Yeee - driving something REALLY fast is key in the States. Both getting away from danger and being about to get 'around' traffic without using your horn.

I stopped honking after one time, I was behind a guy turning left on green (non arrow) and he wouldn't go, despite a completely empty oncoming lane. So I gave a quick tap honk, in case he wasn't paying attention.

Dude opens the passenger window, slides over to that seat, and starts yelling at me, shaking his fist out the window. As he's doing this, his car is rolling into the oncoming lane, and now there's traffic coming. Oh BTW he has 2 kids in the back seat. He quickly jumped back into the driver seat and sped off, barely avoiding getting hit.

In America you don't honk because you might get shot. In Vancouver you don't do it because the person will lose their mind and maybe get themselves or their children killed.

Most of the time honking at someone just puts them in super butthurt mode because how dare you try and shame me for doing something wrong! It's not worth some random psycho trying to kill you over it.

I just save my horn for special occasions now where someone almost causes an accident or a little courtesy tap when someone isn't paying attention at a green light.

Everyone I honk at doesn’t even seem to know what a horn is.

stop honking at skanks MARK! :suspicious:

Does it rub anyone else the wrong way when you go to a restaurant as a group, some as small as 6, most others, 8 ... they automatically put a 20% tips or surcharge? We're talking not particularly fancy, like an avg sushi/Japanese place.

What is the thinking behind this ... that you will usually stay a bit longer to chat and therefore, waiter/waitress will have less opportunity to make more tips on tables that turn over more quickly? Or, is it because once 6 or 8 people start drinking, they have a higher potential to act like losers and a-holes? Honestly, my crowd of 6 or 8 doesn't act any differently than 2 tables of 3 or 2 tables of 4.

I think it’s for all the running around they gotta do for 6-8 people drink orders. In Asia don’t they usually designate a waiter for a group that big ?

Same concept I guess

I'm honestly a little torn about the whole tipping thing. On one hand I have parents who both worked in the service industry so tipping well is the norm, on top of that a lot of ppl in the service industry is having a hard time with inflation and restaurants not doing well.

On the other hand, I'm just as broke as fuck as everyone else and sometimes going out is already a splurge and a treat. A 20% defacto tip is just brutal. 20% tip used to be for a job well done and this feels like the ol' 'everyone's a winner' attitude but I'm losing.

My favourite honking gone wrong incident still has to be the time I watched the car in front of me honk an unmarked Crown Vic outside the Brighton Costco for not immediately moving the instant the light turned green.

It was winter and all three cars were waiting on the hill to uphill to Lougheed. The light changes and the Vic doesn't move for 0.5 seconds. It's winter and the road was icy and slick so the smart thing to do would be to not jump on the gas. The 2nd car just lays on the horn because the Vic didn't get on the gas the second the light changed.

This was a old school Crown Vic, with steel rims and the strobes visible in the rear windows. You knew it was a cop car a mile away.

Watching the driver get his ass chewed out by a cop, with 2 other cops covering and staring them down with their hands on the butt of their pistols was priceless.

The mentality on this is you would not fucking believe how many people in large groups decide "everyone else tipped so I'm not going to, and back when splitting bills wasn't overly common because people still paid cash, someone would just decide not to pay because everyone else's tip covered their meal.
That said I still wish we'd just be able to pay more money to staff, charge more money on the menu, and get rid of tipping BUT because the average person isn't able to do math, that sticker shock of seeing the price on the menu instead of the non tip inclusive price, people decide you are too expensive before considering what they are actually spending at the other place. It all makes sense but it's hard to implement.
FYI though, if you have a legitimate concern about service, no good restaurant will say you have to pay that autograt. That said, we can tell if it's legitimate or not.

This makes hella total sense, I've been out for group meals with some of these mathematically challenged folks. They are embarassing and I end up putting more in after they do their imbecile math.

Back 20 yrs ago, 10, 12, 15 % was the range for tipping. 10% is typical and 15% was good. 20% is exceptional. Since tipping culture is a percentage of the final bill (and meal prices have already experienced inflation) I feel like the increase to 15, 20, 30% of the final bill (I've seen suggested on machines) is like excessive. 15% is now the floor. And I'm expected to tip on the total bill which conveniently includes GST! I wonder if in ON, people tip based on the meal+HST (13%) total? Tips and taxes can end up being like 30-40% of the bill! No wonder reports are out that restaurants are not doing well, it's gotten so expensive all around.

