Culture etc - different strokes for different folks (6 Viewers)

Depends how cute she is and what she's wearing.

If she's 80 pounds overweight with a moustache, 15%.
 
I would like to relate a very positive experience my family had when we went to Ireland for Christmas 1999.

I always have wanted to take my wife overseas and Ireland seemed pretty low risk. We love that country. Anyway, we were staying in Galway bay at a wonderful inn. They had a pub downstairs- we went with our son Christian who was 3 1/2 years old at the time. I was utterly amazed at the closeness of that pub- there were 60, 70, maybe 80 year old people singing and dancing with people my age- in their 20's. It was so much fun- everyone sang and danced together. Little Christian jumped up and started running around dancing to the music and some of the old birds grabbed him up and were swinging him around. It was a beautiful scene where age or social status just didn't seem to matter- everyone enjoyed each others company and danced and drank the night away- probably one of the best nights of my life.

Here in the States, you don't really see that type of thing- you have the "professionals" bars where the chumps like myself hang out after work, you have rock clubs where chumps like me go to drink, mosh and start fights, you have the "Alternative lifestyle" places, the "Womens' only" places, the "literary" places, different bars for various ethnicities- it was just such a beautiful thing to see the generations come together and enjoy each other- there was a real appreciation for the elderly that night in Galway and it was absolutely beautiful.
 
vandilay said:
In all the places i,ve visited the one that I,ve always strugled with
is tipping in the states ,its almost unheard of here unless you recieve
exceptional service in a resteraunt.
I dont have a problem with it ,I just never know how much money too
leave ,where you leave it and who doesnt get tipped ,ie bus drivers etc.
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In the States it is expected to leave 15 or 20% for waitresses. I just double the sales tax on the bill here in California and round up to the next dollar. You also should give porters a dollar or two per bag at hotels or the airport. I haven't been on a bus in a long time, but we don't tip bus drivers. You can also leave a dollar or so per night for the hotel maid, but I rarely do.
 
I almost forgot. You also tip the guys (they are pretty much all illegal aliens from Mexico) who finish your car at the car wash. I usually give one dollar for normal service or two dollars for extra care. It now costs a minimum of $16 to get the least expensive wash where I live. I also have a gardner who comes once a week; I pay him $70 per month. When he does something extra for me I might give him an extra $20.
 
We have a couple of acres so we have a crew that comes weekly. They get about $55 a cutting.

A few years ago, we had a different guy, who was from Paraguay. One day during late summer 2002 I asked him if he had seen Paraguay in the World Cup. His reply was that he had gone to Japan to see them play. My thought was "yeah, on all the money he earned from his customers."
 
OzDigger said:
How many hours does he work for $70 per month?
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About one hour per week. That is not bad considering it is cash with no taxes withheld. We do all our own lawn fertilizing and pruning of the trees except for our 14 palm trees which we have done about twice a year.
 
ucla1967 said:
About one hour per week. That is not bad considering it is cash with no taxes withheld. We do all our own lawn fertilizing and pruning of the trees except for our 14 palm trees which we have done about twice a year.
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I agree, and no doubt he has several clients. I have two teenage boys so I haven't had to mow any lawns etc for several years :D I figure if I have to give them money for pc games, dates etc, I may as well make them work for it :cool:

I note that you live in California and I wondered how common are the Eucalypt (gum) trees we sent you guys years ago :eek:

Btw, we have heaps of palm trees where I live because of our sub-tropical climate, and we also get about six foot of rain each year. They are nice, but over the years I have grown to hate palm trees because they are so high maintenance. I recently decided to prune a dozen or so around the house with a chain saw - at ground level - problem solved ;)
 
Chicago used to have neighborhood taverns, still do, but not to the same extent as when I was in my 20's, there used to be a bar on every block, so there were actually numerous neighborhood taverns. Each tavern had their regulars young and old and people bopped from tavern to tavern, but everyone had their home tavern. Ahhhh the good old days.
 
