B365V3.14 - Making bank

Well that almost never happens, got to the subway platform just as the subway arrived.  It wasn't any sort of great timing on my part, just luck.  I am headed out after work to once again spend my freebie money at the casino, I might take in the buffet as well, because we all know I look like one of those Ethiopian kids in a Sally Struthers commercial.  But if I had a bunch of people sending me 50 cents a day, or whatever the going starving rate is, then perhaps I could retire.  I promise I will send you pictures and letters to keep you in the loop as to how I am doing.

I just am not in the mood to go home tonight and sit around doing nothing.  Though once again I think people have been reading my blog and not telling me.  I mentioned when I got back from vacation how much I admired the fare structure of the Vancouver transit system and it turns out our very own PAT transit is set to adopt some similar features.  I was reading about it in the Post Gazette, and the moves they are making make perfect sense, down to a one zone structure. Discounts for being on the Connect card system, it's almost like they read my mind or my blog at least. You can thank me later Pittsburgh.

Okay, did some eating and gambling, though I do have a question for you fair blog readers, what is the acceptable amount to tip at a buffet.  I get the restaurant thing, hell I waited tables for a while in my youth (which has long since passed me by), so I get the arguments for a lower minimum wage and the fact you are getting taxed on what the customer purchases.  That being said, at a buffet I am the one doing all of the work, the server is just there to keep me from running out of iced tea.  They are barely waiting on me if we follow the definition of the word, I am doing the bulk of the legwork here.  If they would put the buffet far enough away from my table, my food excursions could almost be a break even caloric proposition with the energy expended to get the food.  That would harken us back to our hunter-gatherer days though and gets completely off topic.  So what percent is the standard tip rate for a buffet anyway?  Not that I cheated my server, I left 33%, but I am curious if the rules change in that scenario.

The other question I have about buffets, is it okay to pig out at them, you know, do you eat until you are full, or until in your mind you have broke even financially, or till in your mind you have eaten more in the value of food  consumed than you spent on the meal. I would like to think that  I didn't make a pig out of myself, not that I would care if I did.  Just don't need to see any pictures of myself face down in a plate of food on the Internet is all.

I started off with a salad and a Chinese chicken and mushroom dish and a side of fried rice, then I went back up and got some jambalaya, chicken in an Alfredo like cream sauce and a baked potato with butter.  It was okay, nothing Chef Ramsay would get excited about, but then I am not Chef Ramsay now am I?  If I were and I were blogging under the pseudonym as me, well then I think I would win the Internet for pulling off that epic of a charade.

Technically they were offering all you can eat crab legs, but I have never acquiring a hankering for slimy sea creatures, I would rather eat Trisha Pittman's but then crab or lobster or snails or oysters or any such water based creature.  My sea faring adventure goes as far as cracking a can of StarKist and dropping it into some Mac and cheese.

Okay, I didn't plan on that, my game plan was to go into work bang out some things I needed to get done, then come home and finish my blog entry and enjoy a quiet evening at the homestead.  Instead I went into work around 1 pm, at shift change one of the people that was supposed to come in at 3 pm didn't show up so I worked until 11 pm, then fetched some food at Primanti's on the way home and am now settling in.  I suppose I could complain about someone not showing, as it is a thing that personally irks me, but I know Brian changed the schedule because we had someone quit last week and I don't know if he contacted the person who was the replacement today.  Besides, if I am going to make it back to Vancouver next summer, extra hours now can't hurt.  Life is all about making bank for next year, I realize this is a lot of pre planning on my part but I want to hit the ground running on this thing as opposed to my last trip where I had to request my vacation money early to pay for the trip.  I want to have that taken care of ahead of time without getting money advanced to me.  Plus I will not have paid vacation days to play with, I will probably have half of that after burning through them this year.

Enough of that, think I am going to turn in and call it a night.