Molly Piper

Okay, I know so many people love Super Target (“Super T” as some of my girlfriends call it). And trust me, I do too. But I come away from every grocery-buying experience disappointed thinking, “Wow, they’re more expensive than my regular grocery store.”

So if we’re just talking about price, does anyone else find this to be true?

If it is true and you still shop there, that’s fine with me. I just want to know what other factors you weigh into your grocery-buying decision (well-organized stores, proximity to home, Starbucks inside, etc.).

I think I’ve already tipped my hand as to my deciding factor. ;-)

So there was a TON of response to the tipping question—I was kind of stunned. I wasn’t expecting so many people to weigh in on the matter. I’m glad you did, but now it seems I have more options than I ever considered, so now it’s more confusing! Thanks a lot! :-)

I didn’t want to go too far into the story that happened to us, but I’ll reveal it now…

[Begin story].

We sat down in the outdoor area of the restaurant to eat, and the waiter came over and greeted us. He was not over-the-top friendly, which can be nice, but it can also be a warning that he’s really not into his job. On one hand, I don’t usually like when a waiter or waitress feels fake because they’re trying so hard to be “friendly,” but I also don’t want someone who’s aloof.

Abraham told me later that he could tell right from the beginning that this guy wasn’t going to be any good. I did not have the same premonition. (I don’t tend to be very intuitive.)

The food came out quickly enough, but the chips and salsa refills were a little slow. Not that big of a deal, I figured, since we were downing them like it was our job.

About halfway into the meal, I thought I’d like to have a lemonade. Abraham said he’d order it for me, but then as we looked around again and again, the man was nowhere to be found.

From time to time he’d pop back onto the patio and get something for another table but never made his way down to the end, where we were seated.

So we were endlessly trying to get this man’s attention. When we finally ordered it, it came quickly enough. We continued on with our meal, Abraham helping me ingest the lemonade at record speed (easy to do when you’re eating Mexican food).

We asked him for a refill, and he took the glass away to refill it. Then we didn’t see him for literally five minutes. Maybe more. It was a really long time. By this time we had eaten all of our food and were just waiting on the lemonade refill. It felt like we were sitting there forever.

Eventually he came back to our table, asking if we needed anything else. Abraham said, “We’re just waiting on the lemonade.” And he was kind of apologetic, but not really. So he hurried inside, and I thought, “Okay, it’s coming now.” But then he didn’t show up again for another five minutes at least. And this was not fresh-squeezed lemonade. All he had to do was go to the fountain and fill ‘er up.

So he finally brought the refill with no further apology. And we sat there and drank it, more out of obligation at that point than true desire for it.

[End story.]

I know it’s not the worst ever. It’s not like he brought the lemonade out and had his Band-Aided thumb in the glass or anything. But waiting that long for one refill? And there were plenty of other staff around that he could have handed the task off to.

Aaron posted a pretty long comment, including an article that was really helpful. Aaron is one of my oldest friends, and he, in a former life, was an excellent server and restaurant manager. I take what he says about customer service seriously, because he thinks about it all the time. He posted a link to the article on his blog, so feel free to read it if you get a chance.

The mercy/justice tension is always there if you’re thinking about the undeserved favor that we as Christians have received from God, but that we still live striving for holiness in all we do.

I also understand the argument for the underlying issue/personal matter, but honestly know that if I let my personal problems affect my job, I would be in major trouble and not be rewarded for my performance. If doctors do it, it’s a lawsuit; if designers do it, they don’t get paid for their work; if teachers do it, their students fail and they are let out of their contract. Why is the standard different for servers?

I think the suggestion to talk to a manager when service is bad or good is definitely something we should do more often.

Sometimes I try to put it into a global perspective and remind myself just how privileged we are to sit down in a restaurant with tons of options for meals on the menu and money in our wallets to pay for it, unlike most of the world. However, what does that mean when we actually do live in America and there are different standards for service provision here?

Thanks for all the thoughts, readers. You’ve got me totally bamboozled.

Does your state have a helmet law? I’m thinking specifically of motorcyclists.

The great state of Minnesota does not require motorcyclists to wear helmets. And my former home, Pennsylvania, used to have a helmet law and actually repealed it back in 2003. Not surprisingly, head injuries and deaths have risen dramatically.

Being a speech pathologist, I have seen the devastating effects of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). During my summer internship in the summer of 2002 while I was in graduate school, I helped treat the patients in a special lock-down unit for brain-injured people, many of whom had sustained them riding motorcycles or other ATVs carelessly and/or without a helmet.

