in a hotel, how would you feel about using the hotel-lobby public computer for conducting Peak Stupidity business?"
This is a B&B place. The very nice owner/operator has only one computer, with some reservation software on it that she's not quite proficient on either. ;-}
BTW, for comments here it's no problem, but you need to do things a bit differently to write documents (or for me, blog posts) on them. They start everything over in 10 or 15 minutes and wipe out everything.
I will write more later, especially on the inflation subject.
This is a B&B place. The very nice owner/operator has only one computer, with some reservation software on it that she's not quite proficient on either. ;-}
BTW, for comments here it's no problem, but you need to do things a bit differently to write documents (or for me, blog posts) on them. They start everything over in 10 or 15 minutes and wipe out everything.
I will write more later, especially on the inflation subject.
The Alarmist
Thursday - April 13th 2023 12:51AM MST
PS
What does a White Supremacy virus do? Does it automatically text your vote for Desantis to your local election board?
So, my European wife, who believes nearly everything her state-sponsored media tells her, told her that Desantis has a new book out, and in it he says Whites are superior to blacks. So I tell her that is unlikely in this day and age, as he'd be run out of the governor's mansion in a New York minute.
What does a White Supremacy virus do? Does it automatically text your vote for Desantis to your local election board?
So, my European wife, who believes nearly everything her state-sponsored media tells her, told her that Desantis has a new book out, and in it he says Whites are superior to blacks. So I tell her that is unlikely in this day and age, as he'd be run out of the governor's mansion in a New York minute.
Hail
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 9:18PM MST
PS
Moderator wrote:
"I'd write back more but for being away and without my keyboard. I left it home by accident..."
If you're in a hotel, how would you feel about using the hotel-lobby public computer for conducting Peak Stupidity business?
.
Related(?): the FBI is now warning its people to NEVER use public device-charging ports, because White Supremacists may be trying to install on your devices white-supremacy viruses, which are the greatest threat to U.S. national security (per Merrick Garland).
I may have mixed up some of the details, but I am sure I have heard all the above from these people.
Moderator wrote:
"I'd write back more but for being away and without my keyboard. I left it home by accident..."
If you're in a hotel, how would you feel about using the hotel-lobby public computer for conducting Peak Stupidity business?
.
Related(?): the FBI is now warning its people to NEVER use public device-charging ports, because White Supremacists may be trying to install on your devices white-supremacy viruses, which are the greatest threat to U.S. national security (per Merrick Garland).
I may have mixed up some of the details, but I am sure I have heard all the above from these people.
Hail
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 8:37PM MST
PS
-- The Immigration Question, as applied to Bill H's vs. PossumMan's descriptions of barbers --
Bill H describes an old-style community barber, recognizable as a historical character and one always recalled fondly, at that;
PossumMan describes a low-pried Vietnamese barbershop serving native-White clientele (mostly, I assume) where "some" of the employees speak "good accented English" and smile a lot, but alas have nothing in common with their own customers.
Some of us, I am sure, stand ready to criticize the latter model. What's that; Oh, in comes Professor Homo Economicus. What's that he says. Yes, he tells us that having lower-wage foreigners in a particular service industry, even in cases where they have colluded to monopolize that industry, is a good thing and How Dare You criticize it.
Professor Economicus whips out graphs to plot the benefits the native consumer of this model, as it saves him money. The native-White consumer wins as he is left with more funds to spend on high-fructose corn-syrup and the like, while the foreigner gets a steady income-stream; Everyone wins!
But, since not all is measured in dollars and cents, I ask:
-- What is the net social benefit, independent of money, of having a service like this performed by a core fellow community member who you know, trust, can talk to, etc., (as Bill H describes);
and
-- What is the net social _cost_ of having foreigners, non-members of one's community with whom you share little if any common ground, do the same service? (as PossumMan describes)? Especially after they displaced the natives formerly in the industry.
In some places in the USA, there are no longer any barbers of the Bill H-described type and the only local options are of that other type.
-- The Immigration Question, as applied to Bill H's vs. PossumMan's descriptions of barbers --
Bill H describes an old-style community barber, recognizable as a historical character and one always recalled fondly, at that;
PossumMan describes a low-pried Vietnamese barbershop serving native-White clientele (mostly, I assume) where "some" of the employees speak "good accented English" and smile a lot, but alas have nothing in common with their own customers.
Some of us, I am sure, stand ready to criticize the latter model. What's that; Oh, in comes Professor Homo Economicus. What's that he says. Yes, he tells us that having lower-wage foreigners in a particular service industry, even in cases where they have colluded to monopolize that industry, is a good thing and How Dare You criticize it.
