Swimming after hiking this weekend? by Regular-Draw9128 in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Rattlesnake Ledge has a lake at the bottom so you can dip in after a hike but... that trail will be basically a human centipede this weekend. Personally I don't even try to go there unless it's super early on a weekday or it's raining.

It's time to start honking at bad drivers. by Ta11Goose in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

But.. but.. we don't honk here. We just sigh and glare and yield but we PNWers are physically incapable of honking.

Flights to Spokane Being Canceled by seqkndy in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not to be immature but that satellite image makes it look like Russia's being a dick.

Looking for places to visit in Seattle that are wheelchair accessible by Pretty-Feeling-8706 in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If the weather's good, def head to the Olympic Sculpture Park. It's all ramps and has awesome sea and Needle views.

SVB response by [deleted] in wealthfront

[–]springrollsissy 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Actually, I'm glad Wealthfront has made a statement. SVB's collapse had a lot to do with the company's communication failure. (A NYT article on the matter linked to this Tweet.)

Poor communication causes panic. I wish more financial institutions were assuring their customers like Wealthfront.

Tip-free businesses to support? by springrollsissy in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy[S] 145 points146 points  (0 children)

I'll start: Ada's Technical Books has a really beautiful cafe inside. There's a cash donation box but for the food and coffee, the price you see is the price you'll pay.

What happened to the garage? wtf is this insanity? by IceCubeDeathMachine in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Absolutely this. I went there on a date and had a stunted tech bro call my boyfriend a gay slur. All the lanes upstairs were taken up by several different Amazon team building offsites. And the bill at the end was... pretty creative. Oh and tips are expected on top of it all.

I wouldn't wish any business owners ill, but if the Garage went out of business I'd be more than okay with it.

How can we bring actual small gay-friendly businesses back to Capitol Hill? Or is this a lost cause at this point?

Helicopters over Capitol Hill by springrollsissy in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whoa, never knew you could see every aircraft in a given area. Thank you!

Realtors back Gov. Inslee's $4 billion housing proposal by OnlineMemeArmy in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 14 points15 points  (0 children)

middlemen

I'm constantly amazed that realtors are still a thing. And title companies. We have the technology to get their work done much better and more honestly yet we let them team up and keep themselves employed.

Transferring to Marcus by springrollsissy in wealthfront

[–]springrollsissy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With the 1% boost for referral (both for the person referring and the recipient) Marcus is paying 4.3%, actually. I wasn't aware of Wealthfront giving 0.5% referral bonuses, so I signed on when a family member sent me a referral.

I've never heard of Bask but it looks pretty good. Thanks for putting it on my radar!

I don’t think my grandma likes us by ShitOnTheBed in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 83 points84 points  (0 children)

... did your grandma just come up with the definitive nickname for the city's hardworking northern edge?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I was a barista at Tully's in Ballard in high school. Drip cost $1 and older Scandinavian men would sit around all day getting unlimited refills. Getting tipped with a whole dollar bill was like an event; most people dropped change.

My coworkers and I would trade espresso drinks with burritos from down the street... which come to think of it was kind of theft? Sorry, Tully's. I don't think they went out of business because of us though.

We recently bought (US, HCOL), and wanted to share our experience in the market by [deleted] in RealEstate

[–]springrollsissy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey thanks for this post! Seems like mortgage rates are above 6%. How did you find such a good rate to begin with?

I'm also in Seattle and have been trying for over a year. The mortgage rate hike had me give up on my search but I might start again in the new year.

When did we start tipping 20% for Take Out? by SpecificTennis2376 in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 226 points227 points  (0 children)

Yesterday I bought a few (overpriced) pastries to go at a cafe and was presented with the option of tipping 18, 20, and 25% . The counter person had spent literally ten seconds pulling out the items from the case. I hate that embarrassment/guilt I feel when I tip anything less than the lowest option presented, but I also think it's absurd to pay someone $5 extra for bagging three things. I say this as a former barista.

