Free Republic

Cara Stadler says she just wants to do the right thing. On Tuesday, the owner of Portland’s Bao Bao Dumpling House and Tao Yuan in Brunswick announced her plan to jettison tips, pay all servers $15 an hour and tack on an 18 percent surcharge on checks. “Tips is such an arcane system. It just doesn’t make sense,” she said. Her motive, she says, is to “create stability in the workplace, because there is a disparity in pay.” Though servers make a paltry $3.75 an hour, with gratuity a waiter/waitress at Tao Yuan can easily pull down “$30 to 40...

Ivory Soap It Floats Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924089502037 ^^OME time ago we conducted a prize contest to k-' which users of Ivory Soap contributed about 50,000 recipes. These recipes tell bow to use Ivory Soap, either by itself or with other materials, for things rarely attempted with soap. From these recipes we have selected more than one hundred which are exceptionally helpful and, in many cases, most unusual. We have tested each one...

(WTXF) - A waiter in Kansas named Garret was excited late last month when a customer left a $20 bill, rolled up under a ketchup bottle. But when he got a closer look, the “$20 bill” was actually an admonition to read the Bible: IMAGE OF TRACT ON LINK

U.S. cities that implemented big minimum-wage hikes to $10 an hour or more in 2015 have seen a strikingly similar aftermath: Job gains have fallen to multiyear lows at restaurants, hotels and other leisure and hospitality venues. The data aren't, for the most part, stark and reliable enough to amount to smoking-gun proof. But Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — all on the leading edge of the push for big minimum wage hikes — all show worrisome job trends.

Don't get me wrong, there is STILL a lot I like about Las Vegas: cheap flights, lot of choices, inexpensive rental cars and relative proximity (six hour drive) to three of the four most important people in our lives: our grandchildren. But this time, we agreed to a three night stay at a brand name hotel along the strip in return for listening to a time share spiel, which we politely declined. It is a LOT different from the Las Vegas I knew as a pup when I was single and working in the LA area and my kid brother...

Restaurant owners, customers and staff have long railed against the tyranny of tipping, but like a love affair gone bad, it has proved difficult to quit.Now, prompted by a spurt of new minimum wage proposals in major cities, an expanding number of restaurateurs are experimenting with no-tipping policies as a way to manage rising labor costs.Here in Seattle, where the first stage of a $15-an-hour minimum wage law took effect in April, Ivar’s seafood restaurants switched to an all-inclusive menu. By raising prices 21 percent and ending tipping, Bob C. Donegan, the president and co-owner, calculated he could increase everyone’s...

I spend a lot of my time mulling over the large purchases in my life. And for good reason. Still, I tend to forget about the small, everyday things that matter most and have the power to make life a whole lot easier. The following household items are extremely useful and — better yet — each costs less than $10. 1. Chip clips I don't know why it took me so long to purchase a set of inexpensive chip clips for our kitchen. We end up using them for far more than just sealing bags for freshness. Use magnetic clips...

Do you leave a tip in your hotel room for the maid? Marriott is launching a program with Maria Shriver to put envelopes in hotel rooms to encourage tipping. The campaign, called 'The Envelope Please,' begins this week. Envelopes will be placed in 160,000 rooms in the U.S. and Canada. Some 750 to 1,000 hotels will participate from Marriott brands like Courtyard, Residence Inn, J.W. Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance hotels. The name of the person who cleans the room will be written on the envelope along with a message: 'Our caring room attendants enjoyed making your stay warm and comfortable....

(PHOENIX, Ariz) - The Internal Revenue Service is offering educational Health Care Tax Tips to help individuals understand how the Affordable Care Act may affect their taxes. **SNIP** • The Individual Shared Responsibility Payment – An Overview ─ Provides information about types of qualifying coverage, exemptions from having coverage, and making a payment if you do not have qualifying coverage or an exemption. • Three Timely Tips about Taxes and the Health Care Law ─ Provides tips that help with filing the 2013 tax return, including information about employment status, tax favored health plans and itemized deductions. • Four Tax...

The Obama administration on Wednesday released a long-awaited framework for cybersecurity that is intended to nudge businesses toward strengthening their networks against attacks. The voluntary guidance, established by President Obama via executive order and developed by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, gives critical infrastructure companies a guidebook for ways to prevent and respond to the growing threat of cyberattacks. The framework includes a “core” that outlines standards that companies can implement to identify, detect, respond to and recover from cyber threats. “The goal is not to expand regulation,” one administration official said. “Our goal is to...

