I love the holidays. I'm one of those people who has the Christmas tree up by Veteran's Day (much to John's dismay). But, with all due respect, this is the most wonderful time of the year. In two days, we will be out of school for the summer. The pool is open, the birds are singing, the grass is green...OK, so part of my grass is green. John got a little trigger happy with the Roundup and killed big chunks of it. I've threatened to spray paint the dead patches so they blend in, but I digress.
As excited as I am about our pending freedom, I have to say that this has been a wonderful school year. I wish every child had the opportunity to have teachers like we have at Jack's school. I can't possibly say enough about them. I believe people are called to certain professions. For example, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God called me to be a mom. Well, the teachers that we are blessed with at Jack's school are most definitely called to be teachers. The passion they have for teaching and the love they have for our children is evident every single day. I am constantly in awe of them and I thank God for allowing my child to be influenced and taught by these amazing educators. They have one of the most important jobs out there and they do it beautifully. Jack enjoys going to school and I enjoy being there as a volunteer. As I told a group of parents of prospective students last week, it's just a happy place to be.
When we go back to school in August, Jack will be a 2nd grader, Katie will be a senior, and I will be just a couple of months away from welcoming my first grandchild. There are lots of changes ahead for our family. When I think about it too much I start crying. So for the moment I think I'll just enjoy the summer and having my kiddos at home. Now if I can just figure out where to hide the Roundup...
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Musings from the top of my soapbox
Welcome to my brand new endeavor. Let me warn you first and foremost that I am not the writer in the family, nor do I pretend to be. My husband has this amazing talent for putting his thoughts on paper in a beautiful, flowing, easy-to-read format. He is also super obsessive about grammatical and spelling errors. I'm more of a free spirit. I write the way I think and it always (OK, most of the time) makes perfect sense in my head. So I apologize in advance for any errors you may find or if you have problems following my train of thought. Please don't feel the need to point it out to me. That's what John is for (at least until he gets frustrated and quits reading).
I've thought of starting a blog for some time now but figured I didn't have anything interesting to say. I still don't have anything interesting to say, but I do feel the need to express myself occasionally in more than a Facebook status or my 140 character Twitter limit. Which brings me to the issue of the day.
As many of you know our oldest daughter is in her third year of college and is a server at a restaurant here in town. Hearing her stories from the food service industry has been an eye-opening experience. Until she took this job I had zero knowledge of anything restaurant related with the exception of where I did or did not want to eat.
The first thing I've learned is that these men and women literally work for tips. They do not make minimum wage and the couple of dollars an hour they do make barely covers their taxes. If you go out to eat and don't tip, your server doesn't make any money. I've always been a fairly generous tipper, but I am even more so now. When you see your daughter come home after working all day long for $20 you think twice before you skimp on your next tip.
The second nugget of knowledge that I have recently acquired is the most disturbing. Servers don't want to work on Sundays. When I questioned why I was told that it is because they don't make any money on Sundays. Now, this perplexed me because if I went to a restaurant at lunchtime on a Sunday and it wasn't crowded, I would assume something was seriously wrong with the food. All decent restaurants are jam packed on Sundays after church so how could they not be making any money?? The answer was very distressing to me. Apparently, those going to lunch with their families after church don't tip. Yep, you read that correctly. I was told in no uncertain terms that church people don't tip. As a Christian and a "church person" I find it very upsetting that we have this reputation. After hearing this from my daughter, I was talking to another family member who is also a server although in a different state. Without repeating her comment, I asked if some days were generally more profitable than others. The response was, "Most days are about the same....except Sundays. We never make any money on Sundays because people coming from church are horrible tippers".
This just baffles me. Not only does it baffle me, but I find it very distressing. If I go out to eat on Sunday afternoon, obviously straight from church, and refuse to pay someone for their service, what message is that sending? And how sad is it that an entire industry wants to avoid us like the plague?
So, the next time you go out to eat, be kind to your server. Keep these things in mind and be considerate. Plus, I have a theory that it is never a good idea to be rude to someone who is handling your food. :-)
I've thought of starting a blog for some time now but figured I didn't have anything interesting to say. I still don't have anything interesting to say, but I do feel the need to express myself occasionally in more than a Facebook status or my 140 character Twitter limit. Which brings me to the issue of the day.
As many of you know our oldest daughter is in her third year of college and is a server at a restaurant here in town. Hearing her stories from the food service industry has been an eye-opening experience. Until she took this job I had zero knowledge of anything restaurant related with the exception of where I did or did not want to eat.
The first thing I've learned is that these men and women literally work for tips. They do not make minimum wage and the couple of dollars an hour they do make barely covers their taxes. If you go out to eat and don't tip, your server doesn't make any money. I've always been a fairly generous tipper, but I am even more so now. When you see your daughter come home after working all day long for $20 you think twice before you skimp on your next tip.
The second nugget of knowledge that I have recently acquired is the most disturbing. Servers don't want to work on Sundays. When I questioned why I was told that it is because they don't make any money on Sundays. Now, this perplexed me because if I went to a restaurant at lunchtime on a Sunday and it wasn't crowded, I would assume something was seriously wrong with the food. All decent restaurants are jam packed on Sundays after church so how could they not be making any money?? The answer was very distressing to me. Apparently, those going to lunch with their families after church don't tip. Yep, you read that correctly. I was told in no uncertain terms that church people don't tip. As a Christian and a "church person" I find it very upsetting that we have this reputation. After hearing this from my daughter, I was talking to another family member who is also a server although in a different state. Without repeating her comment, I asked if some days were generally more profitable than others. The response was, "Most days are about the same....except Sundays. We never make any money on Sundays because people coming from church are horrible tippers".
This just baffles me. Not only does it baffle me, but I find it very distressing. If I go out to eat on Sunday afternoon, obviously straight from church, and refuse to pay someone for their service, what message is that sending? And how sad is it that an entire industry wants to avoid us like the plague?
So, the next time you go out to eat, be kind to your server. Keep these things in mind and be considerate. Plus, I have a theory that it is never a good idea to be rude to someone who is handling your food. :-)
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