08-26-2026 — Brain Waved
Howdy all. This will be a slightly different blog. And this is no way is an attempt to be political (THIS TIME). It is just me typing out the gist of a couple conversations I had in the last week or so, that totally convinced me that I just don’t think the way others do, and I’m not sure they are making logical sense.
Anyway, it is all about a couple news items I saw this last month on social media.
The first dealt with charges / fees on restaurant receipts. And the second was on the new electric “smart” meters being installed on homes in this area. While it doesn’t seem, at first, that they could be related, for me they are.
People going to area restaurants and other places serving the public, are getting bills that not only have lines for each itemized purchase, but lines that say things like, “fee for multiple customers in the party”, and “service charge” and “tip suggestion”, etc. And some establishments are even printing things like, the service fee does not go to the servers”. Huh? Service/Servers — not related? Hey, it is your business. But why if this is a FIXED amount based upon a percentage, why isn’t it included in the line item? You’ve included other fixed expenses in there. Be reasonable. That steak dinner doesn’t cost $23.99 if there is always a Service Fee of $6.00. No, it is a $29.99 dinner.
But the real bugger to me, is that they then charge tax on the fees, along with the products. And then, ask for tips that don’t match the percentages they suggest they are. And those percentages are on top of the fees and taxes.
What really irked me though, was seeing comments on the receipt saying crap like, “our servers only get $2.13 an hour”. “If you don’t give them at least a $40 tip on your $120 purchase (mostly service charges and fees and taxes!), they they can’t feed their families. Um, was my table of three people the only table they handled during the hour? Then, and only maybe then, they should earn $42.13 an hour. But, more likely than not, they did 6 tables during that hour — mostly because you want to get as much work out of the $2.13 an hour as you can. So, should they really get $242.13 for an hour’s work? Get real.
I know my numbers are exact, and I certainly realize the wait staff work a heck of a lot even when there are no customers.
The true problem is not how much a customer tips, it is how the owner is manipulating the numbers. If you believe your wait staff should be getting $42.13 an hour, pay them that. Then take your “phony” service charges and their true pay, and put it into the price you are telling the customer that a steak dinner costs. Yep, the $23.99 steak dinner is now going to cost closer to $35.99, but at least the customer coming in knows what his dinner will cost.
Okay, so I wrote that all up just so I can mention a discussion I had with someone that informs me I am all wrong. The owner should be charging us $23.99 and there should not be any service charge, and the tip should only be 15%, and that is only if the server did an exceptional job.
What? So, the business owner will shortly close his business because he is losing money with every meal, and the servers will all have left because nobody can survive on less than $10 an hour total.
Let’s just say I quickly quit trying to help this person understand reality. They don’t live in it.
Onto the Second item. Smart meters. What triggered this discussion was the poster saying their electric bill went up significantly because the of the new smart meter. And that it read both the “good” electricity, and the “bad” electricity, that a customer uses.
That confused me a bit. What the heck is “bad” electricity? I have a very basic understanding of the way Alternating Current electricity works, and how we, as customers, use it. So, I had to Google AI search for the “bad” type of electricity. Without getting too deep in the weeds, “good” electricity to these people, means the active power stuff you normally consider. Like powering your lights, or your TV. “Bad” electricity is reactive power, like the to/from energy used to power up modern electronics, or like the magnets for a motor, and what people frequently refer to noise on the power lines . That power is cycling at all times, even when you aren’t really using things. (Take that explanation with a tablespoon of salt — I’m trying to keep it at an easy to understand lever).
Anyhow, the new Smart Meters keep track of all the energy (electrons) moving through them. The old mechanical analog meters had their own gears and motors that sort of canceled out reactive power. Also, another very important factor in the increase in bills, is the fact that the old mechanical meters got worse at measuring the electricity flow over the years. So, your 20 year-old meter could be 10-15% or more, slower than it was when it was new.
Getting to the conflict in people’s brains. Yes, your bill is now more accurately showing your usage. Hey, the power company has to have the capability of giving you all the electricity you demand, be it active, or reactive power, so they need to charge for it. Thus, with the new smart meter, your bill is likely to rise.
I had someone trying to argue that they weren’t using any more power the month after the meter was installed, then the month before. Therefore, they shouldn’t be charged any differently. If the old meter couldn’t give correct readings, it wasn’t their fault, so the bill shouldn’t change.
I asked, “What if the electric company just switched out the older analog meter, for a newer analog meter that worked just the same as the old one did 20 years ago. Would you be upset that your usage showed higher?” And of course, in their mind that was the same thing. They shouldn’t pay for the electric company’s issues.
Now, in my, obviously messed up logically, mind, if the electric company tried to claw back the money from the bad readings over the last 20 years, that would be wrong. But, the electric company asking to be paid for the product they delivered this month, and into the future, seems absolutely reasonable and logical.
Oh, one last conversation that just popped into my head. I mentioned my lawn service company lost an employee a couple weeks ago, because the employee wanted to be paid off-books so he would have to do income taxes and other deductions. Hey, if the owner did that, he could drop things like his portion of Social Security and unemployment insurance, and more. It would allow both sides to keep more of their earnings. But, the owner plays by the book, and does things the right way — the legal/moral way. He said no, and the employee quit.
The conversation I had was that that this company was too expensive to use for a yard refresh, and this person was able to find someone much less expensive. I totally agree that is possible. The difference is, the cheaper guy is using off-the-books labor, buying lower quality shrubs without guarantees, taking short cuts on building garden bed walls, and using fill that should be at the dump, not in your yard.
The response from my interlocutor (that’s a fancy wort for the other conversation participant), was that he just wanted the job done, and for it to look good immediately. Zero concern for the legal/moral issues, nor for how long the results would last. Once again, I could not see any reason to try and argue any more.
I guess my ability to understand hoomans has not gotten better over the years. Makes me even more happy to know most of them think I am the one that is out of step. I’ll stay this way.
Now there’s a good looking sandwich. Barbecued Pulled pork on a thin bagel with cheese and a thick slice from an Heirloom tomato.
That was a great lunch. The best way after a good argument to Enjoy Life