Things I love about my job #1

a.k.a. Things That Are Not Douchey.

Today, a nice older customer (NOC) drew me to one side and whispered "someone has left money on a table upstairs as a tip.  It's not a lot, but it's something, a nice something to get.  Go get it before another customer does!"*  I went to let my manager know so he could send someone else to get it, there was service and I'm not about to leave them waiting just so I can financially profit.  NOC floated about for a little while on the stairs, I assume to wait for someone to go running off after the tip (which I strongly suspect he left).  He disappeared for a while, came back downstairs, and pressed his money into my hands with a "Shh!"

I had to smile.  Tips aren't customary in Australia, and I couldn't have accepted his money anyway even if they were (his money went to the instore charity box).  But it was nice to hear that a customer appreciated what I do.  So very often, the only genuine gratitude I hear is "thanks!" as some tosser leaves his rubbish, sometimes right next to the bin(!), for me to clean up.

Thanks, mystery customer.  You made my day.

* not verbatim, but it's midnight, so fuck off.

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Untitled

From my Family Law textbook:

[T]he link between women's inequality and violence was fundamental.  The legal system's tolerance of violence against women underwrites women's inequality before the law.  Women cannot be equal until the legal system responds effectively to violence and until women are treated as equals, violence against them will not be reduced.  The experience of violence is in itself disempowering for women and impedes their access to legal services.

I only wish that more countries in the world (::ahem::America!::ahem::) realised this and took actions to change it.

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Review: Tofu King, Swanston St

I've been wanting to go to this place pretty much since it opened.  Lots of hype.  I love tofu, and the decor was pretty and ooh so shiny.  So very high expectations here, and I was pretty stoked when we went.  I had claypot noodles, Mark had "onion fried chicken with fried rice" (near verbatim), and we both had ginger and spring onion dumplings, and curry puffs.

Thorough disappointment ensued.  Reasons:

• The dumplings contained prawns.  I'm allergic to prawns.  The menu made zero mention of this, and IIRC ginger and spring onion dumplings are typically pork.  Not atypical for an Asian restaurant to not list allergens, but seeing as how this place has only been open for a few months, I would have thought they'd have a footnote or something.
• Aforementioned dumplings tasted... less than fresh.
• The food came out at very different times.  Between the time my plate went out and Mark's plate got to our table, I'd probably had enough time to finish a couple of levels on Farm Frenzy.  This was apparently the norm; by the time we left, three different tables had been and gone, and their stuff went out at very different times too.  Mark points out that the wait was not unusual, and I suppose it wasn't for our stuff (because it came from the kitchen, not the noodle bar out front), but I thought it was weird for the tables who ordered stuff from the tofu noodle bar thingy to get their stuff at such different times.  Even accounting for them making the plates one at a time.  Which, fyi is also inefficient, but whatever.
• There was more salt than broth in my broth.  I wish I was joking.  Now, I'm a fan of really salty stuff, but if it's so salty that I'm chugging water with every mouthful, maybe someone in the kitchen should put down the salt shaker.
• There was no "please order here" sign.  Minor niggle, but given as nearly every other restaurant I've ever been to with that "system" (read: Menya) has had a giant unmissable sign, it's still a noticeable issue.  But maybe I'm just annoyed because it took me ages to cotton on to the fact that there wasn't going to be someone coming to the table to take our orders.
• Communal sauce.  I'm all for sharing, but when your only chili/soy/whatever sauces are available on a single bench tucked away in a corner, there are probably going to be issues.

Pros?

• Communal water, too.  The thing that annoys me about places like Claypot King is that it always takes forever for the waitresses to get that you want more water, and you don't get a jug for the table.  Not an issue here.  AND they had pandan-flavoured water!

Tl;dr?  I'm easily annoyed about the little things.  As such, this place gets a 2.5/10 for today's experience.

Scoring system: start at 5, +.5 for every "good" point, -.5 for every not-so-good point.

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Redaction

The case is Hartridge, not Hartwick.  I'm fucking stupid.  Sorry.

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Oh Australia...

Browsing CaseBase for a case I have the name of but no year or citation, and I find this:

Criminal law — Offences — Fortune telling — Definition of word 'pretend'

Section 40 provides that 'every person who for personal gain (a) pretends to tell fortunes; to deceive any person, shall be guilty of an offence

Held: The word 'pretend' in the section is used in the sense of 'to profess or claim', and not in the sense of 'to feign or to offer as true' something which is not. Accordingly the offence may be committed by a fortune teller who has a genuine belief in his ability to tell fortunes.

The case in question is Hartwick v Samuels (1976) 14 SASR 209, if anyone wants to try to find it.  I couldn't get access to the full document, but now I'm intrigued.  Also, saddened that a REAL FORTUNE TELLER can't practise in South Australia.

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