During a recent commercial flight, I was perusing the safety briefing card and noted this icon:
Water landing on the safety briefing card.
I don’t know. I think they need some more words on these cards. You see the graphic of the airplane pointing toward the water. Then there’s the red arrows indicating how to exit the plane onto the yellow rafts. But, who knows what all these things are? Could be slip and slides for the party crowd. Of course, the graphics are supposed to avoid the need for multiple translations. Either way, words might soon be a thing of the past and we’ll all write in little pictures like children. Some places do this already.
The Bent Page 
Automatic Gratuity?
A few days ago, while traveling through the Miami Airport, I encountered something very interesting in terms of a dining experience and a lesson in the English language. Take a close look at the following bill for lunch:
Automatic gratuity of 18%.
That’s right, they automatically included an 18% gratuity. If you read the note at the end, you see that if you want it taken off, “please ask for one of our managers.” I appreciate the restaurant doing the math for me. That’s a convenience. However, AUTOMATICALLY including a gratuity on my bill? DON’T YOU DARE. And do NOT FORCE me to ask for a manager to change it. This is slimy behavior. I’ve seen calculations for various tipping levels on the bottom of checks, but NEVER was it automatically included. THIS IS BOVINE FECES. Don’t play games, guilt trips, and other nonsense. Grow up and run your business properly. A gratuity is NOT automatic. It’s something considered and then applied. Corrupt your morals if you like but stay away from my language. Thank you.
- Commentary
on August 2, 2012 at 2:19 pm Comments (2)Tags: airport food, automatic gratuity, dining out, dinner check, photo, photos, tipping, travel