Smiley Anders for Monday, Sept, 10, 2012

Here’s a tip for diners  — tip!

One of my favorite scenes in Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” is at the beginning of the movie when the gangsters are in a diner planning a heist.

The hoods, about to go out to do armed robbery and mayhem, are appalled when, as they settle up their bill, Steve Buscemi refuses to leave a tip.

The moral being that not tipping is REALLY criminal. …

Candy McDonald feels the same way:

“I am not sure if people understand that servers only make $2.13 an hour.

“You should tip according to the service you receive. Tips should be at least 15 to 18 percent, but on the average these days it is about 5 to 7 percent.

“So next time you are eating out, think about the single moms who are serving you with a smile, but may be worried sick about their children at home.”

Yeah, don’t be like some cheap hoodlum. …

Growing pains

Ina G. Navarre submits to our collection “Phrases No Longer in Use” one from her maternal grandfather, the late Edison Chenevert, of Cottonport:

“He watched his grandchildren grow up during the course of many visits, and was around to see that we quickly outgrew our clothes, especially from the beginning of the summer to our return to school.

“When we could no longer wear outgrown clothes, he would comment, ‘Just too much ham for the sack!’

“Funny how I still seem to be outgrowing clothes nearly 50 years later.”

Good Samaritans

“Sometimes it takes an ‘ill wind’ for one to realize what good neighbors one has,” says Virginia K. Waghorne.

“My yard in Walden was covered with broken limbs and other debris when I left home Sunday morning. On return, I found them all piled at the curb for pickup.

“I made a sign and placed it on top of the pile, saying ‘Thank you,’ and signed it ‘The old lady who lives here.’ (I will be 90 in December.)

“I want them to know how very much their good deed was appreciated.”

Happy returns

Brenda “Krickett” Perilloux thanks the fireman from Iberville Parish “for finding my cellphone in a basket at Albertson’s on Bluebonnet.

“He not only found it, but somehow found out my address and delivered it to me.

“I was on the phone with AT&T, canceling the phone and ordering a new one, when he drove up and honked his horn. Thank you, God, for those small miracles.”

Stamp collectors

Readers still remember Top Value stamps:

• Peggy Bougeus, of St. Francisville, says the Top Value redemption center was on the northeast corner of Florida and North Foster:

“I shopped Winn-Dixie on double stamp day and saved for lots of goodies.

“I can remember trading them for a bicycle, jig saw, mixer and a set of silver-plated flatware, among other things.”

• Reggie Gremillion says that in the early 1970s, “Union Federal Savings and Loan where I worked would give the stamps to customers who made a deposit (double stamps during the first 10 days of the month, if I remember).”

He says the Top Value redemption center was near the S&H Green Stamp center and a National Food Store, and at the time that corner of Florida and North Foster was “the hottest corner in town!”

• Kathy Aderman still has a 1965 Top Value catalog, and a Coleman lantern obtained with the stamps “in July or August 1971 in preparation for some storm.”

Kathy says the cover of the catalog features a Norman Rockwell painting.

Inside are items you could get by redeeming stamps: household furnishings, gifts, etc.

But really intense collectors could score big-time:

For 800 books you got a “full-length mink coat with shawl collar, deep turned-back cuffs and pure silk lining.”

And 718 books got you a Ford Mustang with bucket seats, floor-mounted 3-speed shift and a 200-horsepower engine.

Worthy causes

You can “take a survivor to lunch” on Sept. 30, when a “Perfectly Pink” luncheon honors breast cancer survivors.

The event, at the Renaissance Hotel, starts at 12:30 p.m. with jazz, a silent auction and a cash bar. The luncheon, featuring “Sweet Potato Queen” Jill Conner Browne, is at 1:30 p.m.

For tickets, go to Komen
BatonRouge.org or call [phone].

Weighty topic

“In honor of football season,” says Joe Guilbeau, of Plaquemine, “a lot of us are putting on a little extra padding.

“Not for the football field, but for sitting in front of the TV with Dagwood sandwiches and beverages.”

Coming up roses

“I’m so elated,” says Internet user Dale Oudkirk, of Denham Springs.

“I’ve got over a zillion dollars in a Nigerian bank, being watched over by a Nigerian prince — and I’m swamped daily by Russian want-to-be brides.

“I’m just dancing tiptoe in a clover field.”

Write Smiley at [e-mail]. He can also be reached by fax at [phone] or mail at P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821.