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Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

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Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#441
post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's none of your business to ever tip anywhere UNLESS you explicitly want to thank somebody for their service. How hard is that to understand? It is the workplace's responsibility to pay their staff adequately. NOT YOURS. 0% tip all the way everywhere. No matter if I have $10 or $10k on the bill.

This is a pretty heartless reply. I will be downvoted for expressing my view here. > It is the workplace's responsibility to pay their staff adequately. NOT YOURS. Yeah, except that most of these (low income/low skill) service workers don't have the negotiation power to change this power dynamic. Thus, you, someone with enough means to eat out, can offset that gap, just a little bit, by tipping.

And you work to keep the system the same way. You work to earn, and then spend your money sponsoring the system when it's optional for you to sponsor it.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We allow wages you can't live on but then expect customers to randomly make up the difference but only for some jobs. Make too little to afford an apartment, healthcare and food and you work in the food service industry? You deserve a tip. You work in a meatpacking plant? Oh, get screwed.

Waiters in the US make more than their peers in: Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, etc. That's thanks entirely to the tip system.

> Waiters in the US make more than their peers in: Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, etc.

That seems unlikely - do you have any figures to back that up?

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#443

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

Everyone, chill Regardless of how you feel about tipping culture we're not talking about the average person nor are we talking about the average * experience* . The dude is worth north of $100bn, and is making nearly $10k per minute![0]. Someone who cannot spend his wealth. Someone who'd have to spend tens of millions of dollars every single day just to stop his wealth from growing. Someone who makes money faster tha…

I like how in this case 1e11 almost reads as "hell" :)

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#444
post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's none of your business to ever tip anywhere UNLESS you explicitly want to thank somebody for their service. How hard is that to understand? It is the workplace's responsibility to pay their staff adequately. NOT YOURS. 0% tip all the way everywhere. No matter if I have $10 or $10k on the bill.

This is a pretty heartless reply. I will be downvoted for expressing my view here. > It is the workplace's responsibility to pay their staff adequately. NOT YOURS. Yeah, except that most of these (low income/low skill) service workers don't have the negotiation power to change this power dynamic. Thus, you, someone with enough means to eat out, can offset that gap, just a little bit, by tipping.

Interestingly, I have never seen tips being demanded by restaurant staff almost as an entitlement in any other country other than the US - even in far poorer nations.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#445
post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ballmer would never have put honest-to-God advertisements in Windows Solitaire .

Let alone ads in the start menu!

To be fair, Windows 98 came with almost-ads in the stock Active Desktop wallpaper - and promos for AOL/CompuServ/Prodigy.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#446
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ballmer hated Linux & open source. He would've driven their cloud division to the ground trying to sell Windows servers in the cloud. It would've taken him another 20 years to accept that Linux was key to the cloud. VSCode (Visual Studio Code) - would never have taken birth. Microsoft survived and thrived once Ballmer had no option but leave. In this era of Python development, Microsoft Windows still feels a step or…

I have as much disdain for the monkey man as the next OSS fan. But VSCode was always closed sourced crap at the arbitrary whims of a soulless zombie corp, and they never promised otherwise in a significant way. It's not relevant and not a good foundational signal or basis for any argument.

There's a working build of just the open source part of VSCode (with basically all the same functionality) called VSCodium

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#447

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

Everyone, chill Regardless of how you feel about tipping culture we're not talking about the average person nor are we talking about the average * experience* . The dude is worth north of $100bn, and is making nearly $10k per minute![0]. Someone who cannot spend his wealth. Someone who'd have to spend tens of millions of dollars every single day just to stop his wealth from growing. Someone who makes money faster tha…

It really rubs me the wrong way that you tell everyone to chill and then go on to levy your own value judgement of the situation. If you want to larp as the ref or moderator you don't get to pick a side.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#448

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

[deleted]

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#449

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

Everyone, chill Regardless of how you feel about tipping culture we're not talking about the average person nor are we talking about the average * experience* . The dude is worth north of $100bn, and is making nearly $10k per minute![0]. Someone who cannot spend his wealth. Someone who'd have to spend tens of millions of dollars every single day just to stop his wealth from growing. Someone who makes money faster tha…

[deleted]

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone, chill Regardless of how you feel about tipping culture we're not talking about the average person nor are we talking about the average * experience* . The dude is worth north of $100bn, and is making nearly $10k per minute![0]. Someone who cannot spend his wealth. Someone who'd have to spend tens of millions of dollars every single day just to stop his wealth from growing. Someone who makes money faster tha…

Like you say, at his level of wealth, the actual dollars and cents become almost meaningless. Setting aside whether somebody in that position should be leaving a tip, how could you not want to? I would love to have the experience of just dropping a $1k tip to see what it's like. Maybe he did that once so never felt the need to again.

>I would love to have the experience of just dropping a $1k tip to see what it's like.

What exactly are your expectations here?

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