The Just a Guy Thing weblog shares insights into the selfless act of tipping your waiter, your cab driver, the dealer at the casino, or your stylist. A rule of thumb: Hand over the tip with your palm facing down and shake hands with the person you are tipping, simultaneously placing the money in their hand. What you want to avoid doing is waving the money around and making a big deal of it.
While there’s no hard and fast rule for how much to tip in every scenario, at restaurants, shoot for between 10% and 22%, depending on the service, meal, and the reputation of the eatery. How do you decide how much to tip? Let us know in the comments. How to Tip Like a Gentleman [Just a Guy Thing]
The Tipnut mailbag pulls in an idea for avoiding a problem that drives some people (including a certain wife of mine) insane: Keeping the sponges and clothes used for really dirty work separate from those you run over your eating implements—especially if you buy same-colour sponges in bulk. To do so, use a knife or scissors to nick a corner off the grimy ones (presumably when they’re dry). This could also prevent getting counter/surface-cleaning chemicals and grime into the same sink as your dishes, though perhaps disinfecting your sponges in the microwave could prevent that as well. Photo by Conor Lawless. Clip Sponges & Cloths Used For Dirty Jobs [Tipnut]
No laptop lasts forever, but many live long lives through upgrades or replacements. Those life-extenders can easily fall apart, however, if there’s a stuck or jammed screw that will make hardware replacement a tricky, or even damaging, proposition. CNET blogger Michael Horowitz recommends pulling out a tiny screwdriver and testing out the screws on any new laptop, especially on the oft-upgraded memory trays, hard drive holders and other devices. While obviously not a tip for those uncomfortable with DIY hardware replacement, experienced laptop owners might be within their rights to request a replacement or repair on a new unit if they find jammed screws, as the useful life of their new system would be effectively shortened. Got any new laptop maintenance routines you’ve discovered (or discovered too late)? Share your tips in the comments. Photo by Daquella manera.
Got a new laptop? Get out your screwdriver [CNET News]Nothing brings out the inner OCD like clothing pills—those tiny bits of lint and cloth that form on sweaters, coats, and other knitted or woven fabrics. Lifehacker Reader Michael K. tried rollers, tape, and all the usual methods to de-pill a fleece, but it wasn’t until a friend recommended buying cheap, disposable safety razors that he found his solution: I draped the jacket over my knee (any hard surface will do), then began to lightly go over the surface with one of the razors. It took a little time, but it totally got all of those fuzzy lint balls off of the jacket.
A little trip through Google shows that other home hackers have used this trick on everything from Rayon to cashmere, while stressing the importance of going light and slow. Those of us who double their sweater collection every holiday season might do well to keep this trick in mind.
The Positivity Blog says there’s a simple but forgotten method of building rapport, or establishing a good connection, before you start off on any important conversation: Just before the meeting, you just think that you’ll be meeting a good friend. Then you’ll naturally slip into a more comfortable, confident and enjoyable emotional state and frame of mind. This also helps you and the other people to set a good frame for the interaction … The thing is that the frame that is set in the beginning of the conversation is often one that may stay on for a while. First impressions last.
Of course, you may not always want to pretend you’re meeting with Cousin Steve when you’re heading into, say, a job interview, so the author suggests imagining how a previous, successful meeting went just before stepping in. Have your own mental reassurance hacks for striking up chatter? Share ‘em in the comments. Photo by polandeze.
How to Have Less Awkward Conversations: Assuming Rapport [The Positivity Blog]The Zen Habits weblog has a guest post by wet shaving enthusiast John Koontz, who offers both an introduction to the concept of the most traditional way to lose the stubble and a few compelling reasons to try it. Among the incentives: Outside of the $100 initial investment (of a straight razor and bowl), the daily consumables cost pennies a day. For instance, where a marketing driven cartridge razor can cost over $3 a piece, a typical double edge blade costs a quarter, a savings of over $140 per year on blades alone.
For more advice on getting a closer, less irritating shave, regardless of whether you go the scary straight-razor route or stick with dispoasables, check out Merlin Mann’s tips and another helpful guide. Photo by baronbrian.
The Zen of Shaving: How a Double-edge Razor Can Change Your Life [via LH Australia]The holidays bring around a number of warm, comforting traditions—and figuring out annual tips is not one of them. The New York Times’ City Room blog helpfully delves into the history and politics of tipping and digs up a few helpful suggestions. For instance: A related survey of more than 1,800 Americans found (the) average tip ranges of $10 to $20 for a newspaper carrier, $10 to $25 for a sanitation or recycling collector, $20 to $50 for a child care provider and $25 to $75 for a housekeeper. When in doubt, Consumer Reports advises, a worker who provides a weekly service should be given the equivalent of one week’s pay.
The article notes that Postal Service carriers are actually forbidden from accepting more than small gifts from customers—it might be worth checking with any service to see if similar policies are in place. For more tipping, er, tips, check out our previous posts. Photo by aforero.
An (Un)easy Guide to Holiday Tipping [NYT via Micro Persuasion]
