%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |    Not for the faint of art. |
|
Complex Numbers A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number. The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi. Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary. Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty. ![Merit Badge in Quill Award
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning Best Blog in the 2021 edition of [Link To Item #quills] !](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award-1375927_6.gif) ![Merit Badge in Quill Award 2
[Click For More Info]
2022 Quill Award - Best Blog - [Link To Item #1196512] . Congratulations!!!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award_2-1375927_6.gif) ![Merit Badge in 30DBC Winner
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning the Jan. 2019 [Link To Item #30dbc] !!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-30DBC_Winner-2064535_14.gif) ![Merit Badge in Blogging
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning an honorable mention for Best Blog at the 2018 Quill Awards for [Link To Item #1196512] . *^*Smile*^* This award was sponsored by the blogging consortium including [Link To Item #30dbc] , [Link To Item #blogcity] , [Link To Item #bcof] and [Link To Item #1953629] . For more details, see [Link To Item #quills] .](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Blogging-2180.gif) ![Merit Badge in Highly Recommended
[Click For More Info]
I highly recommend your blog.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Highly_Recommended.gif) ![Merit Badge in Opinion
[Click For More Info]
For diving into the prompts for Journalistic Intentions- thanks for joining the fun!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Opinion-1150.gif) ![Merit Badge in High Five
[Click For More Info]
For your inventive entries in [Link To Item #2213121] ! Thanks for the great read!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-High_Five.gif) ![Merit Badge in Enlightening
[Click For More Info]
For winning 3rd Place in [Link To Item #2213121] . Congratulations!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Enlightening.gif) ![Merit Badge in Quarks Bar
[Click For More Info]
For your awesome Klingon Bloodwine recipe from [Link to Book Entry #1016079] that deserves to be on the topmost shelf at Quark's.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quarks_Bar-2046190_12.gif)       |
| Today, from New York (not to be confused with The New Yorker), an article about the quicksand bog that tipping has become. Some of y'all are going to go out for dinner tonight because of social pressure from some made-up holiday, so it's just as well that this came up at random today. Fortunately, I'm immune. I'll just be staying home and cooking my own dinner, so the only tip I have to give is "don't get sucked in by the commercialism of Valentine's Day." I've tackled this tipping topic before, most recently just last month: "Tipping Point"  In that entry, I pointed out the following: Now, before I get shit from foreigners here, yes, I'm fully aware that American tipping culture is fucked up in the first place. Whole etiquette articles are written about it, and no one seems to agree on anything. Like the one I linked in the entry above. It's a maze of unwritten rules and expectations; it's vaguely racist, absolutely classist, and seemingly designed as one enormous shibboleth to weed out foreign tourists. It reminds me of the convoluted unwritten but absolutely essential bribery rules in other countries. I'd like to see it go away almost entirely, with prices raised across the board so servers are making a decent wage without the need for tips. Until that happens, if civilization doesn't collapse first, we're going to have to deal with this sort of thing. Once a complex set of rules exists, people who have mastered it (or in this case, think they have) don't want to see it go away. See also: US income tax filing, English grammar and spelling. My opinion hasn't changed in a month and a half. It is now almost impossible to make any sort of purchase without being confronted with a Square screen asking for 15, 20, or 25 percent. The previous article said 10, 15, or 20. This may be a New York City thing (today's article is definitely written from a Big Apple perspective), or it may be that it's already creeping up. I've also mentioned before that I've seen much higher "suggestions" in taxi cabs in Las Vegas, so I'm leaning toward the former. And not just for a coffee: Buying a water bottle at the deli or crackers at a specialty grocery store now sometimes also prompts the option. Oh, hell no. This might irritate or confuse you, but the reality is there are new social expectations around what deserves a tip. I want to know exactly who decides these things. It ain't me. At restaurants, the previous range of socially acceptable and ethically expected tips was 15 to 20 percent; now, it’s 20 to 25. This goes for whether you’re at an Olive Garden or I Sodi and whether you liked the service or not. What in the New York hell is I Sodi? (googles) Oh. It's an upscale northern Italian place in Greenwich Village. Look, I don't live there, and even people who do never discover everything about the place. Especially concerning restaurants in the Village, which have a half-life of 2 years. But that's irrelevant. It occurs to me that the way to end tipping culture, apart from the necessity of pricing things higher and using the excess to pay your wage slaves decent salaries to begin with (said decent salary being significantly higher in NYC), would be not to assert that one doesn't have to tip, but to start a rumor that the only socially acceptable tip is over 100%. If that spreads around, people will freak out and stop going to restaurants, and the entire industry will have to clean up its act or collapse. It's a natural progression of tip inflation, after all. Which is worse than regular inflation, because if you used to tip 15% on a $10 meal, and the meal is now $24 and you're expected to tip 25%, well... (math) your tip that was $1.50 is now $6, a 300% increase on a 140% meal price increase. Blame this on inflation, COVID, the heightened awareness of the fact that more than half your servers’ salary probably comes from tips. It’s just the rules; don’t complain. Oh, screw you. Like I said above, the price of the meal is what's affected by inflation. Damn right I'm going to complain. Not to the server, though; I'll still tip and then rant about the entire class-division-enforcing practice right here and to anyone else who'll listen. At coffee shops, coffee carts, cafés, and bodegas, tip at least 20 percent. No. Absolutely not. Line in the sand right there. I tip at restaurants because I'm paying for them to take my order, bring the order, bus the table, and generally be of service. Never at coffee shops where you're the one doing 90% of the work, with the other 10% being just like working at McDonald's. Even though their pay isn’t as tip dependent as waiters’, the average salary for a barista in New York is just above minimum wage. Sounds like it's time for them to organize. For food delivery, tip a minimum of $5, or 20 percent, whichever is greater, and even more in bad weather. On this, I actually agree. Again, they're doing you a service. Would I prefer a system that pays them better where I'm not expected to tip? Sure. When picking up takeout at a restaurant, it’s easy to understand why you might not tip anything — but you must tip at least 10 percent. No. At a bar, the conventional wisdom stands: Tip at least $1 per drink if you’re just getting a beer and 20 percent for a cocktail. Always tip bartenders. If you’re at a food counter — a cheese shop, a deli counter, or a fast-casual lunch spot where employees are telling you about the items, slicing, or mixing you a grain bowl — you must tip something if prompted. I kind of agree with this bit. They're doing you a service, and tips are meant to be for service above and beyond the job description. (I know I've noted this before, but do not be taken in by the myth that TIPS is an acronym.) Tip Uber drivers the same way you’d tip a cabdriver — at least 20 percent. I tried tipping a cab driver only 20% in NYC once and got the world-famous New York City attitude for it. Happened in Vegas, too, only worse. But I do tip Uber drivers, for the same reason I tip delivery drivers. For everything else — hairstylists, waxers, movers — tip 20 percent minimum. And, always, more if you can. Again, this doesn't seem unreasonable, except that the whole system is unreasonable. It needs to stop, but we're not going to stop it by not tipping; until someone does something to break the cycle once and for all (an apocalypse might do that), I can see the need to tip underpaid service workers. Just not at coffee shops. Come on. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
