Service charges at restaurants should not be included in the bill

I am not a penny-pincher and I happily tip waiters or waitresses that deserve it. Friendly polite staff who have been attentive and who I think have done a good job will get a healthy tip.

It angers me when you go to a restaurant and they automatically add-on a service charge of 10% – 15%. I am the one who decides if the service has been up to standard not you, the restaurant manager. Basically they are saying “we know our service is good and we don’t give fuck about your opinion (the paying customer) so we are adding on another 10%, oh and you have no choice to pay it”.

Most places that do this don’t even tell you until its time to settle up the bill knowing full well you can’t get out of paying it no matter how bad the food or service was.

What happens if the service is bad? Can I ask for it to be taken off? Can I bollocks

People who put their bag on a spare seat on public transport should be made to walk

This one is self-explanatory really. You know what its like when you manage to get on a really busy bus or train and you identify a spare seat and think “result”. Only when you get there you realise the lady on the adjacent seat has decided she needs to use it to hold her hand bag. You then politely ask her “excuse, do you mind if I sit down?” and its met with “Sorry this seat is taken”. Sorry I must apologise I thought this was a bus carrying people not a luggage transporter. Perhaps you wouldn’t need such a big handbag if you weren’t so hideously ugly.

If I wanted to stand I might as well walk to work rather than have people’s sweaty armpits or halitosis in my face the whole way. I like using public transport but people like this should be made to walk. Then may be they would appreciate public transport a little more and I could get a fucking seat!

Reality TV

X-Factor, Big Brother, Pop Idol, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent. Mind numbing, brain rotting excuses for entertainment.

Who watches this shit? I mean seriously, who has enough spare time on their hands to sit down and watch a mentally challenged woman from Darlington try to sing Phantom of the Opera? And then spend their own money ringing up to vote, which is a total waste these votes are rigged. Do you really think Simon Cowell would risk his own time and money flogging a dead horse?

It is time we stood up and say no more. Reality TV is just an acceptable version of the carnival freak show. They build these contestants up to be heroes and then ruthlessly rip them apart all in the name of entertainment. Take the audition rounds for example when they only show the nut-cases that think they have the voice of angel but tonally have more in common with Sloth from the Goonies. They have even started to put these people through to the “next round”, not because they are any good but because they are bat-shit crazy and they can get a few more cheap laughs from keeping them in the show.

People with real talent will always rise to the top. It takes hard work and dedication to get there but if you are good enough it will happen. Nowadays people see reality TV as a fast track to being rich and famous regardless of talent. Tell me how many people who won Big Brother or the X-Factor and are still classed as a celebrity today? Susan Boyle is the only one I can think of, yes she can sing but she didn’t become famous for that, she became famous for being one of societies miss-fits and she made “good TV”. No one seems to care it made her (even more) mentally unstable.

I equate this to going to a school and picking the remedial class to enter the school spelling competition, everyone knows they will be shit but at least everyone else will get a few cheap laughs. The sad thing is that the people who go on these shows don’t realise they are the butt of the joke and everyone is laughing at them not with them.

Worse than the shows mentioned above is the new breed of reality TV that is rearing its ugly head. TV shows like “The Only Way is Essex” and “Jersey Shore”. Do I want to watch some slag from Essex talk about how she got back-scuttled by half of the Southend Football team like it’s a badge of honour? I bet their parents are really proud.

Facebook Attention Whores

We all know this scenario, you log onto facebook out of sheer boredom, you hope to find that someone has posted an amusing story about their day or an amusing post from the Grumpy old Gits… But instead you’re greeted with a never ending list of other peoples problems.

The most annoying ‘depressing posts’ are from the real attention whores who’ll post something along the lines of “This is the worst possible thing that could happen, I don’t even know why I’m alive.” and then in the comments someone will have inevitably fallen for it and asked what’s wrong, only the be answered by “I don’t want to talk about it.” SERIOUSLY!?

The other annoying ‘depressing posts’ that really wind me up personally, are the ones where they do tell everyone what’s wrong with them and it turns out to be something so minor and insignificant that you have to take a second to work out whether or not they’re joking (Which they never are.)

Now don’t get me wrong I know everyone has problems and everyone deals with them differently and that’s fine, but 80% of the time you just want to grab the person through the screen and shout in their face “ARE YOU KIDDING?! I can’t even afford fucking food and you’re crying all over Facebook about that?!?!

People should stop telling the world about their problems and just deal with them like everyone else. What good’s really gonna come from you telling your 500+ friends that you’ve just had an argument with your wife? And do you really think they all want to take time out their days to read about how upset you are with your life? NO, no one gives a shit!

The fact that these people can even get onto facebook is proof that they have nothing to whinen about. They’ve obviously got enough money to afford a phone or computer. Which would indicate that they have a roof over their head, which in turn is a lot more than some people.