Patrick

Mandatory or automatic gratuities are fairly normal at the level of a basically nice restaurant or higher. Generally, it'll be something like an automatic 18% for parties of 6 or more. It's more rare for it to be automatic regardless of party size, but it happens. Saying it's a service charge is confusing in it's own right because then you wonder who it goes to. Gratuities go to servers, service charges go to... so, that opens up it's own can of worms, too. Patrick

Hey all, Celebrating our half birthday is sort of a tradition here at KarateForums.com and that day is today as we turn 8 and 1/2 years old! We launched on May 21, 2001. I don't know where all the time went, but it does give me an opportunity to thank everyone who has positively contributed to this community. I love what we are and I love the atmosphere we have here - one of kind, respectful martial arts discussion. It means a great deal to me. Thank you to my staff, who helps me to maintain this atmosphere: Heidi, Brian, Danielle, Ed, Alex, Brenda, Jennifer and Dave. I appreciate everything that you do. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Sincerely, Patrick

Once again, thanks to everyone who has participated thus far. If you haven't yet, please consider doing so. It doesn't take much time, but is a great way to honor some of the great contributors within our community! Thanks again, Patrick

A mandatory gratuity is a mandatory gratuity and they should have paid it. That said, calling the police was a bit of an overreaction, I feel. if you want to tell them they aren't welcome at the establishment, cool. But, calling the cops is just a bad business move.

Thanks for sharing. Interesting link. Patrick

No problem. Ricky had a good game, definitely. I don't know if it's a turnaround, kind of what we were doing on the ground, already. But, there is still hope.

Yes, I'd say so.

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far! Please keep the votes coming! Thanks, Patrick

Great news, congrats Rusty!

Congrats on the success.

I'm definitely a fan of hot chocolate.

Yeah, it wasn't a very convincing win for the Dolphins, but a win is a win. One week at a time. Looks like we're going to miss Ronnie Brown for at least one game, which is awful...

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. You may have heard, but if you haven't... the 2009 edition of our annual KarateForums.com Awards program is now underway and the voting ballots are open in categories like Member of the Year, New Member of the Year, Article of the Year and more. If you have already voted, thank you. If you haven't, I would definitely appreciate it if you considered doing so. It only takes a few moments and it is a great way to recognize some of the members that help to make this community great. For more information and links to the ballots, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/karateforums-com-awards-2009-vote-now-vt37508.html Thank you for reading and for being a part of this community! Sincerely, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. You may have heard, but if you haven't... the 2009 edition of our annual KarateForums.com Awards program is now underway and the voting ballots are open in categories like Member of the Year, New Member of the Year, Article of the Year and more. If you have already voted, thank you. If you haven't, I would definitely appreciate it if you considered doing so. It only takes a few moments and it is a great way to recognize some of the members that help to make this community great. For more information and links to the ballots, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/karateforums-com-awards-2009-vote-now-vt37508.html Thank you for reading and for being a part of this community! Sincerely, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. You may have heard, but if you haven't... the 2009 edition of our annual KarateForums.com Awards program is now underway and the voting ballots are open in categories like Member of the Year, New Member of the Year, Article of the Year and more. If you have already voted, thank you. If you haven't, I would definitely appreciate it if you considered doing so. It only takes a few moments and it is a great way to recognize some of the members that help to make this community great. For more information and links to the ballots, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/karateforums-com-awards-2009-vote-now-vt37508.html Thank you for reading and for being a part of this community! Sincerely, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. You may have heard, but if you haven't... the 2009 edition of our annual KarateForums.com Awards program is now underway and the voting ballots are open in categories like Member of the Year, New Member of the Year, Article of the Year and more. If you have already voted, thank you. If you haven't, I would definitely appreciate it if you considered doing so. It only takes a few moments and it is a great way to recognize some of the members that help to make this community great. For more information and links to the ballots, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/karateforums-com-awards-2009-vote-now-vt37508.html Thank you for reading and for being a part of this community! Sincerely, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. You may have heard, but if you haven't... the 2009 edition of our annual KarateForums.com Awards program is now underway and the voting ballots are open in categories like Member of the Year, New Member of the Year, Article of the Year and more. If you have already voted, thank you. If you haven't, I would definitely appreciate it if you considered doing so. It only takes a few moments and it is a great way to recognize some of the members that help to make this community great. For more information and links to the ballots, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/karateforums-com-awards-2009-vote-now-vt37508.html Thank you for reading and for being a part of this community! Sincerely, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. You may have heard, but if you haven't... the 2009 edition of our annual KarateForums.com Awards program is now underway and the voting ballots are open in categories like Member of the Year, New Member of the Year, Article of the Year and more. If you have already voted, thank you. If you haven't, I would definitely appreciate it if you considered doing so. It only takes a few moments and it is a great way to recognize some of the members that help to make this community great. For more information and links to the ballots, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/karateforums-com-awards-2009-vote-now-vt37508.html Thank you for reading and for being a part of this community! Sincerely, Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has voted thus far. If you haven't done so yet, please do! It only takes a few moment and it really does help make the awards even greater! Thanks again, Patrick

