Support NeoGAF

[Prospero]

I want to hear your ProTips: the little bits of knowledge and advice that make your life easier than everyone else's. For the record, ProTips do not include words like "cocky and funny," links to a picture of the "shocker," or anything that can be described by a banned abbreviation.

I'll start with a few random ones:

ProTip: If a new restaurant opens up in your neighborhood, have a meal there during the first two weeks or so it starts operating, in the early evening before the rush begins. If the meal is good and you think you'll want to come back, tip 25% to the waiter and compliment the chef (say to the waiter, "Tell the chef I really liked the [insert name of meal]"). You only have to do this once, the staff will remember you favorably, and the value of the superior service and occasional free items that you will most likely receive for the rest of the restaurant's life will far exceed the cost of a kind word and two or three dollars' extra tip. (This really paid off for me a couple of weeks ago, when I took a date to a restaurant in a nearby town: when we sat down, the owner came out of the kitchen, said, "Hey, I remember you," and later sent out some delicious appetizers that were not listed on the menu, compliments of the house.)

ProTip: Free-range meat is more expensive than the other kind, but it's not just less morally questionable: it tastes ten times as good. Once you have it, you'll never, ever go back. This goes double for pork--free-range pork chops are some good eating.

ProTip: This is something I learned from a recent conversation with a mattress salesman. If you're shopping for a mattress, the various descriptions of the different brands are designed to confuse you and get you to spend your money on the one with the most elaborate-sounding name. Different kinds of mattresses made by the same company can have a variance in price of hundreds of dollars, but the internal components of the mattress and foundation (the springs, etc.) are almost always identical. What you're paying extra for is the amount of padding that's sewn into the top of the mattress. So if you want a plush mattress, you are probably better off buying the low end of the line and putting a plush mattress pad on it instead.

 

[MrPing1000]

Prospero the food equivilent of cubsfan

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Protip: If you are ever in a bar in new zealand and the waiter gives you your change on a plate instead of handing it to you, don't tip the fucker, in fact never tip anyone here at all EVER. Our system figures tips into their wage. It is NOT OUR CUSTOM. Bastards. I am unsure if this made me look like a cheap asshole in front of a european girl or not yet. he's still gonna die for it though.

 

[MrPing1000]

tipping is weird is american. It's like u have to do it or your an asshole.


Protip If the President of Burundi asks you in for a cup of coffee it does not mean sex is on

 

[Wellington]

Protip: If a girl is pretty much wet, revved up, and ready to go and pretty much leading you in that direction oh say on a Saturday. DON'T just get her number, a kiss on the cheek, and decide to call her oh say on a Monday expecting anything. I'm such an idiot.

 

[Burger]

Pro Tip:

A good rue is the basis of all sauces. Always use a low heat, the butter/flower should become a rich brown colour before adding milk. Take off the heat and add a couple of table spoons of milk at a time while stiring. Repeat and then put back on the heat.

 

[UtadaBarkley]

Protip: Cell phone for cheap

If you're in the market for a new cell phone and your contract is almost up, find the phone you really want that your provider supports (regardless of price). Next, call up your provider and hagle the representative until they give you the phone for at least half off. Usually if you negotiate you can get the phone for even less than that. I got a motorolla v505 last week for 50 bucks when it retailed at like $299. Be nice with your haggling, but be persistant, and politely point out the fact that another provider's service is looking awfully tempting.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

ProTip: Be sure to get a first down within 3 plays, or else you will have to punt.


ProTip: Run playaction on 3rd/4th and short to catch the defense off-guard

 

[MC Safety]

ProTip: If the mule don't kick, you know the mule don't ride.

 

[Loki]

Prospero the food equivilent of cubsfan

:lol


Having worked in the restaurant business for 8+ years, though, I must say that he knows what he's talking about.

 

[Triumph]

ProTip: Don't sweat the small stuff. Other than friends and family, it's all small stuff.

ProTip: Don't be fat and grouchy. Chicks can't stand that shit. If you're fat, be jolly and funny. If you're grouchy, make sure you're in good shape. Otherwise, you're in for a long, cold, everlasting winter my friend.

ProTip: Wrap that shit.

 

[AntoneM]

ProTip: before getting any serious medical work done call your medical and/or dental board to check on the Dr.'s complaint history. Most boards will have a website you can use, but if they don't, call them!

 

[The Shadow]

Having worked in the restaurant business for 8+ years, though, I must say that he knows what he's talking about.

I can vouch for the first one. When I first moved to the place I live at now, there was a Chinese restaurant that had just opened up across the street. I went there and had dinner which was great. The price was cheap, the proportions were huge, and the food was very good. I complimented them of course and returned I think the next week or so with a group of friends when they had asked me to spread the word.

I don't go there nearly as much as I used to but even so, the owners still remember me and call me by name when I walk in. They always give me the special at a discounted price even though I sometimes don't go at the time the discount is supposed to be on. There's only particular items that are supposed to be discounted but I can choose from the entire menu.

 

[Burger]

ProTip: CV's

When typing out your C.V, don't *under any circumstances* use either Arial or Times New Roman. It will look like every other C.V out there. Use 12pt Tahoma for sans-serif and Georgia for a serif font.

ProTip: Walking in the Woods

Never walk behind another person in the woods, because yellow jackets build their nests underground. The first person in line will disturb the nest when they walk over it, but it’s the poor suckers trailing behind who catch the wrath of the stirred-up bees. You can generally tell the more experienced forester in the group because he’ll be the one in the lead.

