You know about the great diversity of answers to the question “Who are the worst tippers?” on Waiter Rant. We posted about that here and here. But many people, in their posts, also included their opinion on the type of people that are the best tippers. So here ya go: Florida Jews The absolute best [...]

Our previous post about Waiter Rant‘s thread on “Who are the worst tippers?” highlighted these groups of people: Canadians, middle-aged blue collar men, Scandinavians, Brazilians, women in groups, Baptists, senior citizens, African Americans, elderly country club women, recovering cocaine addicts, Indians, flatterers, non-smokers, teachers, upper middle-class baby boomers, athletes, Japanese, French, Europeans, Jehovah’s Witnesses, elected [...]

The recession has fewer people eating out, which means less in tips for waiters and waitresses. This can only accentuate the hard feeling felt by restaurant staff at poor tippers. A recent posting on the blog Waiter Rant asked waiters and waitresses which people they considered to be the worst at doling out an adequate [...]

Speaking of crime and the recession, we found this press release issued last year by the National Retail Federation. It deals with store return policies and “return fraud.”

Though retailers seem to be confronting return fraud, incidents continue to permeate most retail stores. According to the survey, most retailers (88.9%) have had stolen merchandise returned to stores within the past year. Retailers also report being victimized by returns of merchandise originally purchased with fraudulent or stolen tender (74.1%) and returns using counterfeit receipts (45.7%).

The release goes on to address something called “wardrobing.”

Welcome back everyone. You lived through Thanksgiving, and Black Friday. But just 3 1/2 more weeks till Christmas. Better get clicking, for today is: CYBER MONDAY! From Wikipedia: The term “Cyber Monday” is a neologism invented by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation. It was first used within the ecommerce community [...]

If you’re starting your holiday shopping tomorrow and are looking for bargains, check these sites… BlackFriday.info BlackFriday.com BlackFriday.net Black Friday 2009 Gottadeal.com Google search: Black Friday ads Related post: Buy Nothing Day

As most consumers with an early eye on holiday shopping know, the day after Thanksgiving is also known as Black Friday.” On that day, savvy purchasers arise at 4 a.m., attire themselves in running shoes, flak jacket, and football helmet, and brave the vast hordes of salivating shoppers intent on scoring a dirt cheap price for their desired merchandise.

Yes, it’s easy to be snide. But in the midst of this brutal recession, with 10% unemployment, who can blame beleaguered Americans for seizing any opportunity they can to achieve some semblance of their former lifestyle while still meeting their dwindling budgets? Plus the economy needs that holidays’ jolt. Early scenes from the mall have not been encouraging.

Thanksgiving dinner recipes (Recession Recipes) – inexpensive brussel sprout, potato, stuffing, and turkey dishes Simple and Cheap Thanksgiving Table Setting (Blog n’ Tell)) – tips and tricks for a simple, earthy look Recession Proof Harvest Thanksgiving Table Silverware Cones and Place Setting Cards (Maya Road Design Team) – Thanksgiving table setting crafts project

Listen free to the Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Hotline today, till 7pm ET, at the SIRIUS satellite radio site. Famous chefs are answering Thanksgiving-related questions. Also, you can download for free the Martha Stewart Living Thanksgiving Hotline Cookbook. Even through your Internet connection, you can smell the classiness…

Remember our post on the blog Repaired Things? You do? Well that is quite flattering, thank you so much. Anyhoo…as we wrote at the time, many people these days don’t have the dough to replace their broken stuff. Where Repaired Things catalogues more-routine home solutions, There, I Fixed It goes one better, documenting “epic kludges [...]