Back in the 1900’s I had a buddy who would always order a $15 plate with a $5 beer and throw in a $20 like taxes and tips didn’t exist. Until I finally called him out. He was not thrilled about that.

Yeah I think the new baselines are getting ridiculous, BUT people still have the choice to hit custom amount, and they tend to act like they don't, but I do see the idea of being offended when your first option is a 20% expectation.
18-20 is my usual, but the whole tips at the liquor store kind of thing are crazy to me. Like, you just stood at the till and didn't even say hi to me, why would I give you 15-25% of the product I picked, carried, walked with, then carried to my car? You didn't even touch it or acknowledge I'm a person?
To change tipping culture there will have to be some sort of rules involved or it's not gonna happen, because like I said, math is too hard for 90% of people out there and the place that offers "cheaper" prices will benefit. It's all mind games at this point.
I totally believe there should be servers making 6 figures, and they should be the best ones at the best restaurants, and earn that job through skills and experience that show value to an employer just like everywhere else, but we are kinda stuck, and I'm not willing to be the canary in the coal mine to make it work when my mortgage payment hinges on the outcome.

My favourite tip machine is the one at Bourbon Chicken in Richmond Centre food court... those old asian ladies know what's up... they make it so you have to fight through their menu system to find the custom amount to make it no tip, but the press enter and speed through to pay option is 5% so it's like under $1 and literally everyone just pushes enter to accept it and get through because the amount is so small. They're probably raking it in on a days transactions lol

I really don't honk very often, maybe once every 4 or 5 years. I had a situation a month ago, I'm in a parking lot driving behind a very slow moving car like idling speed so I'm like this is weird but OK. Eventually he stops in front of me, I can't get by I'm like wtf is happening? Then I see someone walking up to the vehicle, I realize it's Uber. Ok I wait for dude to get in he does. Now the guy is just sitting there for another 30 seconds, I can't get by and now I'm pissed.

I'll admit I didn't give it a little honk I held that horn down for a good 5 seconds. Then I get the middle finger from the driver and the newly acquired passenger. What I don't understand is how can anyone be that obtuse? I'm so aware if I'm stopping in a lane, if someone is behind me I'm going to pull into a parking spot or if I'm trying to figure out what I'm going I'm going to make sure I'm not in someones way but there are so many people who DGAF.

Bourbon chicken ?!?!? Stylez there’s no bourbon anywhere near that fucking place. If you’re gonna eat garbage Chinese food plz at least go eat garbage Chinese food at Richmond public market (upstairs at wonder wok). The food is actually decent, you don’t taste the contempt as much

I like their blackened chicken tho

Fine! But next time you see that old lady there, tell her she brings shame to her family with that lousy fried rice they serve.

She loves me because I always ask for the steamed rice whenever I go there and she smiles and says "Good boy so healthy boy"

Like I've complained, Uber drivers are the worst. Zero ettiquette, can't make up their minds, can't drive, don't know where they are going, stops and u turns without a care in the world. Worse than taxi drivers

Professhional duhriver

I always wonder if they even get those tips or if the company just keeps it. In the US a lady once told me not to bother because she doesn't get it. I'm more likely to tip at a one-off place but the big chains really need to just pay their employees. And when I see a place that doesn't even have a tip prompt I'm more likely to keep going there just because it's less b/s, even if the food isn't anything special.

Man, I like Bourbon Street, that bourbon chicken, and the sesame chicken? Shiny sweet deliciousness.

Never understood why the hell it was even named Bourbon Street in the first place though, there's nothing Cajun about the place outside of that joke of a jambalaya rice dish they have. I suppose it's to attract the whites, but they might as well just rename themselves to "Ming's Wok" or something.

haha yah I mean I'm white as rice and it ain't fooling me either... but I just chuckle and roll my eyes... they can call it whatever they want just gimme sum when I'm in the moooood

This is also how you get around Richmond drivers. It's not that bad... just avoid them LOL