O.J.

We have play tickets at a theater about 50 miles from where we live so when we attend a performance we often spend the night so we can visit a museum and eat some unusual ethnic food - it's a cultural night out.  Our last hotel provided free parking but it was valet only.  Frankly, I can park my own car.  I can almost see where they park it.  Instead of waiting for some kid to get my car I could walk down and get it myself and be at the theater before I reached the head of the valet queue.  One of my buy-coffee-for-the-person-behind-me resolutions for the last several years has been to tip like a billionaire.  Actually, I'm probably more generous than that although it sticks slightly in my craw every time I do it.  We were in and out of the hotel twice so that was $20 in tips.  I can afford this and the guys who were fetching and retrieving the vehicle . . . god only knows how they can afford to live in this quite expensive city.  I feel like I'm being of service when I do this.  I feel like some of the money that God has so generously showered on me is meant for other people.  In the moment it's still a weird experience being generous but I know that it's one of those behaviors that makes me a better person.

To continue: I use a hotel booking website that provides some benefits to people that book enough hotels and we have accrued enough good will that we receive a $50 breakfast credit at most places.  I know this sounds like a lot but we're in L.A. so a couple of breakfast burritos with the tip pre-added and a delivery fee and there's your $50.  We had a little money left over so SuperK - ever the thrifty German - got a couple of $6 glasses of orange juice to take us right up to the edge.  We don't leave money on the table, goddammit.  A few minutes later the room service folks called up to say that they had made a mistake, that we had gone over the limit, so SuperK just had them remove the juices. But when the guy shows up with our food he also had the drinks.  I told him we didn't order them while I was tipping him an additional $5.  I changed my mind and said: "You know what - we'll take the juice."  He told me he'd have to charge me for them.  I waved him off cheerfully.  He paused for a minute and then said: "You know what - I don't feel like taking them back" and passed them back over to me.  Yeah, they're sitting on a cart that he's going to wheel back to the kitchen so it didn't look like it was going to be too much work.  I think it was just our whole demeanor and attitude that did it.  And the $5 didn't hurt, either.