OzDigger said:
I agree, and no doubt he has several clients. I have two teenage boys so I haven't had to mow any lawns etc for several years :D I figure if I have to give them money for pc games, dates etc, I may as well make them work for it :cool:

I note that you live in California and I wondered how common are the Eucalypt (gum) trees we sent you guys years ago :eek:

Btw, we have heaps of palm trees where I live because of our sub-tropical climate, and we also get about six foot of rain each year. They are nice, but over the years I have grown to hate palm trees because they are so high maintenance. I recently decided to prune a dozen or so around the house with a chain saw - at ground level - problem solved ;)
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We have tons of Eucalyptus trees here in Southern California. However, we personally don't have any on our property; they are very dangerous in wildfires since they are full of something which makes them burn like roman candles. We have Queen and King Palms and they are hard to keep up. I usually pay about $350 to have them pruned/cleaned up. We actually have a quasi-desert climate here and average only 15 inches of rain per year. This past year we only got 3.2 inches which was the least amount on record. I have an automatic sprinkler system which saves a lot of work and keeps things green.
 
ucla1967 said:
We have tons of Eucalyptus trees here in Southern California. However, we personally don't have any on our property; they are very dangerous in wildfires since they are full of something which makes them burn like roman candles. We have Queen and King Palms and they are hard to keep up. I usually pay about $350 to have them pruned/cleaned up. We actually have a quasi-desert climate here and average only 15 inches of rain per year. This past year we only got 3.2 inches which was the least amount on record. I have an automatic sprinkler system which saves a lot of work and keeps things green.
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So that's where the expression wildfire comes from. We always used to call them bush fires. However, over the last few years I've noted that the manuals now refer to them as wildfires, more Americanisms corrupting our Aussie lingo :)

The leaves are filled with eucalyptus oil which is very volatile and the heat generated in a crown fire is something you wouldn't believe until you've experienced it. The worst situation is when a fire is travelling up a ridge, then all you can do is just stand back and watch :eek: When I worked for the Environmental Protection Agency/Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service we lost several Rangers to bush fires each year as they travel so fast and generate so much heat.
 
Robert E. Lee said:
Do the Aussies have smoke jumpers?
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We don't have a specific team that's trained to parachute to fight fires. However most states do have helicopters that are used to rapidly insert firefighters via rappelling or hover exit .
 
ucla1967 said:
We have tons of Eucalyptus trees here in Southern California. However, we personally don't have any on our property; they are very dangerous in wildfires since they are full of something which makes them burn like roman candles. We have Queen and King Palms and they are hard to keep up. I usually pay about $350 to have them pruned/cleaned up. We actually have a quasi-desert climate here and average only 15 inches of rain per year. This past year we only got 3.2 inches which was the least amount on record. I have an automatic sprinkler system which saves a lot of work and keeps things green.
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As a historical note, the Eucalyptus were first imported by the Southern Pacific Railroad because they grow very rapidly and were to be used for replacement ties. Even today you can see lines of them along former and current rail right-of-ways. However, the wood proved to soft for railroad ties.
 
eborris said:
Chicago used to have neighborhood taverns, still do, but not to the same extent as when I was in my 20's, there used to be a bar on every block, so there were actually numerous neighborhood taverns. Each tavern had their regulars young and old and people bopped from tavern to tavern, but everyone had their home tavern. Ahhhh the good old days.
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The neighborhood taverns cut down on the number of drunk drivers on the streets. By the way--- I had some Chicago people here Mon.-Tue. and being hot dog fanactics they said it was celery salt not seed. I should not listen to my wife. Leadmen:D
 
OzDigger said:
So that's where the expression wildfire comes from. We always used to call them bush fires. However, over the last few years I've noted that the manuals now refer to them as wildfires, more Americanisms corrupting our Aussie lingo :)

The leaves are filled with eucalyptus oil which is very volatile and the heat generated in a crown fire is something you wouldn't believe until you've experienced it. The worst situation is when a fire is travelling up a ridge, then all you can do is just stand back and watch :eek: When I worked for the Environmental Protection Agency/Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service we lost several Rangers to bush fires each year as they travel so fast and generate so much heat.
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Growing up in Oregon (no eucalyptus trees there), we called them forest fires. I don't know when the term wildfires came into general use. I live at the top of a hill which is 1,000 feet above sea level. Below us are wild canyons full of oak trees, brush, etc. That is one reason why I don't have any eucalyptus trees on my property; I am fully aware of the effect of a fire shooting up a ridge. I just hope my tile roof and stucco siding will protect my house if we have a fire in the canyon.
 
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