That's only because he's young and inexperienced, he'll learn the correct response is, " you're right, I stand corrected".
That's not really free delivery
- Thread starter Onyrlef
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Tom
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On the delivery issue ...
We've been Costco Exec members for many years, and one benefit was the check we received at the end of each year. We don't shop at Costco as much as we used to, so that benefit may not be worth the higher membership fee.
We have 2 Costco warehouses within 30 minutes radius but, on a few occasions, Chris has ordered from costco.com, typically bulk paper products. The delivery/shipping fee in each case was $0. I have no idea if that's a perk of exec membership.
On one occasion, a friend asked Chris to check if something was available online, and that resulted in a $6 delivery fee to the friend's house. Haven't figured out if that was because of a different shipping address, although the friend lives several miles closer to one of the two warehouses and the third one mentioned below.
In each case, our deliveries are fullfilled by a 3rd warehouse, approx an hour away. IIRC I saw a Costco delivery van outside our house on one occasion as I arrived home.
We've been Costco Exec members for many years, and one benefit was the check we received at the end of each year. We don't shop at Costco as much as we used to, so that benefit may not be worth the higher membership fee.
We have 2 Costco warehouses within 30 minutes radius but, on a few occasions, Chris has ordered from costco.com, typically bulk paper products. The delivery/shipping fee in each case was $0. I have no idea if that's a perk of exec membership.
On one occasion, a friend asked Chris to check if something was available online, and that resulted in a $6 delivery fee to the friend's house. Haven't figured out if that was because of a different shipping address, although the friend lives several miles closer to one of the two warehouses and the third one mentioned below.
In each case, our deliveries are fullfilled by a 3rd warehouse, approx an hour away. IIRC I saw a Costco delivery van outside our house on one occasion as I arrived home.
Oldgator73
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He’s close to 50. He’s not smart enough to agree with her.
Tom
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On the tip issue ...
Only once (some years ago) did I ask a restaurant manager to remove the automatic tip when the service was awful. Only rarely have I felt the service/attitude of wait staff was so bad that they received $0 tip.
Something that has had me scratching my head on a number of occasions was when I manually added a tip to the 'tip line', it didn't show up on my credit account. Some folks have suggested that the restaurant runs the bill as a 'hold' before they hand you the card and a credit slip to sign, then go back and adjust the total.
On a number of occasions, I've noticed the tip was not subsequently added to my credit account. When this was a large tip for exceptional service, I visited the establishment several days later to get it corrected. It wasn't.
The above has bugged me so much that a few weeks ago, when I added the tip to the tip line, I had the waitress go to her manager and ensure that the tip was added.
Many times, I've left cash, but could never be sure the wait staff who provided the exceptional service received the tip rather than, as suggested by another poster, the person bussing the table picked it up. To avoid this, on occasion I've handed the tip (in cash) to the wait staff when s/he picked up the signed credit slip.
I traveled internationally for a living, but it took multiple visits to learn that tipping in Japan was considered offensive
Only once (some years ago) did I ask a restaurant manager to remove the automatic tip when the service was awful. Only rarely have I felt the service/attitude of wait staff was so bad that they received $0 tip.
Something that has had me scratching my head on a number of occasions was when I manually added a tip to the 'tip line', it didn't show up on my credit account. Some folks have suggested that the restaurant runs the bill as a 'hold' before they hand you the card and a credit slip to sign, then go back and adjust the total.
On a number of occasions, I've noticed the tip was not subsequently added to my credit account. When this was a large tip for exceptional service, I visited the establishment several days later to get it corrected. It wasn't.
The above has bugged me so much that a few weeks ago, when I added the tip to the tip line, I had the waitress go to her manager and ensure that the tip was added.
Many times, I've left cash, but could never be sure the wait staff who provided the exceptional service received the tip rather than, as suggested by another poster, the person bussing the table picked it up. To avoid this, on occasion I've handed the tip (in cash) to the wait staff when s/he picked up the signed credit slip.