Professor Economicus whips out graphs to plot the benefits the native consumer of this model, as it saves him money. The native-White consumer wins as he is left with more funds to spend on high-fructose corn-syrup and the like, while the foreigner gets a steady income-stream; Everyone wins!
But, since not all is measured in dollars and cents, I ask:
-- What is the net social benefit, independent of money, of having a service like this performed by a core fellow community member who you know, trust, can talk to, etc., (as Bill H describes);
and
-- What is the net social _cost_ of having foreigners, non-members of one's community with whom you share little if any common ground, do the same service? (as PossumMan describes)? Especially after they displaced the natives formerly in the industry.
In some places in the USA, there are no longer any barbers of the Bill H-described type and the only local options are of that other type.
Hail
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 7:23PM MST
PS
The inflation report out today says March-2023 came in at 5%. This is less high than before but is the twenty-third straight month that inflation has been above 5%.
U.S. inflation above 5% had previously only happened once in this century: Briefly in summer 2008 (June, July, Aug. 2008), just before the Lehman Brothers collapse (Sept. 2008), the visceral onset of the Great Recession, the unfortunate election of Barack Obama (Nov. 2008), and a several-year period of economic doldrums.
The inflation report out today says March-2023 came in at 5%. This is less high than before but is the twenty-third straight month that inflation has been above 5%.
U.S. inflation above 5% had previously only happened once in this century: Briefly in summer 2008 (June, July, Aug. 2008), just before the Lehman Brothers collapse (Sept. 2008), the visceral onset of the Great Recession, the unfortunate election of Barack Obama (Nov. 2008), and a several-year period of economic doldrums.
Hail
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 7:16PM MST
PS
MBlanc wrote: "I went to a Great Clips one time...for $10 plus tip (this was circa 1990)..."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Index says the value of the dollar has halved between late 1994 and spring 2023, so that early-1990s $10 haircut list-price would be equal to $20+ today. (Caveat: Peak Stupidity does not fully endorse the BLS inflation calculations, a theme of some posts in recent years.)
PossumMan, meanwhile, must live in quite a low-price place to still have a $14 place around in 2023.
MBlanc wrote: "I went to a Great Clips one time...for $10 plus tip (this was circa 1990)..."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Index says the value of the dollar has halved between late 1994 and spring 2023, so that early-1990s $10 haircut list-price would be equal to $20+ today. (Caveat: Peak Stupidity does not fully endorse the BLS inflation calculations, a theme of some posts in recent years.)
PossumMan, meanwhile, must live in quite a low-price place to still have a $14 place around in 2023.
Moderator
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 6:54PM MST
PS: Thanks for the comments on this mundane post. I'd write back more but for being away and without my keyboard. (I left it home by accident, and using this tablet's screen keyboard is extremely slow.)
Have a nice evening, everyone.
Have a nice evening, everyone.
Possumman
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 1:09PM MST
PS For the last several years I have been using a place called USBarber in a local strip shopping center. Run by a bunch of Vietnamese folks that I suspect are all related in some manner--some speak good accented English--some not--all very friendly--very quick and during the holidays they have plates of cookies and brownies. As a bonus it looks like a barbershop-not a salon--mounted deer heads on the walls--TVs tuned to sports and news-car magazines and sports mags on the rack--they still shave your neck with a straight razor too.. Currently they charge $14 for a haircut and usually I leave a couple bucks tip--They are busy but usually in and out in 15 minutes--they have 3-5 chairs going
MBlanc46
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 11:08AM MST
PS I went to a Great Clips one time, when my regular barberess was hors de combat. The barberess was an attractive white woman, but it was clearly her job to get me out the door as quickly as possible. Which was reasonable enough for $10 plus tip (this was circa 1990). As soon as my regular was available, I went back to her, at three times the cost for a more sociable encounter. Now that she has finally had to hang up her scissors, I’ve been going to Sam the barber.
Bill H
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 8:08AM MST
PS I go to the old fashioned, red white and blue striped pole barber shop. It's down to one guy now. His father ran the shop and now he does. No kids, so it ends with him.
Good guy. I don't have to tell him how I want my hair cut. He knows. We talk politics while he's trimming my hair (he's a Republican), talk about our families, and we laugh a lot.
His price went up recently, and so did his tip. He's worth a lot more than he charges.
Good guy. I don't have to tell him how I want my hair cut. He knows. We talk politics while he's trimming my hair (he's a Republican), talk about our families, and we laugh a lot.
His price went up recently, and so did his tip. He's worth a lot more than he charges.
Moderator
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 4:15AM MST
PS: Anyway, Mr. Hail, I guess I was getting off pretty light with that $12 - and they sometimes issue coupons too, but free is even better.
Thank you for the suggestions, SafeNow and Alarmist.
