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Flying for Thanksgiving

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Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#91

Post by thomasjudge »

vinceguidry wrote: post #87
Terretta wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gauche is a bit of an upper class word, no? Why would upper classes decide to stigmatize handing out cash as gauche? Oh.

I don't know if you live I the US, but if you just start walking around with five dollar bills and start handing them out, you really don't know what kind of reaction you're going to get. I tried giving my AT&T guy $20 for waiting for me, he wouldn't take it. Perhaps I could have insisted. Americans can be deeply sensitive to people thinking they're poor and in need of assistance. And five bucks is practically nothin…

Not to mention, I think I've read that flight attendants are _prohibited_ from receiving cash tips, on pain of termination, non-cash gifts are presumably acceptable (I've heard of quite favorable treatment being lavished on passengers who show up with fresh baked goodies for the cabin crew)

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#92

Post by theandrewbailey »

kiallmacinnes wrote: post #86
polpo wrote: post #84

The SSID for the WiFi at SFO is called “#SFO FREE WIFI”. It’s named as if someone has a wireless hotspot in their backpack running on a battery pack trying to steal the login information for your bank. I had the same reaction the first time I saw the WiFi SSID at SFO. “Surely that can’t actually be the name of the official WiFi here. Let’s let it keep looking for networks...”

I've seen lots of airports etc use this pattern. I've always assumed it's because # sorts before most everything else according to the ASCII code, so their SSID will show at the top of the list.

I thought it was a case of hashtag-itis.

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#93

Post by jhauris »

ForHackernews wrote: post #70

> I don’t know the backstory of why most FOIA requests end up with data being formatted in the worst way possible It's malicious compliance. They're required to give you the info, but they aren't required to make your life easier.

I assumed they used PDF because it's a more stable format that is harder to accidentally modify on receipt. They may also need to store it on their end in case they need to prove what they provided, and provide some level of forgery prevention or detection.

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#94

Post by sdenton4 »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #92
kiallmacinnes wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen lots of airports etc use this pattern. I've always assumed it's because # sorts before most everything else according to the ASCII code, so their SSID will show at the top of the list.

I thought it was a case of hashtag-itis.

Nah, pretty sure I remember seeing that airport WiFi ssid at sfo long before hash tags were a thing...

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#95

Post by guru4consulting »

thrower123 wrote: post #55
rtb wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why $5 Starbucks gift cards and not $5 cash?

I hate gift cards. "Here, rather than crassly giving you actual money, I've spent that money on this company scrip that you can only use in one place. Aren't you excited?" Great idea, just brilliant. I'll add it to the stack of worthless iTunes cards and cards for restaurants that don't have a franchise within 500 miles...

totally agree with you. And some visa gift cards charge you monthly fee after activating them!! I had few cards that I forgot to use, and their value became $0 after a year. And I am also concerned about the environmental damage caused by millions of plastic gift cards.. all the way from sourcing, manufacturing, transporting and disposing them. And to certain extent, it forces over-consumption behavior. I got 2 kids, and always got too many BabysRus/ToysRus gift cards. I am either forced to use them or re-gift/exchange them with others. In the end, the cards always get used by either myself or the others. If unavoidable, then you can at least print/send an e-gift card.

If it's plain cash, I can just deposit them without buying anything. For these reasons, I always wrap cash in an envelope with a personal hand-written note. Have been gifting this way to teachers, postmen, home-cleaners and no one has complained so far. When my friends/colleagues try to gift for any occasion, I always encourage them to gift cash.

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#96

Post by liotier »

peteretep wrote: post #39

I had the joy this year of flying across Europe on New Years Eve. NYE fireworks across Germany (I think it was Germany) were truly spectacular from the air.

Really ? I remember seeing the big 14th July fireworks in Cannes from an aircraft on the Nice landing approach - I found it disappointingly small...

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#97

Post by rticesterp »

vinceguidry wrote: post #87
Terretta wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gauche is a bit of an upper class word, no? Why would upper classes decide to stigmatize handing out cash as gauche? Oh.

I don't know if you live I the US, but if you just start walking around with five dollar bills and start handing them out, you really don't know what kind of reaction you're going to get. I tried giving my AT&T guy $20 for waiting for me, he wouldn't take it. Perhaps I could have insisted. Americans can be deeply sensitive to people thinking they're poor and in need of assistance. And five bucks is practically nothin…

I had a similar experience with the Best Buy Geek Squad. They went above and beyond and I tried to tip $20. The geek squad guy waved his hands, backed up and say "No I can't take that". He said the only thanks he wanted was filling out the survey and my repeat business.

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#98

Post by fencepost »

rtb wrote: post #53
AshleyGrant wrote: post #5

Flying on Thanksgiving Day is a joy. I've done it twice now. The ATL concourses are practically empty. It is a bit strange to see the flight boards almost empty on a Thursday morning. I do bring $5 Starbucks gift cards for the entire crew of every flight I'm on to thank them for having to work on a day when most of the country is with family. It's not much, but it's something. The folks flying on holidays are low on…

Why $5 Starbucks gift cards and not $5 cash?

Every major airport in the USA is likely to have multiple Starbucks locations, they're likely to open as early as or earlier than anything else in the airport, they also have breakfast options and non coffee drinks, they have a rewards program that actually is decent for regular users, and even if you want nothing to do with Starbucks you can always pass those cards along.

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#99

Post by leetcrew »

ghaff wrote: post #80
wild_preference wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gift giving is more than just empty cash transfers. You could level your hate at anything. "Great, mom. Now I'm stuck playing with this one corporation's toy instead of having the cash to buy whatever I want. Ugh, I hate it!" It makes you sound ridiculous.

Gift cards can be a reasonable gift. For example, you know someone likes hiking etc. and buys gear at $OUTDOOR_STORE but you really don't know what they want/need. But on the whole they're a bit of a scam based on what's mostly a relatively upper class attitude, at least on the US, about giving cash as a gift.

cash is a pretty terrible gift for people who give each other presents on a regular basis, unless the relationship is not reciprocal. if you and your friend just give each other $50 on Christmas, it's sort of pointless. if you give your friend a $50 gift card, now they have to go get themselves something nice that they wouldn't have purchased otherwise.

Re: Flying for Thanksgiving

#100

Post by leetcrew »

guru4consulting wrote: post #95
thrower123 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate gift cards. "Here, rather than crassly giving you actual money, I've spent that money on this company scrip that you can only use in one place. Aren't you excited?" Great idea, just brilliant. I'll add it to the stack of worthless iTunes cards and cards for restaurants that don't have a franchise within 500 miles...

totally agree with you. And some visa gift cards charge you monthly fee after activating them!! I had few cards that I forgot to use, and their value became $0 after a year. And I am also concerned about the environmental damage caused by millions of plastic gift cards.. all the way from sourcing, manufacturing, transporting and disposing them. And to certain extent, it forces over-consumption behavior. I got 2 kids,…

> to certain extent, it forces over-consumption behavior

isn't gift giving itself over-consumption? at least among peers, the other person would have just gotten the item themselves if they actually needed it.

> When my friends/colleagues try to gift for any occasion, I always encourage them to gift cash.

presumably you exchange gifts with these people on some sort of regular basis. if so, isn't this just a net zero transfer? may as well just not give gifts.

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