Topic: Little Things That Irritate Me

[rrocket]

Speaking of tips, at some point over the past half a dozen years I like many have moved to the 20% tip for things like sit down restaurants, hair cuts, etc.  I’m starting to think that I should go back to 15% because I don’t feel like a lot of these people are truly doing anything over and above, so why give them the extra 5%.  Maybe I’m just a grumpy old man. 

Also, tipping for fast food is stupid.  I also don’t donate money at checkouts.  If I want to donate it’ll either be a charity I pick, likely animal related, or from someone who takes the effort to come to my door and talk to me in person about the cause.

Yea, I tip on performance.

Average service begets average tips.

[HeliDriver]

I never used to tip on take-out, but now I regularly throw on 10%. Seems like a generous thing to do and it doesn't really bug me.

But if I don't feel like it for some reason, I also have zero guilt over hitting the skip button and leaving no tip whatsoever. Just because a tip is the default option doesn't mean you have to use it. I've been at a few places where the counter person hands over the machine and tells me to "just hit the skip button." Even they realize the idea of a tip for that kind of transaction is ludicrous.

But I agree that the standard options of 15%/20%/25% are pretty stupid, especially for takeout. I was pleasantly surprised last summer when we stopped for lunch at a St. Hubert in QC. Wasn't a proper restaurant, but kind of a fast-food hybrid place. When they presented the payment machine, default tip options were 7%/10%/12% IIRC. That seems like a smarter way to go about it for places that aren't proper restaurants.

[ktm525]

cash. 10% off. Canadians are haggling wussies.

[Allen]

20% for sit down service, zero for fast food, take out, etc.

[WP v3.32]

Tipping needs to die.

[Jaeger]

I never used to tip on take-out, but now I regularly throw on 10%. Seems like a generous thing to do and it doesn't really bug me.

Ditto.

[draghon]

Some debris put a giant gash in one of the Sienna tires. No plug or goo would be able to fix. Good thing it was in the city as i could easily bring my floor jack and one of the winter tires to fix it in short order. Reminds me that i need to pickup a compact jack and lug wrench to keep in the van. I'll throw in one of the snows anytime its going out on the highway. Irritating that a compact spare is at least optional in the US but not available at all in Canada.

[JohnnyMac]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

[Allen]

Yep my highest was 18% in the 80's

[OliverD]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, with a low principal that difference in rate is almost irrelevant.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice. 

[JohnnyMac]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice.

Yeah we have a similar setup for ours, we increase it ourselves every year when we get our property assessment to avoid some bigger adjustment at the end of the year.  We had been paying a bit too much for a number of years and actually chose to take out money from the property tax account and put it against the mortgage years ago.  Since then I have kept a close eye on it, as that balance does not make much in interest at all.

[PJungnitsch]

Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

17 to 18% interest rates did scare me off buying a bunch of land to go farming with in the 80's, but being as land prices were 10X to 15X lower back then, I would be a rich man today if I could have made it work

[OliverD]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice.

Yeah we have a similar setup for ours, we increase it ourselves every year when we get our property assessment to avoid some bigger adjustment at the end of the year.  We had been paying a bit too much for a number of years and actually chose to take out money from the property tax account and put it against the mortgage years ago.  Since then I have kept a close eye on it, as that balance does not make much in interest at all.

Now that SNB allows you to make property tax payments monthly (introduced a few years back) you should switch to that. It's basically the government giving you a 0% loan because you pay throughout the year, rather than pre-paying as you do when including it in the mortgage payment.

[JohnnyMac]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice.

Yeah we have a similar setup for ours, we increase it ourselves every year when we get our property assessment to avoid some bigger adjustment at the end of the year.  We had been paying a bit too much for a number of years and actually chose to take out money from the property tax account and put it against the mortgage years ago.  Since then I have kept a close eye on it, as that balance does not make much in interest at all.

Now that SNB allows you to make property tax payments monthly (introduced a few years back) you should switch to that. It's basically the government giving you a 0% loan because you pay throughout the year, rather than pre-paying as you do when including it in the mortgage payment.

We will definitely be switching to that once our mortgage is paid off and the bank no longer looks after the property tax for us.

[OliverD]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice.

Yeah we have a similar setup for ours, we increase it ourselves every year when we get our property assessment to avoid some bigger adjustment at the end of the year.  We had been paying a bit too much for a number of years and actually chose to take out money from the property tax account and put it against the mortgage years ago.  Since then I have kept a close eye on it, as that balance does not make much in interest at all.