Oh, finally, for Mr. Hail, a post on Tipping Inflation is a great idea. Thanks.
Thank you for the suggestions, SafeNow and Alarmist.
Oh, finally, for Mr. Hail, a post on Tipping Inflation is a great idea. Thanks.
Moderator
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 4:13AM MST
PS: Mr. Hail, I used to go to a regular old barbershop, but they guy was getting pretty shaky, so I decided to try somewhere else. There aren't any others like that I've found fairly close by, and that place has closed - maybe due to it belonging to that guy and his retiring or something. This was well before the PanicFest, BTW.
Your theory may well be the case for some people and businesses. OTOH, if I already know the place, or if I don't mind taking a chance on the cheap place once. How bad can it be? (I don't know.)
The LOCKDOWN period did distort economics. Now that it's hard to find or keep employees, the wages go up, and prices must go up. I'm not blaming inflation on that "wage-price spiral" bit, as it simply starts with the Supply/Demand law with currency. As for these Great Clips type place, it's more direct, as the employees get a percentage of each haircut and some base salary. (I've talked to them about this, with nothing much else to discuss, as I wrote, and I think I have this right. I won't have another chance to though...)
You may have meant it differently, but, anyway, it's Andy Jackson that would or WILL be replaced by the tubwoman, not George. I have a series of posts on that:
"Tubmania and a cashless economy":
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=1799
"More on the Tubwoman Twenty":
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=1801
"Final Tubman-thumping post":
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=1804
Your theory may well be the case for some people and businesses. OTOH, if I already know the place, or if I don't mind taking a chance on the cheap place once. How bad can it be? (I don't know.)
The LOCKDOWN period did distort economics. Now that it's hard to find or keep employees, the wages go up, and prices must go up. I'm not blaming inflation on that "wage-price spiral" bit, as it simply starts with the Supply/Demand law with currency. As for these Great Clips type place, it's more direct, as the employees get a percentage of each haircut and some base salary. (I've talked to them about this, with nothing much else to discuss, as I wrote, and I think I have this right. I won't have another chance to though...)
You may have meant it differently, but, anyway, it's Andy Jackson that would or WILL be replaced by the tubwoman, not George. I have a series of posts on that:
"Tubmania and a cashless economy":
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=1799
"More on the Tubwoman Twenty":
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=1801
"Final Tubman-thumping post":
https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=1804
Moderator
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 3:55AM MST
PS: Adam, yes, these are heat-sealable. We stick O2 absorbers and desiccant inside. Then, about 25-30 lb. of the bags go into a big 5-gallon paint bucket. My wife got really down with this stuff recently.
The Alarmist
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 1:34AM MST
PS
This is where it is useful to have s European number when I'm in the US... they just give up and find a work-around.
Otherwise I'd have to tell them it's none of their business.
This is where it is useful to have s European number when I'm in the US... they just give up and find a work-around.
Otherwise I'd have to tell them it's none of their business.
SafeNow
Wednesday - April 12th 2023 1:19AM MST
PS
A Chinese-American engineer I knew got his hair cut right in his own home, by a Chinese-American woman. Chinese-Americans self-sort residentially and recreationally. I guess they also self-sort for haircuts. If I needed to look professionally groomed, I would find that Chinese lady. I am sure she is fastidious, polite, and reasonably priced. Disclosure: I live near the Asian Massage Parlor capital of the United States. Someone once said that anything is, ideally, done in the above fashion, should be done by an Asian-American.
A Chinese-American engineer I knew got his hair cut right in his own home, by a Chinese-American woman. Chinese-Americans self-sort residentially and recreationally. I guess they also self-sort for haircuts. If I needed to look professionally groomed, I would find that Chinese lady. I am sure she is fastidious, polite, and reasonably priced. Disclosure: I live near the Asian Massage Parlor capital of the United States. Someone once said that anything is, ideally, done in the above fashion, should be done by an Asian-American.
Hail
Tuesday - April 11th 2023 8:55PM MST
PS
"...the place would have made $12..."
The current market-rate for a standard male haircut where I am is a lot higher than that, at least 50% higher and maybe closer to double.
Some time in 2022, I began seeing barber shops advertising a $25 base-price for a male haircut. That took me by surprise becayse $25 is far higher than these same places had charged in the 2010s, or even up to March 2020. I'm talking about simple, no-B.S., walk-in-sit-down-and-go barber operations, not those marketed towards a higher-end clientele which are necessarily higher.
My explanation is that Lockdownism and inflation created a distorted market. When the pioneers of this new ~$25 price were observed by competitors to be doing fine with the higher rate, the competitors copied the $25 price, or at least went near it. One place I think jumped from a rate of $20 as of early March 2020 (on thee eve of the Panic) to $25 by about late 2021 or 2022.