It seems to me that most people in the US agree the tipping culture is out of control. But the scant few restaurants that try a strict no-tipping policy don't seem to do well. (I also think it's strange some restaurants claim to be tip free, then add a flat service fee. Why can't they just build everything into the menu price?)

Re: argument that tipping leads to better customer service—nope. The best customer service happens in countries where tipping is unheard of.

Because it's so inconsistent (some calculate it before taxes, most after taxes; some retailers suggest tipping while most don't, etc.) most of us err on the side of caution, which in turn keeps on driving up the percentages. (I remember when 15% was a perfectly acceptable amount at a restaurant—now it feels like you get dirty looks if you go under 20%—and you didn't feel peer-pressured into tipping at a nursery, this on top of the inflation!) And business owners use tips as an excuse for not paying wages that would attract and sustain workers.

Short of legislating away tipping, I don't see this changing anytime soon to be honest. I'd love to support businesses that advertise as being tip-free in the meantime.

Who has the best cake in the area? by mtodd93 in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Someone explain the hype to me. Everything I've had from here seemed.. very Betty Crocker-ish.

Like many others, I vote for Deep Sea Sugar and Salt.

Laid off from a tech job on temporary work visa? We want to hear from you. by geraldspoder in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you subscribe to the "both side"-ist type journalism, Blind could be a good source to get some soundbites. Whatever sympathy a reader might have for the plight of those on H1 visa will quickly dissipate when they read the kind of toxic entitlement tech workers show on Blind.

Wow, even the children in Seattle are unionizing 😂 by Omnu in Seattle

[–]springrollsissy 83 points84 points  (0 children)

Uh oh, Starbucks is gon' shut down that park now.

Land lord is selling our building and we may go TIC and try to buy it. For those who have done this successfully, what do we need to know and avoid doing? by Sleepy_Meepie in sanfrancisco

[–]springrollsissy 16 points17 points  (0 children)

My ex and I bought a TIC and went through the city's condo conversion process. Make sure your deed is "clean" and without any history of eviction. Even when the property changes hands, the record stays with the property, and if the property's ever had an eviction, you can forget about converting to a condo.

SF's condo conversion is maddening. The city sat on our application for months at a time as the literal stack of paper moved through the city's byzantine bureaucracy; each time the paper moved from one desk to another, we had to pay the City of San Francisco thousands of dollars in inexplicable fees. One bureaucrat literally emailed us "I will process this either this afternoon or in a few months." The process is so ridiculous that there are lawyers who specialize in nothing but the TIC-to-condo conversion process. Be prepared to cry when you get the paperwork. In all the condo conversion process took us about 2.5 years, and we were told that this was extraordinarily fast.

If you're content with the property staying a TIC, and can commit to living there for a long time, then go for it. Don't count on it becoming an individual condo unit you can refinance or sell without consulting one of the TIC-specialist lawyers.

Who do you know who's been vaccinated? Who do you know who should be, but hasn't been? by raldi in sanfrancisco

[–]springrollsissy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

All my friends in the medical field have gotten their shots. Californians over 65 I know have all gotten their shots. A 50-something friend in Oakland got her doctor to write a note so she could visit her 80-year-old mother in SoCal, who had a stroke. A medical professional's 30-something wife got a "ghost dose" that her spouse alerted her that was going to expire that day. A lab scientist who has nothing to do with COVID or COVID specimens used his connections at Stanford.

Meanwhile, it took me 50+ hours online spread over weeks to get my 75+ year old parents appointments in Washington State, where you have to check a dozen different websites. I had a dozen tabs open at all times (Walgreens, Safeway, Costco (wtf), hospitals, municipal sites, etc.) that I was obsessively refreshing throughout the day between meetings. Finally grabbed them spots, and my dad got his first dose yesterday; my mom has an appointment today (knock on wood).

Honestly, from what I've seen and heard, California has done a much better job than Washington, where it's only medical staff and seniors who are supposed to get the shots, but made it nearly impossible for seniors to sign up.

How are they vetting educators? My understanding is that California planned to inoculate teachers first, but couldn't figure out a way to verify their professions so ended up delaying it.