I suppose I care about this issue more because of my profession. It really gets me fired up when I see someone weaving in and out of traffic with no helmet. Knowing how quickly and totally their life would change (or end) always affects me.

On a recent eating out venture, we had a pretty bad waiter. We really try to be very gracious and generous to waiters and waitresses in general, knowing full well that both of us would be terrible at that job.

But seriously, this guy was not good.

Which left us in a sticky situation—should we give him a bad tip? If so, what is that communicating? Is he going to assume that we’re just stingy or will he honestly try to evaluate himself to figure out what he’d done wrong?

Should a bad tip come with an explanation? Should there be bad tips? Just curious about what you all would do.

Lately I’ve been thinking about more natural ways of living, more simple ways of living, etc. I hesitate to say “going green” because that means so many different things to so many different people. One area I’ve been researching a bit is safer cosmetics.

Some of what I’ve found is alarming. Some of what I’ve found is overwhelming. I simply don’t know how far to go with this stuff. Do we only put natural, “safe” cosmetics on our skin to prevent things like cancer, neurological disorders, and reproductive damage? Or do we live with what the cosmetics industry gives us and trust that they are going to do the right thing by the human race in general? Or is there a middle ground?

Most of my internet research has been at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website. On this site, they identify companies that have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics.

Part of why I feel like I just want to give up on this whole issue is that there is so much information to know, so many products to avoid, so many more dollars to spend on “safe” products. I’m just overwhelmed.

Here’s the tension:

• I want to be responsible with my body and the bodies that God has entrusted to me as a caregiver.
• I also want to be financially responsible with the resources God has given me. I simply cannot afford to go out and buy all new stuff and experiment with the hundreds of brands out there until I find one I like.
• As a Christian, how “safe” can I be in this world? I read one verse like this: Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe,” and I question the issue as a whole.

If any of you out there have committed to safer cosmetics, or have been researching and are farther along than me, I would love your advice and feedback. For others, what do you think about this issue in general? Obviously I haven’t made a decision either way, so I’d love to hear other people’s opinions on the matter.

(She really shouldn’t have given me her password.)

I love my wife!

Does anyone else ever feel that totally irrational nervousness when you have to open a can of those refrigerated cinnamon rolls or biscuits? As I’m peeling off the paper, I feel like my heart rate goes up about 100 beats/minute, even though I know that they never actually make a huge sound or explode violently. Why do I still feel so afraid?

Another example is when someone is going to pop a balloon. I know it’s not going to be that loud, but I still get nervous.

I’ll just say it up front–I am so, so glad that my husband is not “into” sports. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy the occasional game on a TV somewhere that he just happens to be in front of , or even that he doesn’t get pretty excited during one of these said games. I guess I should say, I’m really glad that he doesn’t follow sports.

I don’t want you to think I’m thankful for that simply because I don’t like sports–I do. I enjoy a minor league or major league baseball game immensely, most college sports, World Cup soccer, and though I’ve never been to one, I imagine I’d enjoy a professional football game a lot. I enjoy playing sports–volleyball if it’s not too competitive, badminton, softball/wiffleball/whatever, kickball…. I will participate in most yard games and sports if given the opportunity. And I like running a moderate amount also.

I don’t think I could get excited about it if my husband were always rattling off sports statistics from the past 5 decades or always ditching me on weekends to watch “the game.” I mean, I can appreciate having “a team” that you always follow and know about, but so many men know everything about every team in every sport!

That’s not to say I don’t sometimes get ditched for the latest book or game of Scrabble–trust me, I do. But I’m all about having married a nerd. I’d have it no other way. You can take your March Madness, April Absurdity, May Mania, etc. As long as I can find a book to read near him or a knitting project to work on while the Scrabble game takes place, I’m not excluded in any way from being a part of what he’s “into.”

I love you, my non-sports-follower husband. Let’s let our madness run through the entire year.

This is a totally random thought, just up from the kitchen. As a child, I could think of few things I hated more than Swiss cheese. It was so gross to me back then. But now I LOVE it! Is it a grown-up taste? Because right now I’m sitting down with a slice and some Ritz crackers (I know, that’s not a very grown-up taste, but they’re one of my faves), and I am totally psyched for the snack I’m about to have.

I read about this fad somewhere recently, but I can’t remember where. A couple minutes of internet research has yielded what I was hoping for–Nudie Jeans. They claim that jeans share your soul or something like that, and that you shouldn’t wash a pair of their jeans for the first 6 months, at least. You can read what they say here.

I just don’t think I could do it, no matter how much “personality” my jeans were developing. If by personality, they mean stench, then I’m not interested. Plus they’re like $200 a pair, so I’m thinking I’ll stick with Target.