I traveled internationally for a living, but it took multiple visits to learn that tipping in Japan was considered offensive
Sam's Clubs have the Sam's+ membership which furnishes a Mastercard/membership card w/ 5% cash back on all gas purchases anywhere, and cash back %'s from 2-4% on other purchases. The additional fee is more than reimbursed in cash back which can be applied to Sam's Clubs purchases or cashed in at the customer services desk. It also allows the "scan and go" option so you can bypass the checkouts. When they eventually get the overhead scanning system worked out you'll be able to just throw everything in the cart and walk under the scanner on the way out and you're done.
Tom
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Interesting, although we don't need or want another credit card. Our nearest Sam's Club is some distance away. We were SC members for a few years, but didn't visit their locations often enough to make membership worth having.
I think Sam's Clubs, Costco and Menard's are pretty much carbon copies of each other these days. I do know Sam's Clubs copied some of Costco's layout starting 8 or 10 years ago, especially the dairy and produce coolers. Costco has always paid their employees better than Sam's Clubs, although Sam's Clubs have closed the gap some, and I think most if not all Costcos are unionized now. HS kids here in Plano who are at least 17 can make $17.00 an hour gathering shopping carts after school at Sam's Clubs.
Tom
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When we're at our townhome in OH in the winter and visit the local Krogers supermarket, I see young folks rounding up shopping carts in the snow, and I wonder how much/little they get paid.
I can't speak to Kroger in Ohio, but Kroger in the Dallas metro are notorious for their low pay scale in comparison to the other area grocery chains. It's a mystery to me how they keep any staff, but they seem to.
Ex-Calif
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traveled internationally for a living, but it took multiple visits to learn that tipping in Japan was considered offensive
Lived and worked with the Japanese for about 11 years and got really close to many of my business colleagues.
There are a lot of "culturalisms." One time I asked a guy to settle the business card (meishi) debate. Do you present English side up or Japanese side up?
"Deutsch-san. You are Gaijin. We expect you to do it wrong." - LOL...
(Mansplain - If you present English side up and they can't read English you embarrass them. If you present Japanese side up, you don't think they can read English and offend them." - Business books always take one side or the other - LOL) - I can't tell you the number of books published that are absolute BS...
Tulecreeper
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I've had similar happen when I added the tip at the bottom, then I add the two together and I write the total at the bottom. I then coincidentally balanced my checkbook when I got home later that same day, using that total as my debit in the book. Then, a day or two later I see that the amount of that meal on my online statement has changed. Well, now it's too late to unbalance the checkbook so I am forced to create a fake deduction in order to have it balance again.
The same thing happens when my wife orders something from Amazon. The total will be maybe $85, so she deducts that amount from her checkbook. Then Amazon breaks it up into several separate shipments, each with its own amount. If she has balanced her checkbook in the meantime, everything is all buggered up and we have to find all the items that added up to $85. It's a real PITA.
I worked as a busboy many moons ago, when leaving cash for a tip was the only option, and none of us would have ever considered stealing the tip left on the table for the wait staff.
Oldgator73
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When I was stationed in Japan we hired local contractors. We would have meetings with the contractors bidding on jobs. The bidding was a farce since the contractors decided who would have the winning bid. They usually took turns.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
That is correct. The final total doesn't actually process at the credit card issuer until the business closes out their charges. That's typically the next day but in small businesses the owner may not get around to it right away. I know one who let the credit card receipts accumulate for a couple weeks if she didn't need the cash immediately. In restaurants with a high percentage of credit card transactions, it's usually either daily or at the end of the work-week when they have to account for credit card tips in the server payroll.
Tom
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Years ago I corresponded online with a JAL 747 Captain - an American married to a Japanese wife. I mentioned my feeble attempts to learn Japanese, and he proceeded to explain the differences in pronunciation and emphasis, depending on which level/class you're speaking to.
On most of my trips I'd take along an interpreter, typically a bilingual born in either country to Japanese parents, but grew up and went to school here in the US; Often having a BS or masters in business, and working for an international company. Japanese was all they spoke at home, but they were quite fluent in English, thanks to school and business experience here.
