I stopped wearing grounding straps in 1997, after getting tired of dealing with the cord I said forget it. A dozen PC builds later, all of them survived me wearing wool socks on carpet while building.

Thank you!

I don't think I came across any hippies. My first hotel job, though, definitely some shady people came along. And, yeah, it was pretty much put them on the same floor together, and pray you don't have to call the cops. Although sometimes the cops just came to you. I remember one night and entire SWAT team came into…

For the most part, hotel rooms are pretty easy sells, but there is still a selling component, especially if you're in an area with other hotels that offer similar price points and amenities as yours. Why should a guest stay with you when hotel next door has the same amenities for $10/night less? How does your lounge…

As a mystery shopper, I've never had a hotel chain ask me to do this. Mystery shoppers don't present odd scenarios, just the opposite. We want to appear as typical a guest as possible because we don't want to tip our hand that we are performing a mystery shop. We may ask some questions about various services, but…

Interesting side discussion on this. My first gig as a hotel night auditor, I trained a new weekend person, was very happy because I would finally get weekends off. A month later, she was fired and I was back on. Turns out she was doing exactly this, renting out rooms off the books and pocketing the cash. This was a…

It could be, but in most cases its not. Many Out of Order rooms are taken out of inventory for even trivial issues, and can be put back into the system fairly easily if needed. If the employee is acting shady, then that should tip you off.

It would have to be a really shady hotel to not have a customer on register, or a really shady clerk who is pocketing money and not putting it in the till. In 8 years of working in hotels, I never once did this with out of order rooms.

I am a former night auditor/manager for two hotel chains.

I can see where this might be a useful technique. For example, camping, maybe packing an emergency carry-on bag for the airport.

Military-style makes sense for the military since your sack that you're hauling everything in is going to get tossed around and has limited space. Most people don't need to pack like they're preparing for a week in the field, though. This style is not as efficient for general luggage and will shorten the lifespan of…

I loved GV, or at least the idea of it. I have absolutely no use for Hangouts at all. I don't use it, my friends and other contacts don't use it. Shoehorning GV into Hangouts isn't going to get me to use Hangouts anymore than shoehorning Youtube comments into Google+ gets me to use Google+. What it will do is cause me…

GrooVe IP, which used to be one of the best GV interfaces for Android, has recently relaunched as its own VOIP/SMS/MMS service.

Because that's what people do?

If you're plugging the coax into the back of your TV, your TV also needs to support ClearQAM. If it does and you scan and you get no channels then your cable company has encrypted them all, which shouldn't be a surprise since there's nothing to stop the cable companies from doing that any more.

Surprised/saddened that there was no thought to include Splenda or stevia for those of us who can't ingest most sugars and sweeteners due to health issues.

Doesn't matter, my money taken today is going to help those who are not able to immediately help themselves. I sure hope I dno't have to depend on it when I'm ready to retire, but if I do, at least I know that my sacrifice today has earned me that right tomorrow.

Perhaps if you came from another planet. Tipping for services has been around for a few millennia and has been one of the most simple methods of transference of wealth in human history.

Yuck. Sounds like it's time for a better bank then. May I suggest Simple? I've been using them since March, I've had no problems accessing ATMs for $0, customer service is very awesome.

If you're going to take the time to dine at an establishment that accepts tips, you can't also take the time to get some cash as well? Seems like you're already hassling yourself to begin with, might as well do it proper. ;-)