Years ago — it must have been the late 90s or thereabouts — I thought I heard something about RMS getting kicked off a plane for refusing to turn off his mobile phone. Unfortunately Google isn’t giving me much love on the subject, so perhaps I just hallucinated it. Maybe it was some [...]

Which is better?

To seek permission

To ask forgiveness

It depends

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I’m off to the USA soon: land of compulsory tipping. Every time I go to a country that tips, I’m reminded of the interminable arguments I used to see on Usenet on the subject. You see, tipping is an artifact of a culture which does not pay waitstaff a living wage, and by [...]

Rude Geek writes:

I recently upset a cafe owner, in retrospect with good reason, for plugging in my laptop without asking.
What is the currently (evolving) etiquette for using someone’s electricity and bandwidth? If I take out my mobile telephone and use someone’s open Wi-Fi network should I ask?

Etiquette would generally suggest that you should never use [...]

We’ve talked about how to quit before, but let’s look a bit closer at reasons for quitting, and what to say about them.
Presumably if you’ve handed in your notice, you’ve got a reason for it. Sometimes your reason is innocuous and inoffensive:

Got offered something much higher paying.

Relocating for personal reasons.

Pursuing further studies.

And sometimes your [...]

I’ve mentioned this upcoming work function, right? I hope you’re not sick of it yet, because I’ve still got plenty to say on the subject. Today, it’s another iteration of “How to dress yourself,” this time for semi-formal events such as … well, this work function, or a nice party.
I’ve had [...]