Another Saturday night.. another Hawaiin Tropic Zone moment

When I logged on the big Earthcame Hawaiian Tropic Zone live web feed tonight, Prince's 1999 was playing. Even more 'exciting' were the moments of dead video playing, or weird video.. new cameras from new angles showing nothing but odd Tropic Zone places it appears people are never in..

Boy.. this continues to be fun!

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Happy Thanksgiving..

And if you're working .. Share some horror stories here.

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I guess they're just trying to help..?

A new study in the Journal of Law and Economics says that the only way to stop obesity amongst our beautiful children is to ban fast food ads..

I love this stuff.. Really.. Precious.

We are heavily inundated with ads about fast food--no pun intended, really--but is it only the ads? Is it only the happy face of Ronald McDonald? Is it only the weird ads for Burger King? Is it only the sports stars eating Big Macs (trademarked, of course)?

Or could it be.. what's in the meat!

This week, we learned that the secret ingredient in fast food meat is corn!.. that's right, little yellow nuggets of questionable impact. That coupled with stories in the past about how corn can make you fat .. It leads me to conclude my age old belief that fast food should be avoided at all costs, until perhaps they tell us what ingredients are in meat and why McDonalds contain as much iron .. as they do. Iron.

The question is this, what should be blamed? The ad? Or what the ad is showcasing as fun and good? Perhaps the sources of food should be questioned and the overall great American escapade of what we think food actually is should be thought about.. After all, this is what is in a McDonalds Chicken Nugget:

Chicken, water, salt, modified corn starch, sodium phosphates, chicken broth powder [chicken broth, salt, and natural flavoring (chicken source)], seasoning (vegetable oil, extracts of rosemary, mono, di- and triglycerides, lecithin). Battered and breaded with water, enriched bleached wheat flour (niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, modified corn starch, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dried whey, corn starch. Batter set in vegetable shortening. Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil). TBHQ and citric acid added to help preserve freshness. Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an anti-foaming agent

Lots of stuff. The ads don't mention that, right..? Maybe if they did we'd finally grow up a little and come to maturely realize the real thing that contributes to obesity: Our overall habits and the fact we mistake trash as food..

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People taking things into their own hands..

I have been very surprised lately with the brashness of people at restaurants.. I have seen this act a few times at the restaurant I work at, and also at a few others where I was a customer: Customers going behind the bar, and getting their own beverage. Really.. does anyone else see this occur? To the point where servers, managers, front of the house people, all have to approach the customer and ask 'excuse me, what are you doing?' .. they normally respond factually: "Getting a drink" ..

This happens especially at my establishment of secondary employment during banquets.. often the bar is closed for the length of the dinner service because the bar is in the middle of the kitchen and seating area, so a full bar would be a hindrance to serving food quickly. So .. people take it on themselves to go behind the bar, grab a pitcher of soda, water .. maybe even a beer.

And they are very sneaky about it, too.. Really, does anyone else see this ever happen? Are people going mad!? Why can't they ask the server to quickly get them a pitcher of water or soda.. the server can do that?

I mentioned a few weeks ago during a wedding to a man that the bar was closed until right after dinner. He said, 'ok' .. next I see, he's sneaking behind the bar to grab a beer.. I have to tell him he can't.. A few minutes later, he is trying again.. Another server had to exclaim his inability to DO THIS!

Is this.. maybe not common? Or is this a new pattern of people wanting things so quickly because of life in general that they are taking this practice to their local restaurants??

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Old time is still a flyin'

One day you're sitting pretty.. The restaurant is yours. The next day your losing business.. you want to give the place away.. The final day you're bankrupt.. Cashless and strapped, the only thing left to find solace in is that cold mug of beer---the same one that led you down the path to hanging yourself ..

And years later, when your memory serves you well only part time, you're back in the same restaurant you once had.. dancing in a congo line with an orange wig on your head.. And you may ask yourself .. Well, how did I get here?

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Two of my least favorite things: Raw steaks and class reunion

Two worlds collided tonight..The world of raw steaks at weddings, and the world of class reunions.. My head is still spinning.

Again, words of wisdom on two subjects: Don't order steaks at weddings, and second, don't go to class reunions!

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There's still soup on my fly.. just a few less updates recently..

I'll try harder..

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How drunk is too drunk at a wedding?

Open bar. Ok, I get it. You want to drink.
It's been a long week.

But how drunk is too drunk.

Fluttering eyes.. not seeing straight. Fighting in public.. Forgetting that you were sucking that gut in and now it's hanging out--for both men and women...

How drunk is too drunk at a wedding?

It's "fun" to know they rented a bus for you since they knew you'd get really, really drunk. So drunk that they knew you'd have to leave your car in the parking lot and let the 'drunk bus' take you back to the hotel.. where you'd drool yourself to sleep in a hot tub or a bed...

How drunk is too drunk?

Tonight, I saw too drunk. People so drunk they forgot how to dance.. People so drunk they forgot to have fun. Instead they just got drunk.

Drunk.
Drunk.
Drunker..
Drunkest.
How's the biggest fool feel now? After the hangover goes away?

The server's will still be cleaning up after you ..

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ALL THINGS SPICE

The hot topic in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is about a waiter and bartender that got fired after speaking to the press about how tips are being affected by changing economic conditions..

Though Pennsylvania is an at-will state, which means an employer can fire without without reason as their discretion, opinions abound about whether the Spice restaurant firing was kind or moral..

Or necessary and right.

Justified or not.. it's legal for the firings to take place.

But the bigger story may be the restaurant world versus everyone else. It's difficult to understand the mindset of a tipped employee unless someone has walked for 10 hours shifts in their shoes.
It's tough to think about living day to day on cash that kind people may leave on a table..

Or sometimes what they don't leave on a table..

Can any rules make it easy? Tip20.com offers some advice.



And the bigger lessen for servers: Never talk to the press. At all. Period... no matter how good of an idea it seems like it will be.

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I hate class reunions, part 2

.. Still don't like them. Maybe now even less.
Lose the haircut.
It's not 1988 anymore..

Who gained weight?

"He doesn't look good"

"What happened to her breasts?"

All the comments can be heard from table to table.. aisle to aisle .. bar chair to bar chair.

And in the end, no matter what person gives out his email addresses on ripped paper, the person on the receiving end will lose them.. throw them out .. or forget who that name and what all those numbers on that paper even mean..

See you in 2018!

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