These price rises involve a subtle psychological game with the expected clientele, the game all covered by the dust-cloud of the Biden Inflation. If a certain kind of man becomes aware that Barber-A and Barber-B are charging $25, he could be suspicious of Barber-C's rate of $18 and may get scared off of the latter. Haircut economics is, after all, NOT a purist game in which a pool of consumer chases the cheapest price, as with bushels of wheat or other such examples in economists' textbook graphs. This is far more true of women's haircuts but applies to male haircuts to an extent.
The actual low-end places are still under $20, but not by much or maybe not for long. Maybe $17/$18 is now the very low-end of the market (where I am) excluding barber trainee places, with any stragglers below that unlikely to resist raising to that level soon.
(btw, the March-2023 U.S. CPI Inflation report is to be released in 10 hours as of this comment.)
To get a simple male hair trim at a barbershop, you now have to part with a full $20 bill, and maybe one or two extra pictures of George Washington (not yet replaced by Harriet Tubman) to look like a normal and good person, the extra in accordance with the "tipping" custom that the USA especially culturally imposes on certain services but not others. (Even owners of one-man barbershops generally seem to universally receive tips by custom.)
Speaking of tipping. Has Peak Stupidity written about "tipping inflation"? Since about the 1990s there seems to have been a major rise in the rates of tipping, with some USA'ers of late confidently asserting that their minimum "tip" is 25%! The oldest among us would tend to think of 10-15% as standard, back in the pre-1970s era.
Theory: Virtue-Signaling is an arms race, and that arms race in part defines Wokeness or the social power of Wokeness. As the custom of tipping is also a kind of virtue-signal, the advance of Wokeness may also have --directly-- affected "tipping" rates, boosting a around-10% "round-up"-type tipping custom of earlier years to this aggressive 25%, 30%, or even higher rate you hear people talk about now.
"...the place would have made $12..."
The current market-rate for a standard male haircut where I am is a lot higher than that, at least 50% higher and maybe closer to double.
Some time in 2022, I began seeing barber shops advertising a $25 base-price for a male haircut. That took me by surprise becayse $25 is far higher than these same places had charged in the 2010s, or even up to March 2020. I'm talking about simple, no-B.S., walk-in-sit-down-and-go barber operations, not those marketed towards a higher-end clientele which are necessarily higher.
My explanation is that Lockdownism and inflation created a distorted market. When the pioneers of this new ~$25 price were observed by competitors to be doing fine with the higher rate, the competitors copied the $25 price, or at least went near it. One place I think jumped from a rate of $20 as of early March 2020 (on thee eve of the Panic) to $25 by about late 2021 or 2022.
These price rises involve a subtle psychological game with the expected clientele, the game all covered by the dust-cloud of the Biden Inflation. If a certain kind of man becomes aware that Barber-A and Barber-B are charging $25, he could be suspicious of Barber-C's rate of $18 and may get scared off of the latter. Haircut economics is, after all, NOT a purist game in which a pool of consumer chases the cheapest price, as with bushels of wheat or other such examples in economists' textbook graphs. This is far more true of women's haircuts but applies to male haircuts to an extent.
The actual low-end places are still under $20, but not by much or maybe not for long. Maybe $17/$18 is now the very low-end of the market (where I am) excluding barber trainee places, with any stragglers below that unlikely to resist raising to that level soon.
(btw, the March-2023 U.S. CPI Inflation report is to be released in 10 hours as of this comment.)
To get a simple male hair trim at a barbershop, you now have to part with a full $20 bill, and maybe one or two extra pictures of George Washington (not yet replaced by Harriet Tubman) to look like a normal and good person, the extra in accordance with the "tipping" custom that the USA especially culturally imposes on certain services but not others. (Even owners of one-man barbershops generally seem to universally receive tips by custom.)
Speaking of tipping. Has Peak Stupidity written about "tipping inflation"? Since about the 1990s there seems to have been a major rise in the rates of tipping, with some USA'ers of late confidently asserting that their minimum "tip" is 25%! The oldest among us would tend to think of 10-15% as standard, back in the pre-1970s era.
Theory: Virtue-Signaling is an arms race, and that arms race in part defines Wokeness or the social power of Wokeness. As the custom of tipping is also a kind of virtue-signal, the advance of Wokeness may also have --directly-- affected "tipping" rates, boosting a around-10% "round-up"-type tipping custom of earlier years to this aggressive 25%, 30%, or even higher rate you hear people talk about now.
Adam Smith
Tuesday - April 11th 2023 7:48PM MST
PS: Mylar bags for beans? ☮
The IRS rules are a part of it too. Also, I got to hear some heartening words from 2 people I dealt with recently about cash being King.