Greetings from Banff

Dear Friends,

Here we are in Banff. George is at a conference, and I'm the tagalong. This is good considering our house is a wreck and my computer is broken...again!

Yes, the computer. I guess it's time to visit the Apple Genius people again. Oh, it must be nice to have a job where you are called a genius. Everyone looks up to you and wants and needs your attention. Nice. My job usually doesn't go in that direction, considering that I have two teenagers. (btw RIP Steve Jobs).

Banff is a beautiful place. Have to complain a little about the beautiful Banff Springs Hotel. For the second year in a row we ended up in the parking lot view room. We made such a scene last time, we figured that this could not happen again. AND...this was after George called 3 times to make sure that we were not in a parking lot view room. Not even if we were really looking at cars, we are looking at concrete walls. What is the point when you are in beautiful wilderness???

Now, we have been upgraded in room and price to the "best view in the house." It is truly spectacular. It is also because we have been in the "best view in the house" before that we whine so much about the parking lot view. My goodness!

House. Disaster. The renovation looks great. All of our crap? Looks bad. Need I go further? I think not.

We are celebrating 18 years of marriage. Still no one I'd rather spend my time with even after all of this time. He wants me to give up my land ownership and become a full time water girl. Love will always make you a fool. That is all I can say.

I'm going to run and watch The Help. Hope you are having a good week.

TTFN,
Deb

Ungrateful Gratuity: If The Tip's Included, Is It A Tip???

My husband and I are enjoying a getaway to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. We just had luxurious massages at their well-appointed Willow Stream Spa.

The interesting part of this story, is that we had to pay up front, before our spa experience even began. We checked in at the counter and were asked to sign a bill that included gratuity...very nice, generous gratuity.

I was a waitress for years, and I worked my butt off for every penny in tips that I earned. You learned quickly that if you did not hustle and smile, you did not make any money. My waitress counterparts and I knew that our service directly impacted our gratuity. To this day, I am a generous tipper.

Flash forward to the swanky Willow Stream Spa. The massages are expensive, compared even to San Francisco spa prices, and I feel like I was paying it forward in gratuity--yes, paying it forward unvoluntarily big time in hope that I would have a good massage.

Is it gratuity if it is mandatory? Am I ensuring that I will get good service from my therapist if they are hoping to score a big tip? What if my experience is substandard?

I think that if you add 20 percent gratuity to any service, you should just make that part of the price. I mean, it's a guarantee, right? The therapists get my money whether I want to part with or not. It has nothing to do with my appreciation.

I'm not begrudging the tipping process, I'm just saying, call a spade a spade. It's not a tip if it's mandatory, it's the cost of the service.