 Mercy and Confession: 10 Tips on How to Confess Well by Fr. Ed Broom on July 23, 2013 ·  In the context of an Ignatian retreat it is always beneficial to prepare oneself to make an excellent Confession. To make a good confession demands prior preparation!  The better the prior preparation, the more abundant the graces and the more overflowing the river of peace in your soul! Following are ten short helps to make the best confession in your life!1.    IMPROVEMENT/UPGRADING THE RECEPTION.  As Catholics two of the most important actions we can accomplish are to go to Confession and to receive...

One year ago I wrote an article about 51 painless money saving tips. It was a simple enough article with a bunch of ideas on how to save some money without making huge sacrifices. The response was stupendous. There have been countless comments to the article, and the article has been viewed more than 65,000 times. But the best part of the article has been the money saving tips submitted by readers. Through comments and e-mail, readers have offered dozens of ways to save some money. So I thought I’d collect all those ideas and republish here. So in no...

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday afternoon appealed to civil rights groups and community leaders, nationally and in Sanford, for help investigating whether a federal criminal case might be brought against George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, one advocate said. The DOJ has also set up a public email address to take in tips on its civil rights investigation. Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – who earlier in the day joined calls for federal civil rights charges against Zimmerman, said that later in the afternoon, she joined...

Sushi Yasuda in New York City has maintained an excellent reputation for more than a decade, and now the restaurant is making headlines for banning tips. All the restaurant's servers are now on salary with paid vacation and sick leave. The high-end restaurant only seats 45 guests and the chef’s menu can cost more than $100, so the owners aren't worried about raising prices to make up for lack of tips. But customers have been confused since the policy went into effect earlier this year. Managers put a note in both the menu and receipt explaining the no-tipping policy, but...

Long Beach voters took to the polls on Election Day and overwhelmingly cast their support for a living wage (or minimum wage, depending on choice of terminology) of $13 per hour for workers in the city’s largest hotels. The earliest the law would likely take effect is December 21. “In terms of what message voters sent . . . it affirms that the City of Long Beach was ready to really look at how quality of life issues matter, regardless of what level of employment or which sector you work in,” Councilmember Suja Lowenthal told the Business Journal. As of...

Some of the comments to help the President in tonight's debate: #ObamaDebateTips Have Hillary speak prior to debate saying that if tonight is a flop, it's her fault! Expand Think about this..Obama has been practicing with John Kerry on how to interact with normal people. #ObamaDebateTips #ObamaDebateTips Just do everything you did last time and you will do fine. This time, Mr. President, #SayNope2Dope before the debate begins!! #ObamaDebateTips #ObamaDebateTips avoid Benghazi, just like you did when they asked for more security. Borrow Hillary's balls. #ObamaDebateTips #ObamaDebateTips If it gets really bad just stick an empty chair in your spot....

I've smoked since I was 15 years old. I turned 55 last March and now it's time to quit!

With the Return of the Occupy Movement, Crime.org has Tips for Planning a Successful Summer ProtestDewey Beach, DE (PRWEB) May 31, 2012 Warm weather is here and the Occupy Wall Street movement is back in force. But whether organizing an Occupy demonstration or protesting for another cause, the process can feel daunting. Crime.org founder Mike Mann said spearheading a protest is easier than it sounds. He had these tips: **SNIP** “Crime.org has used postcards, press releases and social media to promote protests,” he said. “Do whatever you can to get the word out about the protest so people show up...

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the phrase “Random Acts of Kindness”? The phenomenon became popular in American culture in the 90’s and has since spread globally, inspiring movements, school projects, even a movie. Buying the coffee for the car behind you at the Starbuck’s drive-through, giving someone your parking space at the mall, or leaving an encouraging note at a restaurant are small gestures that can mean a lot to the recipient and foster a sense of community among our fellow passengers to the grave.But the concept of doing kind works is not new. It’s as old as, well,...

Just when you may have thought the ongoing battle between the 99% and the 1% was dying down, it may have been reignited. A wealthy banker left a $1.33 tip on a $133 lunch at the True Food Kitchen restaurant in Newport Beach, California.