@colonelkilgore I’ve played less and less of my Vita the last few years. However I do adore it for the experiences I had. I still have a backlog on it of a few straggling games but with each passing year it becomes less likely I’ll get around to them.
Since you still enjoy playing older titles on PS3, I do think you’d really get some quality use out of one. If nothing else for the odd holiday trip or train ride. I’m not sure how hard it would be to find one, but it would obviously have to be through the used market. But I know it’s hard to justify adding a whole other game system when you’ve got more than you can play on your existing consoles. That’s what’s been my situation with the Switch for several years. I like the idea of it but every time I get ready to pull the trigger I look at my heap of PS4, PS5, and Vita games and I know it will end up competing for my attention with all the other games, hobbies, and work that I already have.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution funnily enough, I do have a switch but I never even consider playing it. I think the reason is a combination of me being pretty focused on the PlayStation ecosystem and the fact that I’ve never really gelled with the Nintendo vibe that seems very pervasive across the whole platform.
In regards to the vita being hand for travel etc. well, after this brief trip I just had to London… I won’t be going ANYWHERE for a while. Seriously gonna expose myself for the boring, grumpy old fart that I am… but wish I’d just not bothered and watched the event in the comfort of my own home 😅
Cheers @RogerRoger, it wasn’t so much that I wasn’t a fan of London (though I did find much of the service we received poor)… we just ended up spending so much time on our feet, for the whole train journey between Wales and London, then queuing for this and queuing for that (and we both made the rookie error of wearing brand new shoes). I’d guess we spent at least 6 hours simply stood up across the whole day… as well as close to 20,000 steps when we were actually moving. So we both just felt absolutely beaten up by the time that we got back to the hotel… and still don’t feel right now. Probably more to to do with our age and our lack of fitness if I’m honest… but yeah, glad to be back.
So, essentially, there's a conservative shadow government preparing to help Trump purge tens of thousands of civil servants and replace them with loyalists via the ominously named Schedule F if he's re-elected.
It looks like a second Trump term would be a literal end to American democracy (what little there is to begin with). Although if some other Republican like DeSantis wins, it's hard to believe they won't just do the same thing with him.
@Ralizah Truly horrifying. The worry is that if this happens, the next President could go the other way and replace those America First civil servants with ones loyal to them instead, completely undermining the entire system. There’d have to be a candidate that unfailingly believes in bureaucracy and they aren’t exactly charismatic people pleasers.
@nessisonett It's truly disturbing seeing fascism rise up in this country. And it's easy to feel powerless. Especially when you consider we just had the biggest protest movement in American history recently, and it accomplished almost nothing, because our system is no longer responsive at all to the needs or demands of the people.
There's also a pending supreme court case, Moore v Harper, that'd have an even more profound impact on our system if the activist right-wing majority decides the wrong way.
Even if, by some miracle, we clear all of these landmines, one thing is clear to me: any system that can so easily dismantle its own democratic mechanisms and traditions is inherently broken, and these threats will continue being an issue until the system itself is either dramatically reformed or burned down and replaced entirely.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@Ralizah It’s been seen in many countries round the world that democracy relies on faith in the system and not much else. All it takes is one person to completely disregard tradition and etiquette and it all crumbles. Optimism is pretty hard to come by these days.
@RogerRoger yeah that probably did have a part to play in how altogether beat-up I felt by the end of the day. Still, it might actually end up being a good thing in the long run… as it was the first real push of a physical kind I’ve had in the last month… and maybe I needed it (though it felt like the last thing I needed at the time).
Things I don't like as a contractor/working for myself:
My business client giving improper expectations. My job was impacted big time by COVID because people aren't traveling, so I went from working 30+ hours a week (and not really needing my pension) to around half that, most of the time (and having to draw my pension). I normally wouldn't say this, but I'm happy that my wife makes the lion's share of the money, otherwise we'd be ***** with a capital F.
"It is better to stay silent and let people assume you are a fool, than to speak and confirm their assumptions."
Random thought here, and curious what the take is from my friends over in the UK and Europe —
What do you all think of ‘tipping culture’? In the US, it’s an expectation to tip your server at restaurants and some other service and hospitality industries (hotels, cab drivers, barbers) as a token of appreciation for good service. The expected gratuity has ballooned to be an expectation of 20% and now you’re asked for a tip at almost every retailer, including restaurants where you walk up and order and aren’t even ‘served’ by anyone, and now even online retailers have started prompting for a tip at checkout. It’s almost like there is an entitlement philosophy and the customer has to carry the weight of the business owner and pay their employees for them.
