xythrowawayy

In your first post, you say you still keep in contact with him, but in one of your answers you say you stopped replying to his letters.

Do you have any contact with him still? Do you ever visit him? Does he try to apologize to you for the things he did?

Two questions:

1) On tipping, let's say I like tipping 20%. I do that on the total usually, including tax, so if my wife and I are eating at a fine restaurant and our total is, say, $400 including tax, then $80 tip. What about on wine though? If my bill were $400 plus a $100 bottle of wine, so $500 total, I'd tip $100. But what if my bill were $400 plus a $600 bottle of wine, so $1000 total? Should I tip $200 or the same roughly $100 (so 20% on the food/tax plus a bit for the wine) since the only thing that increased the bill was the amount of the wine and not the service itself? Seriously -- what do the waiters/sommeliers think about this?

2) Another one on tipping: I really like to pick my wines out myself and don't typically need/want help from a sommelier. But, at fine restaurants, it is customary for the sommelier to come by and help. I don't want to be rude. And, sure, I might even take their recommendation, although I'll probably just peruse the list and figure out what I want. Now, in either situation, what is the rule on tipping the sommelier independently of the tip at the end of the meal? If the sommelier recommends a $200 bottle of wine and I choose it, do I slip him/her a $20? Do I do nothing? If the sommelier really tries to be helpful but I don't really want their help...and then they come over and decant/pour the wine...do I tip them?

Did NPR News launch any initiative to focus reports on the coverage of ethics and conflicts of interest in the Obama administration? How about coverage of ethics and conflicts with the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State, i.e., pay for play?

Did NPR News launch an initiative to focus reports on its own conflict of interest in covering the Trump presidency given Trump's stated desire to privatize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, eliminating government partial funding for NPR?