ProTip: Changing a lightbulb

If you have to change a light bulb where the glass is broken, you can press a potato into the metal base to unscrew the remains of the bulb from the fixture.

ProTip: Faking conciousness

Patients will occasionally pretend to be unconscious. A surefire way to find them out is to pick up their hand, hold it above their face, and let go. If they smack themselves, they’re most likely unconscious; if not, they’re faking.

ProTip: Proofreading

If you’re reading too fast, your brain can “correct” typos, preventing you from catching them. That’s why it’s sometimes a good idea to read a page upside-down. It forces you to pay closer attention to individual words out of context, and you can’t race through pages too fast.

(some of these taken from articles off the internet)

 

[AntoneM]

tipping is weird is american. It's like u have to do it or your an asshole.

I can't let this go, I thought I could but I can't.

ProTip: When buying dinner or lunch or hell any meal at a restaurant (not fast food) in America, if you don't tip at minimum 10% of the cost of the meal, you are in fact an asshole. This also applies to delivery, if some one brings your lazy ass some food in America, you better tip 'em. The reason being most states have a minimum wage for servers that is lower than the federal minimum wage. So in many places a server will be making, say $4.00/hr even though federal minimum wage is.. it's $5.75 right? Anyway, that is why you tip in America, it's part of these peoples legitimate wages and the only thing that keeps them working as servers. Tipping for other things stem from this and has become common courtesy, you think a bell hop would carry your bags around for minimum wage without any tips?

 

[Triumph]

Actually, federal minimum wage is still $5.15 an hour.

Most all of the servers I know in Atlanta make the standard $2.13 an hour. Same for bartenders. Delivery guys usually make minimum wage, but that ain't shit for what they do to their cars.

So yeah. If you are in America and you don't tip, you ARE an asshole. Besides which, I have decided that tipping well brings good karma. I generally tip like 33%, and the places that I'm a regular at LOVE to see me walk in.

 

[fennec fox]

PROTIP: When in a situation requiring tipping, let the other person pay for you.

 

[Cubsfan23]

Protip: If a girl is pretty much wet, revved up, and ready to go and pretty much leading you in that direction oh say on a Saturday. DON'T just get her number, a kiss on the cheek, and decide to call her oh say on a Monday expecting anything. I'm such an idiot.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I can't let this go, I thought I could but I can't.

ProTip: When buying dinner or lunch or hell any meal at a restaurant (not fast food) in America, if you don't tip at minimum 10% of the cost of the meal, you are in fact an asshole.

I don't get the tipping percentage thing. Why does the person who carried a $50 food item deserve twice that of someone who carried a $25 food item? If we had a $40 meal and you aided us for 5 minutes, why should you get $4-6 which would be like an hourly wage of $48-72?

 

[Fresh Prince]

Why don't restaurants just pay the minimum wage?
As the rest of the world sees it you tip when a member of staff does an excellent job or goes out of the way to make you happy.
I mean all you're doing is rewarding a person for doing a average job.

 

[Prospero]

Protip: Cell phone for cheap

If you're in the market for a new cell phone and your contract is almost up, find the phone you really want that your provider supports (regardless of price). Next, call up your provider and hagle the representative until they give you the phone for at least half off. Usually if you negotiate you can get the phone for even less than that. I got a motorolla v505 last week for 50 bucks when it retailed at like $299. Be nice with your haggling, but be persistant, and politely point out the fact that another provider's service is looking awfully tempting.

Oh, that's excellent. That's good.

A similar thing works for credit cards, by the way.

ProTip (from back in the day when I carried a load of credit card debt): If you are carrying a balance on a credit card of more than a few hundred dollars, you shouldn't be paying more interest than the prime rate (and certainly not the standard 18%). Get a second card with a lower rate than yours (because you are probably getting pre-approved applications in the mail every single day) and switch the balance over to it. The issuer of the first card will contact you by mail or sometimes call you on the phone, hinting around that they will give you a lower interest rate if you switch the balance back. Once you do this, the issuer of the second card is likely to make a competing offer as well, at a still lower rate.

Under no circumstances should you take one of those deals where the company offers you 0% interest for six months, unless you're absolutely certain you can pay off the debt in six months. If you don't finish off the debt, then the interest rate on the card will usually jump to 18%, and if for some reason you're unlucky or absent-minded enough to miss a payment, the interest on the card will probably jump to something like 23%--disaster. Instead of a 0% interest rate, make sure that a credit card specifies prime rate + 0% on balance transfers for the life of the balance. And don't put anything else on that card, as new charges will get hit with an 18% interest rate.

I don't get the tipping percentage thing. Why does the person who carried a $50 food item deserve twice that of someone who carried a $25 food item? If we had a $40 meal and you aided us for 5 minutes, why should you get $4-6 which would be like an hourly wage of $48-72?

In my experience, a more expensive meal usually means more work on the part of the wait staff. A meal that costs something like $20/person can take as few as three or four visits to the table, while one that costs $50/person is likely to involve a waitress busting her ass for a solid hour--opening the wine bottle, reciting the specials, taking the order, bringing the different courses and appetizers and baskets of bread and desserts and such, refilling the water glasses, and general check-ups every once in a while to see if you need anything. Business at high-end restaurants is likely to be relatively slow as well, since they're usually pretty small--one waiter might only have two tables to work in an hour with two people each, and he still won't have much time to sit down. So tipping a percentage seems fair to me.