All meetings were translated both ways, but I could read who couldn't speak a word of English, and those who understood every word I said but pretended not to.
I picked up enough to occasionally be able to correct a translator, to their big surprise.
I used to get a kick out of hearing "Tom san" shouted when I walked through a hotel lobby or visited a company - someone who knew/recognized me from other visits/companies.
Tom
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Several years ago we had the glass in the patio doors of our OH place replaced. It was very cooold outside. When they were finished, I gave the two guys a decent tip, and they were blown away; They said "we don't normally get a tip from anyone".
Tulecreeper
Well-known member
That's because most people don't tip technicians of any kind. Plumbers, electricians, etc., all make enough money that tipping isn't necessary.
The only time I've tipped someone like that was in 2020 when we had the interior of the house painted. The guy that owns the business showed up with them for the first hour, then he left to go look at another job. I could tell that the 3-man painting crew was probably not making all that much - minimal English, that sort of thing - so I tipped them $50 each when they finished the next day. They were shocked.
Tom
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We had the exterior of our CA home painted a couple of months ago. I had no qualms about giving the guys a good tip. They're all on payroll, although only the lead person spoke good English, and one of the guys didn't show on one of the days. I gave the full tip in an envelope to the lead guy and asked him to divvy it up as he saw fit.
Ex-Calif
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That's so true. There is high level Japanese and a guttural Japanese men speak to each other and there is a "polite" Japanese that "women" speak to their men.
When I got to Japan I was the "top" guy in my office. I was pretty young. I met one of the top Japanese guys who spoke through an interpreter. At the end of the meeting he leaned forward and in English said, "Deutsch-san. You are a young man you should learn Japanese." So I did. We had immersion Japanese for a year with 2 young lady teachers. (I ended up studying for like 3 years and passed the First level Japanese language test)
A year later I met him and in Japanese said, "I did what you said. Thank you for the advice but I know my Japanese is not very good." There were about 10 guys in the room and he said, "Deutsch-san I think your teacher is a lady." I said, "Yes you are right. How did you know?"
"Because you talk like a lady" And the room busted up laughing at my expense - LOL... I had fun with the young lady teachers that week telling them they ruined my career because they made me talk like a gay man. They were horrified and told me that's the pattern they "have" to teach. LOL...
My wife at the time was Filipina and looked "local" enough. She was terrible at Japanese. But late at night in the Gaijin district taxi drivers would not stop for gaijin because their trips were always short. Local lived a lot farther away.
So she would stand out and hail the cab and I would run over and jump in after her. Then I would tell the driver where to go in Japanese and they usually would only try and talk to her getting quite confused that she didn't speak Japanese and I did...
Tom
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Great story.
An acquaintance and his wife had a plan to live in Japan. When I first met him, they had taken Japanese classes all day every Saturday for 5 years, and felt they'd only scratched the surface. We lost touch, and I don't know if they fulfilled their plan.
Ex-Calif
Well-known member
Everyone learns it in a different way. When I got to Japan I had like 6 guys working for me and all the wives complained they didn't get "proper" Japanese training. Usually they would get like 50-100hrs of "home" study which they wasted.
So I said, "You don't all get a do-over individually but I will pay for group lessons." Hence the 2 teachers 2X a week. It was immersion in that the teachers would not speak any English. With 6 guys and wives the class started with 12 people. After a year it was me and one guy left.
To pass the L1 test there was oral and written in both Kanji and Katakana/Hiragana. IIRC we had to memorize 800 of a potential 2700 kanji in daily use. The speaking ability was about 3rd grade level. But it was a great level in that you are now learning in Japanese and not having to rely on English pretty much at all. I wished I had done more. I had friends who passed college entrance level Japanese.
I also met an American girl that was a simultaneous translator for the UN. The crazy part was she translated from French to Japanese and backwards! I can't imagine doing that. It was a cool party trick - LOL...
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