Awesome! Via Donald Glover.

I'm not willing to throw in the towel just yet.

Hello, Welcome to the voting period of the eighth annual KarateForums.com Awards. Through these awards, we recognize just a few of the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to KarateForums.com in the past year. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2008 and October 18, 2009. You submitted your nominations and, from those, we have our KarateForums.com Awards 2009 nominees. In all, 13 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are joesteph, sensei8, tonydee, ps1, Kuma, Sokusen, bushido_man96, tallgeese, ninjanurse, KarateEd, DWx, The BB of C and Tiger1962. Congratulations to all of you. With the ballots crafted, it is now time to vote. In order to do so, you must have a KarateForums.com account registered on or before October 18, 2009. There is just one guideline to keep in mind when voting: 1. Do not attempt to artificially inflate our vote totals in any way. This includes but is not limited to trading votes, encouraging people to vote indiscriminately (publicly or privately), mass mailing/posting and any other behavior that could lead to results being artificially skewed. Individuals found to be participating in these activities will be disqualified from nomination in any category. Please note that you do not have to vote in every category. You can vote for as many or as few as you would like - please go for as many as you feel comfortable with. The more valid votes we get, the better! The categories are listed below. Please click the link(s) and vote in the poll(s). Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/member-of-the-year-vt37507.html New Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/new-member-of-the-year-vt37506.html Community Spirit Award http://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt37505.html Staff Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt37504.html Funniest Member of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/funniest-member-of-the-year-vt37503.html Article of the Year http://www.karateforums.com/article-of-the-year-vt37502.html So, that's all there is to it. Please vote. We need as many valid votes as possible! Voting will be closed on November 27, 2009 at 8 PM ET. Please do not post your votes in this or any thread. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply to this thread. Please do not post a reply on the poll threads. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Sincerely, Patrick

Please vote for the Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2009. Award Description: This award is intended to acknowledge the non staff member who you feel best exemplifies the qualities that KarateForums.com puts a premium on. Knowledge is valuable, but most valuable is a kind and helpful nature. You don't need to be a martial arts expert to win this award - you need to be someone who is kind and who shares what they know in a productive fashion that helps others. Here are the nominees: joesteph sensei8 tonydee ps1 Voting will be closed on November 27, 2009 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the New Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2009. Award Description: This award is intended to acknowledge the non staff member who was new to our site in the past year and who you feel best exemplifies the qualities that KarateForums.com puts a premium on. Knowledge is valuable, but most valuable is a kind and helpful nature. You don't need to be a martial arts expert to win for this award - you need to be someone who is kind and who shares what they know in a productive fashion that helps others. Here are the nominees: tonydee Kuma Sokusen Voting will be closed on November 27, 2009 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Community Spirit Award winner in the KarateForums.com Awards 2009. Award Description: This award should go to a person whom you feel has a passion for this community. A person who is all about the home team - in this case, KarateForums.com. Here are the nominees: bushido_man96 tallgeese sensei8 joesteph Kuma Voting will be closed on November 27, 2009 at 8 PM ET. Please do not respond to this thread. Thank you for voting.