In some cases where you’re prompted for a tip at the counter before you receive your food, I’ve heard of staff spitting in people’s food if they didn’t tip and things like that.
Has this gotten out of hand? I think Europe/UK might have an opposite culture where tipping is considered an insult to the worker, like maybe it sends a message that the server is pathetic enough to need charity?
Anyways, it’s something that’s puzzled me for a while.
@Th3solution I've never heard of tipping being considered an insult but in many of the cases you mentioned it's considered entirely optional. You'd usually tip your server at a restaurant (10% is fine) but not necessarily a driver or a barber. Bars and cafes often have a tip jar but they'll rarely mention them to you. That's my experience anyway, it might be different further west.
I think tipping might be considered "mandatory" in the US more often than in Europe because the US labor laws allow those workers to be severely underpaid and rely on tips a great deal.
@Th3solution It’s never never a necessity over here. If I have change on me then I’ll do it, or if I’ve had great service. I usually tip my barber too as he’s a nice bloke. But as you say, tipping culture results in businesses either skimming or subsidising their workers’ wages with it. It’s polite to tip and also they do work hard and it’s nice to recognise that. But I’ve never felt pressured to tip.
@Th3solution "Proper" restaurants is kind of an assumed a 10% on meals but some places will automatically add it, maybe at 15%, with big groups. I'm more than happy to leave a good tip if service has been great and/or I think the food was great value.
Taxi drivers, I might do the "keep the change" or round it up a bit as well. I never have done for barbers.
One thing I loved in Canada (and to a lesser degree the US) was that it was standard to bring the card machine over with the bill so you could pay up, finish off drinks, and then leave when you're ready. In the UK, it seems to be standard to cause as many barriers as possible for you to get and then pay the bill which can spoil a really nice meal very quickly.
I mean, service charge is added to the bill in the UK in most places when you dine in by default, and you can ask for it to be removed. But at the end of the day most of us here are tipping for food and drinks by default.
@Th3solution Tipping in the UK is optional but expected at the same time.
It's definitely more cultural in the USA I'd say whether the staff are paid minimum wage or not.
Personally I don't like the concept of tipping in the UK particularly because we are all at the very least on minimum wage and I find it a strange concept that I should have to pay waiting staff extra because they brought me food and drinks yet other staff such as cleaners and care workers don't get tips.
I used to work as a kitchen assistant and cleaner, the waiting staff used to get all the tips and we got nothing despite us arguably working harder and we were on the same wage.
I actually found it quite funny how clearly annoyed some staff were with a dollar tip when I visited NYC. I used to think if you serve 100 drinks and get a dollar off each that's a decent addition to your wage.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. – Seneca
@Thrillho i can see why they leave you with the bill and come back, so the server isn’t stood around listening to how you are all going to be splitting the bill and can do something else. But I do agree it’s annoying when they deliver the bill then it’s another 15 minutes to get them back again to pay, especially if just 1 person is paying for the lot and you’re in a rush. I just get up and go over to the counter to pay in that case!
@kyleforrester87 I always like to have my credit card at the ready for those places which just drop off the bill to the table and then disappear, so that I simultaneously given them the card when the bill comes.
And the statement to sign they bring back has a write-in tip line to add tip later when using a credit card. Even the machines they bring to the table (or have there by default) have a keypad to add tip when you swipe the card. I almost never have cash either.
@The_Moose Agreed. Around here I think the standard at many restaurants is that the wait staff will split some of the tip with the cleaner staff who are ‘bussing’ the tables. But I think this is variable practice.
@nessisonett@Voltan@Kairu Yes, I think at the end of the day, the poor base wage is what is used to justify the tipping culture here. Which is a backward philosophy.
Busy waiters/waitresses will make way over standard wages when tips are added. Not to mention many of those tips are cash and “off the books” so not taxed income. The whole thing is just a mess.
It makes more sense to have tips be a nice added bonus for exceptional service, rather than me as the customer bearing the burden of keeping the worker above minimum wage.
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