Queercents

The reasons for tipping in restaurants are pretty straightforward—servers make their living entirely on tips. But what about people who are otherwise paid a standard wage? Is the mere act of doing something for another person eligible for a gratuity?

To help answer this, let’s examine something else very near and dear to my heart: Blogging. You might see a tenuous comparison at best, but bear in mind—a great many blogs are written in coffee shops. Considering the amount of time that goes into researching, writing and publishing posts, should bloggers be compensated by their readers? Or at least given gift cards for additional lattes?

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“Money is related to class only in the minds of people who have too much of the former, too little of the latter or none of either.” – Doug Robarchek

A couple of week’s ago, the New York Times published an article about the survivors of the notorious nightclub fire in Rhode Island that took the lives of 100 people. It records how they feel forgotten:

At first, all kinds of help poured in for the roughly 200 injured survivors and families of 100 others who died in the disaster, one of the worst nightclub fires in the nation’s history. But that help has all but disappeared, even though many of the injured face more surgeries, cannot resume full-time work, and struggle to afford heating oil and other basics.

Why has the help disappeared? Some argue it has to do with class: Read the rest of this entry »

I am sitting in the laundromat down the street, waiting for my triple-washer to finish its spin cycle. The owner has asked me to hang out and talk with him today. “I feel a sermon coming on,” he says.

Father Peter is an evangelical Christian. He’s a priest at a nearby church, as well as the owner of my neighborhood laundromat. He hangs photos of Jesus in the laundromat and says “praise the Lord” a lot. He thinks the only options for Christian sexuality (read: legitimate sexuality) are celibacy or as part of church-sanctioned marriage.

And yet, I continue pumping quarters into his washers and dryers. Read the rest of this entry »

John recently pointed out that Queercents folks are experiencing an education bug. I found the cure for said bug: 20 years of school. On Facebook I recently noted that I’m looking forward to being done with 20 years of school and there were more than a few enthusiastic nods of agreement from my friends who are also about to graduate soon.

Aundi’s contributions have covered the money issues associated with returning to graduate school very well. For me law school has been an experience in personal enrichment. I never intended to be an attorney. My advice is to not do law school unless you want to be an attorney. There are other degrees that might be a better idea — but maybe any degree is a bad idea anyway.

Here is another perspective for professional folks considering time away from work to get another degree. The transition from a professional life to a student life is relatively smooth. Many have some form of savings or at least only moderate debt at the time they start to consider another degree. The small savings or moderate debt make it easy to get along during the first couple semesters of school with minimal life-style changes. Then the added freedom, longer breaks, and intellectual stimulation associated with being a student is hard to beat and serves to soften the inevitable financial blows associated with leaving a career for a degree. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone has asked this question at least once since the marketing megahit The Secret took the world by storm. People have been mired in analyzing their thoughts, forcing themselves to think positive, and often wondering why The Law of Attraction isn’t working for them the way they want it to. I for one believe it is at work, but that doesn’t mean you can just will the things you want to have show up in your life to appear at the exact moment you want them to.

The other day I was watching one of the short films from my monthly Spiritual Cinema Circle and you just know it is going to be fun when one of the movies is a humorous look at the Law of Attraction called “The Rub of Attraction”. Little did I know you could also catch it on YouTube. It is worth the 9 minutes of viewing for a good laugh or two and some thought provoking questions.

The one question I took away from the movie is — does attraction always work or is it sometimes just the way we look at things? For instance, the guy with the parking space in the movie — he got the one he wanted after driving around for 17 minutes. Law of Attraction? (as they guffaw at it in the flick) or simply a good rationalization (eventually every parking spot will open up)? Read the rest of this entry »

“There is only one boss. The customer.” - Sam Walton

Since I’ve been on a customer service rant lately, why not continue the trend? I’m not the only one… there are others at Queercents that have an equally low tolerance for lousy service.

Here’s my latest experience. This week, on several occasions, I’ve been unable to access my Yahoo! Mail. I receive an Error Code 5 which is the email equivalent of your desktop going to the dreaded blue screen. A prompt allowed me to send a message to customer care. Of course, I didn’t see this reply until my email was working again:

You can always try hitting the refresh button, closing some windows or making sure you are only signed into 1 account. However, if you are repeatedly experiencing these errors, please reply to this message and a Customer Care agent will respond within 24 hours.

Here’s a posted message from another disgruntled customer: Read the rest of this entry »

When I told my aunt that I’m going to school for massage therapy, she was elated. “I get massages every other week,” she said, “and have been for years. I consider it absolutely necessary to keep me sane.”

She runs her own business doing outpatient drug and alcohol counseling. There’s a lot of stress involved, and receiving massage that frequently is probably one of the best possible things she can do for herself to maintain her physical and mental health.

But recently, I had a client ask me: “Do most people get massage as a luxury?” I was a little surprised that someone would ask this, and didn’t really know what to say. Is it a luxury to have no back pain? And more importantly, if my clients see massage as a luxury (read: unaffordable and/or frivolous), how am I ever going to make a living in my new career? Read the rest of this entry »

In finance, there’s always something to be ashamed of.

If you live frugally, you have to reckon with turning down invitations and living with fewer or worn possessions; if your spending gets out of control you’re irresponsible. If you’re in trouble you’re ashamed to admit it; if you’re flush you’re ashamed to flaunt it. Broad funds invest in unethical companies, but stock picking or socially responsible funds are less successful investments. Money is a painfully taboo topic, even though much of the middle class is squeezed, those just below are desperate for balance, and those who need government or charitable assistance are often positively reviled.

When I write about my money, I find myself in an ironic double bind—when I feel pressured or overwhelmed, it’s embarrassing to talk about my struggles, but when I consider the comparative ease of my single, childless, salaried, credit-card-debt-free existence in a wealthy part of the country, I’m ashamed of whining. Read the rest of this entry »

The other day on Sirius satellite radio, Howard Stern was complaining about the fact that the merger between XM and Sirius has not yet been approved by US government regulators. The National Association of Broadcasters, which is made up of companies such as Clear Channel who compete against satellite radio, has been lobbying against the merger. Stern was indignant that his competitors would blatantly use the government to harm their competition. It’s hard for me to believe that this was a new revelation for a man over the age of 50, especially one who has been the focus of so much government scrutiny. Maybe he was feigning surprise for his show.

The US government has two things people want - money, which comes from taxes, and power, which comes from the ability to change the laws of the entire country. Both of these products are up for sale by members of the legislative and executive branches of government. The importance of getting a piece of this money and power has given rise to a career - the lobbyist. In fact, many former members of the government become high-paid lobbyists because of their relationships with those still in positions of power. Read the rest of this entry »

Many of us want to save the world in some way. That’s why we volunteer, support causes, donate to charity, fundraise, etc. We make our strongest efforts for the issues that matter most to us.

Social responsibility calls for decisions that benefit society at large, sometimes at the expense of our own best interests. Given the option, we’d prefer to save money on food, clothes, transportation, services, etc. We treat our finances in much the same way a company attempts to satisfy investors: keep costs lows, earnings up, and don’t go belly up.

The cheapest option is often the only choice for many consumers to manage survival in a paycheck-to-paycheck world. It’s unfortunate that most affordable options are often harmful to the environment, workers and even politics. Read the rest of this entry »