everyone's lost but me...

President’s Day. This is the day where we honor the Commanders in Chief of our nation, both past and present. We honor their leadership and their sacrifice. We honor them as only capitalists can: With mattress sales. Some crazy fat guy in a powdered wig and a frock coat, green-screened into a shot of a crowded store, beckons us with the promise of massive liquidation savings. “I cannot tell a lie, these are the best prices of the year on Sealy Posturepedic and Sterns and Foster.” It’s nice to have a day off, but what do we do to celebrate? Some would say should we do exactly what our president would want us to do. The same thing he told us to do after the crisis in September of 2001. Spend Money. Contribute to our debts - I mean contribute to the growth of the economy. I went to Whole Foods and bought some criminally priced steaks, what did YOU do?

gratuity |grəˈt(y)oōitē| noun ( pl. -ties) money given in return for some service or favor, in particular, a formal a tip given to a waiter, taxicab driver, etc. ORIGIN late 15th cent.(denoting graciousness or favor): from Old French gratuité or medieval Latin gratuitas ‘gift,’ from Latin gratus ‘pleasing, thankful.’ I’ve previously railed against poor tipping at the coffee chain, now I want to look at it from the other side. I want to tip. I like tipping. It takes so little to impress me toward gratuity. A basic understanding of a job, the smallest effort, it doesn’t take much. But, I don’t tip if it’s not deserved. This isn’t a Mister Pink “I’ve been here a long fuckin’ time and she only filled my coffee once…” thing. Bottom Line: Give me SOMETHING. Smile. Introduce yourself. Call me by my name. Fake it. But give me some small reason to want to tip you. It’s not a right, and in most cases, it’s not mandatory. At the airport curbside check in, the Thrower dutifully helps me to chec...