yea, that was weird.(but interesting!)

i got an ecology set when i was a kid. i loved it. i would go out and take readings of the pH of the creek behind our house... i can't at all remember what else was in that kit, i just know i enjoyed it. it pains me to see kids getting ipods and Little Pet Shop (or whatever it is) when they can get something that might actually challenge their brain. i would much rather give art sets or microscope kits than any of that other crap. heck, even sea monkeys are more educational than some of the toys on the market these days! i'm sure this book will make it on my gift-list one of these days, thanks!

Yea, if i was a doctor, i'd look at the xray and go, "OMGlol!" but during the surgery, i think i could restrain myself to a degree of professionalism these guys weren't able to. Hope this guy gets a pretty decent settlement for the humiliation.

classic scrubs moment tho, when turk gives carla a pen from lost n found.... "what lost and found box? there's an ass-box, but there's no a lost and found box"

I used to live in Washington County, and drove by the humane society a couple times a week to go between school and my boyfriend's place... if i still lived there i would be down for adopting Babygirl (i would certain rename this cat, tho. that's wash,pa for you) This humane society has an entire house for cats, it's right next to the shelter, and they are let the rule of the roost so to speak. Hope she finds a good home.

Oh, and for a little washington, pa trivia for you- until after superbowl sunday, 2006 they renamed the town Steeler, PA for our hometown faves. Go steelers! (this may also alleviate any questions as to what kind of person names a 5-legged cat "babygirl")

i think this made my day. i

I saw the video on the news last night- horrifying. The guy was obviously stressed out and aggitated, but instead of getting some sort of interpreter and using soothing voices, the cops crowd the guy and stress him out more. Then, WHEN HE IS WALKING AWAY FROM THEM, they taser him. Twice, from the looks of it. And now the guy is dead.

I'm a waitress at a restaurant chain. I've taken 4 tests in the past 12 months on the importance of alcohol awareness and not serving people when they are drunk, because of the consequences, so why is it that cops aren't continually trained of non-aggressive maneuvers, and handling rough situation? Cops should be constantly reminded on the dangers of using any sort of aggressive force on someone and the possible consequences.

Really, was this guy a terrible danger to himself or others? I'd say no, he was getting out of hand i suppose, but he threw a chair at a window. He didn't attempt to throw anything at the cops, or harm them in any way. The cops should have looked at the situation, thought to themselves, "tasering could possibly kill this human being. Is he posing such a serious threat to the lives of the people around him that it is worth risking his life at this point?" From what i saw, no, there wasn't enough threat to risk his life. Now, had he started approaching the officers or others in the area aggressively, i can understand protecting themselves by putting the guy down with a shock from the taser. But from what i saw, they were over-aggresive in their reactions. This guy was tired, confused, and scared. Instead of being sympathetic, they took the guy down like a rabid dog, and now the poor guy is dead. It's undeniable that the tasering had an impact on his death, and i think, without a doubt, that the situation could have been handled differently and that this guy could be alive today.

My thoughts are with his family, and i hope the authorities learn some powerful lessons from this.

btw, to the guy who rounds his tips down, dude, you're cheating yourself out of a ton of money! If you round down even just $2 a shift, that's almost $480 a year! I don't know about you but i'll take an extra $480 if i can get it.

A couple things here -

Yes, there are some less than honest people in the serving business. As a server, i've seen them, i've worked with them, and i know some of their tricks. So from my POV, here are some suggestions to avoid getting scammed -

First, make sure you actually pay attention to writing out the tip sheet. Put how much you want for the tip on the "tip" line, and if you have to, USE A CALCULATOR to add the Tip and the Check Total together to get the Final Total. You'd be surprised how many people don't pay attention to what they wrote and what they added. This make for a tricky situation for us servers, we want to take the biggest amount for ourselves (duh. that's human nature.) but we also don't want to lose the entire tip (and maybe our jobs) if someone calls and says "i didn't leave that" when indeed they did. So please, make sure your math is right.

Second, LEAVE THE TIP SHEET. You would be amazed how many people put all the pieces of paper in their pocket and walk out. That screws us over pretty bad, and i know some people have taken their own liberty to "guess" what they would have left. Do us all a favor and leave the tip sheet (signed, correctly added) and then there isn't any room for guessing.

Third, if you are leaving cash, write "Cash" and draw a line through the tip, and write the total amount on the sheet. There's no way to forge different numbers on it, first of all, and it tells us that you did indeed leave a tip, it might just be under the ketchup or something.

And last but not least, make sure you take the right copy! Some restaurants have a "merchant" or "store" copy and then a "customer" copy. Depending on the store, if you take the store copy, then the server can't get the tip. This is when bad servers take liberties with guessing the tip again.

So what happens if you do check your account and find something isn't quite right? First, CALL THE STORE. The article says to call your credit card company, and then the cops (for pete's sake) but as long as the restaurant isn't the biggest piece of shite they will investigate things and take care of it on their side. Sometimes honest mistakes happen. We're not paying attention and maybe one tip sheet we're entering in to the system says $5 and the other says $7. We put the amounts on the wrong checks because we're in a hurry, and don't catch it. Mistakes happen. Calling the store will get things fixed. And trust me, if the server who made the "mistake" has a habit of making these mistakes, then making the manager aware of the situation helps them build a case against the server. The store i work in (a chain italian place...) has pretty strict rules regarding dismissing an employee, and they have to see a pattern of repeat infractions, they can't just fire a guy cuz of one event. So calling them and letting them know will both a:) get the situation fixed for you and b.) further a rap sheet if the sever is trying to screw you.

Unless, of course, the managers/owners are as shady as the servers. There are places out there that the managers take their servers' tips (all or part of them) and do all sorts of shady stuff. Then, definitely call your card company, and if you think there is some serious crap going on, call the cops on the entire store, not just one poor server who may or may not have confused the check for Table 10 with his Table 12.

Otherwise, this checksum idea is a pretty good idea, and i think i will myself put it in to policy.

(if you guys are interested in a better view from a server's perspective, check out waiterrant.com. Great website, you'll learn many things.)