Working as a housekeeper at a hotel is a disgusting, thankless job.
Cleaners aren’t paid well, but they’re expected to contend with our
dirty towels, garbage cans full of personal products, and bed sheets
stained by bodily fluids and dead skin – and that’s just the rooms of
well-behaved guests. A friend of mine who used to work at a resort in
British Columbia tells me that it wasn’t shocking for her to find poop
stains on washcloths, used condoms on the carpet next to a bed, or room
service food stomped into a rug. If anyone deserves a tip, the people
who pick up after us while we’re traveling do.
I can’t say how many people bother to leave a few bucks on their
hotel room dresser for their housekeeper. I’m ashamed to say that I
never used to think of it until I saw my wife do it. Now, I refuse to
checkout without leaving some cash for the cleaning crew as a thank-you
for everything they do. Last night, while on assignment in Tampa, I
found the envelope pictured above. It’s the first time I’ve run across
anything like it. What a classy way to remind a hotel guest of how hard
housekeepers work to make a guest’s stay a pleasant one. If you can
afford it, try to remember to tip them before you clear out.
What might only be a few bucks to you could make the day of someone
busting their ass to make the room we just stayed in look its best.
On March 7, the Florida legislature passed a gun control bill in a
bipartisan 67-50 vote, banning bump-stocks and imposing a 3-day waiting
period on long-gun purchases and raising the minimum age for their
purchase to 21; the legislation is a mixed bag as it also includes
millions to arm and train school employees.
Despite this sop to gunhumpers, the NRA ardently opposed the
legislation, which would normally have guaranteed that it would die.
Instead, student activists from across Florida marched on the
Tallahassee legislature, pouring on pressure for three solid weeks to
see the legislation passed. The bill does not include their key demand: a
ban on assault-style weapons whose primary use is anti-personnel.
Florida governor Rick Scott says he opposes the legislation because of
its provision for arming teachers, but has stopped short of promising to
veto it.
When Donald Trump announced that he would “drain the swamp” by filling
his cabinet with lobbyists, billionaires, and political operators, we
all braced for an onslaught of rules that benefited the fattest of cats
at the expense of everyone else, but Gary Cohn outdid himself.
During the 14 months that he served as Trump’s chief economic advisor,
the former Goldman Sachs president helped deliver a 40% cut in corporate
taxes (saving Goldman $1B/year!), as well as a tax-holiday on $3
trillion in corporate money stashed in overseas tax-havens, saving
billions more for Goldman’s largest clients. He also preserved the
carried-interest tax loophole (which Trump promised to get rid of),
ensuring that hedge fund managers would continue to pay a lower tax rate
on their billions than their cleaners pay on the $7.55 they earn
scrubbing toilets.
Golden West College professor and counselor Tarin Olson from Long
Beach, CA was caught on video telling a couple to “go back to your home
country.” Not only is she a racist, but she’s also ignorant, as the
couple and their baby are American.
“I want you to tell everybody why you told us to go back to our
country,” Tony Kao tells Olson in the video that he posted on Facebook,
which went viral with 538,000 views as of yesterday.
“You need to go back to your home country,” Olson replies.
“And what does that mean?” Tao asks.
“Have your wife turn your phone off and I’ll talk to you,” the racist college counselor says.