Now that SNB allows you to make property tax payments monthly (introduced a few years back) you should switch to that. It's basically the government giving you a 0% loan because you pay throughout the year, rather than pre-paying as you do when including it in the mortgage payment.

We will definitely be switching to that once our mortgage is paid off and the bank no longer looks after the property tax for us.

Why not switch now? You can apply what's already in the tax account to the mortgage and pay it off even quicker.

[JohnnyMac]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice.

Yeah we have a similar setup for ours, we increase it ourselves every year when we get our property assessment to avoid some bigger adjustment at the end of the year.  We had been paying a bit too much for a number of years and actually chose to take out money from the property tax account and put it against the mortgage years ago.  Since then I have kept a close eye on it, as that balance does not make much in interest at all.

Now that SNB allows you to make property tax payments monthly (introduced a few years back) you should switch to that. It's basically the government giving you a 0% loan because you pay throughout the year, rather than pre-paying as you do when including it in the mortgage payment.

We will definitely be switching to that once our mortgage is paid off and the bank no longer looks after the property tax for us.

Why not switch now? You can apply what's already in the tax account to the mortgage and pay it off even quicker.

I guess because I'm lazy and don't mind the convenience of the current setup.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice.

Yeah we have a similar setup for ours, we increase it ourselves every year when we get our property assessment to avoid some bigger adjustment at the end of the year.  We had been paying a bit too much for a number of years and actually chose to take out money from the property tax account and put it against the mortgage years ago.  Since then I have kept a close eye on it, as that balance does not make much in interest at all.

Now that SNB allows you to make property tax payments monthly (introduced a few years back) you should switch to that. It's basically the government giving you a 0% loan because you pay throughout the year, rather than pre-paying as you do when including it in the mortgage payment.

We will definitely be switching to that once our mortgage is paid off and the bank no longer looks after the property tax for us.

Why not switch now? You can apply what's already in the tax account to the mortgage and pay it off even quicker.

I guess because I'm lazy and don't mind the convenience of the current setup.

convenience, and a system that's already set up is a big plus.  And realistically, over the remainder of your mortgage, you might gain, what $50?  We're not talking huge amounts of money here.

[OliverD]

Mortgage renewal time, going from 2.92% to 5.08%, which is the highest it will have ever been during the 16 years we've had our mortgage.  On the bright side, our principle is extremely low and we should have it paid off in 2026, so the increased interest rate won't have a big impact, but still annoying that it's this high.  Don't know how those poor people back in the 80's got by with interest rates that were similar to our current credit card rates.

Yeah, I renewed mine in April - went from 3.25 to 5.5%  I opted to renew with a 3 year term this time, hoping to break the cycle of renewing when mortgage rates are peaking. 

One little bonus, however - my bank collects my property taxes with my mortgage payments, and pays the city annually.  There was enough of a surplus left over from this year's tax payment - it had actually been accumulating a little bit every year - that my property tax payment went down significantly for this entire next year.  It actually almost covers the rate increase from the interest.  So that's nice.

Yeah we have a similar setup for ours, we increase it ourselves every year when we get our property assessment to avoid some bigger adjustment at the end of the year.  We had been paying a bit too much for a number of years and actually chose to take out money from the property tax account and put it against the mortgage years ago.  Since then I have kept a close eye on it, as that balance does not make much in interest at all.

Now that SNB allows you to make property tax payments monthly (introduced a few years back) you should switch to that. It's basically the government giving you a 0% loan because you pay throughout the year, rather than pre-paying as you do when including it in the mortgage payment.

We will definitely be switching to that once our mortgage is paid off and the bank no longer looks after the property tax for us.

Why not switch now? You can apply what's already in the tax account to the mortgage and pay it off even quicker.

I guess because I'm lazy and don't mind the convenience of the current setup.

convenience, and a system that's already set up is a big plus.  And realistically, over the remainder of your mortgage, you might gain, what $50?  We're not talking huge amounts of money here.

You may not save much, but you can probably pay off the mortgage a few months earlier. It's a pretty simple thing to do.

[KD]

This afternoon I got stuck behind a line of Harley trikes on a twisty and bumpy back road with a speed limit of 80km/h.  Had no choice but sit back and watch them meander and bounce down the road going between 40 - 50km/h for around 20km.